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Luis Guillorme

Astros Place Jacob Melton On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | June 14, 2025 at 11:09am CDT

The Astros announced five roster moves today, including outfielder Jacob Melton’s placement on the 10-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain.  Shay Whitcomb was also optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land, and as reported earlier, Houston selected the contracts of both Cooper Hummel and Luis Guillorme from Triple-A to fill the two open spots on the active roster.  The Astros had one 40-man roster spot already available, and to create the other, Spencer Arrighetti was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Melton’s injury occurred in yesterday’s 10-3 Astros win over the Twins, spoiling what was looking like a great game for the rookie after he went 2-for-2 with three RBI in his first two plate appearances.  In the top of the fourth inning, however, Melton turned his ankle while preparing to field what ended up being a homer from Minnesota’s Willi Castro.

“When I realized that I wasn’t going to have a play on it, tried to back off the wall and get turned around and get squared up with where I thought it was going to hit and just kind of rolled it, landed on it a little awkward,” Melton told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.  “Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ll play the cards that I’m dealt.”

Melton finished the inning but was replaced in left field by Whitcomb prior to the top of the fifth.  Called up to make his MLB debut on June 1, Melton has hit only .241/.290/.310 over his first 31 PA against big league pitching, though he provided respectable defense and filled a hole amidst an injury-riddled outfield situation for Houston.  Unfortunately, Melton has now gone down to injury himself, joining fellow outfielders Yordan Alvarez, Chas McCormick, Zach Dezenzo, Taylor Trammell, and Pedro Leon on the 10-day IL.

If this wasn’t enough, Isaac Paredes is battling a mild hamstring strain, leaving the Astros temporarily without their starting third baseman.  Guillorme can play all over the infield and Hummel figures to get some time in both corner outfield slots as Houston figures out how to best juggle their roster and perhaps prepare for another call-up if Paredes also requires an IL stint.

Arrighetti fractured his right thumb more than two months ago, so he has already been sidelined for 60 days while remaining on the 15-day IL.  His move to the 60-day IL is therefore just a paper transaction that frees up a 40-man roster spot for the Astros, and Arrighetti is expected to be out for several weeks more, through he has resumed playing catch.

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Houston Astros Transactions Cooper Hummel Jacob Melton Luis Guillorme Shay Whitcomb Spencer Arrighetti

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Astros To Select Luis Guillorme

By Anthony Franco | June 13, 2025 at 11:15pm CDT

The Astros will select infielder Luis Guillorme onto the MLB roster tomorrow, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston has an open 40-man roster spot after designating Forrest Whitley for assignment and trading him to Tampa Bay. They’ll need to make an active roster move.

Guillorme has spent the entire season at Triple-A Sugar Land on a minor league contract. The lefty-hitting infielder owns a .245/.376/.310 line across 242 plate appearances. He has walked in 17% of his trips against a 19% strikeout rate, but he only has a pair of home runs. That’s in line with Guillorme’s track record. He’s a patient hitter with good contact skills and bottom-of-the-scale power.

A career .251/.336/.322 hitter over parts of seven MLB seasons, Guillorme is valued most highly for his defense. He has ample experience at each of the three infield spots to the left of first base. He hasn’t played much shortstop this year in the minors, though he won’t be needed there in the majors either because of Jeremy Peña. Guillorme can push Brendan Rodgers for playing time at the keystone while offering short-term insurance as Isaac Paredes navigates an injury.

Paredes left last night’s game with left hamstring discomfort. He didn’t play tonight; Mauricio Dubón drew into the lineup at the hot corner. Manager Joe Espada told the Houston beat that Paredes has been diagnosed with a strain but it’s seemingly mild, as he added that the team believes the infielder will avoid the injured list (relayed by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com).

The corresponding active roster move may be an IL stint for rookie outfielder Jacob Melton. The 24-year-old sprained his right ankle during tonight’s game, Espada said. Houston will have Jose Altuve, Jake Meyers and Cam Smith as their starting outfield but may need to use Dubón more often as a fourth outfielder with Melton out.

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Houston Astros Transactions Isaac Paredes Jacob Melton Luis Guillorme

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Astros Release Ben Gamel, Jalen Beeks

By Nick Deeds | March 22, 2025 at 3:58pm CDT

The Astros announced this afternoon that they have released outfielder Ben Gamel and left-hander Jalen Beeks. Additionally, the club announced that infielder Luis Guillorme and right-hander Miguel Castro will not make the club’s Opening Day roster, though they’ll remain with the club through the end of big league Spring Training. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome adds that right-handers Forrest Whitley and Kaleb Ort will begin the season on the injured list. Gamel was on the 40-man roster, so today’s slate of moves drops the club’s 40-man total to 39.

Gamel, 33 in May, played 20 games for the Astros down the stretch last year and re-signed with the club on a one-year big league contract that guaranteed him a $200K signing bonus with a $1MM salary if he broke camp with the club. That will not come to pass, though he’ll head back into free agency having pocketed the signing bonus for his trouble as he searches for a job with a new club. The journeyman is a veteran of nine MLB seasons who has struggles to find a consistent home over the years, but has accumulated more than 700 games in the majors since he debuted with the Yankees back in 2016.

In that time, Gamel has generally been an average to slightly below average hitter at the big league level while mostly playing the outfield corners despite occasional cameos in center field and at first base. His career .252/.334/.382 slash line is good for a wRC+ of 96 that hardly jumps off the page, but makes him a solid enough option in a bench or platoon role for clubs that lack depth in the outfield corners. That’s a situation the Astros found themselves in after trading Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier this winter, though they’ve since rectified the issue somewhat by shifting longtime second baseman Jose Altuve into left field. That left Gamel seemingly ticketed for a timeshare with Chas McCormick in right field alongside Altuve in left and Jake Meyers in center, but now Gamel has been pushed off the roster entirely.

Gamel’s departure could make room for non-roster invitee and top prospect Cam Smith, the Cubs’ first-round pick in the 2024 draft who was shipped to Houston alongside Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in the Tucker deal, to break camp as the club’s starting right fielder. That would push McCormick into a bench role following a brutal 2024 season where he posted a 66 wRC+ in 94 games, though it would register as something of a surprise given that Smith has just five games of experience at even the Double-A level and McCormick was a three-win player as recently as 2023. If the club instead gives the right field job to Chas McCormick, Cooper Hummel appears to be the most likely candidate to round out the club’s outfield mix. As for Gamel himself, his 108 wRC+ against right-handed pitching since the start of the 2021 season and a solid .384 on-base percentage in 99 trips to the plate between the Mets and Astros last year seems solid enough to earn him a look elsewhere, though perhaps only a minor league deal at this stage of the winter.

Beeks, meanwhile, is a 31-year-old lefty who has struggled to a 5.05 ERA with the Rays, Rockies, and Pirates the past two years despite a decent 3.93 FIP. Despite those lackluster numbers, his 3.92 ERA and 3.12 FIP in 26 games for Pittsburgh down the stretch in conjunction with his decent 3.70 ERA and 3.83 FIP with the Rays from 2019 to 2022 offer some reason for optimism that Beeks could provide solid production for a bullpen in need of help from the left side. He’ll re-enter free agency with less than a week left until Opening Day having posted a 2.25 ERA in four innings of work for the Astros during camp in hopes of finding a new job. Lefty Steven Okert and righty Rafael Montero are both non-roster veterans in camp who appear ticketed for the Opening Day roster at this point, though Blake Weiman and Logan VanWey are among the other non-roster players still in the mix.

Joining Beeks in failing to make the team is veteran right-hander Miguel Castro, although the 30-year-old veteran of 10 MLB seasons will remain in Houston’s organization for at least the time being. The same can be said for utility man Luis Guillorme, who won’t make the club’s roster after a 2024 season where he slashed just .205/.301/.273 in 77 games with Atlanta, Anaheim, and Arizona last year. That bench spot that otherwise may have gone to Guillorme instead figures to be occupied by Brendan Rodgers after he was non-tendered by the Rockies back in November and signed a minor league deal with the Astros last month.

Meanwhile, the club’s bullpen takes a bit of a hit as both Whitley and Ort will open the season on the shelf. A former top starting pitching prospect, Whitley toiled through injuries and ineffectiveness in the minors for years before making his big league debut as a reliever last year with 3 scoreless outings. Ort, meanwhile, struggled in parts of three seasons with Boston before delivering a strong 2.55 ERA despite a 5.23 FIP in 24 2/3 innings for the Astros last year. Both players figure to have a role with the Astros this year when healthy enough to take the mound.

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Houston Astros Transactions Ben Gamel Forrest Whitley Jalen Beeks Kaleb Ort Luis Guillorme Miguel Castro

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Astros To Sign Luis Guillorme To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | February 11, 2025 at 10:12am CDT

The Astros and infielder Luis Guillorme have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The MVP Sports Group client also gets an invite to big league camp, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

Guillorme, 30, is a glove-first utility guy. He was able to produce offense around league average in the 2020 to 2022 seasons, which made him a useful player for the Mets. Unfortunately, his bat fell off in 2023, so the Mets non-tendered him.

That sent him into journeyman mode last year. He started the season with Atlanta and eventually bounced to the Angels and Diamondbacks. He produced a line of .205/.301/.273 between those three clubs, his second straight poor season at the plate. His combined line over 2023 and 2024 was .213/.296/.295 for a wRC+ of 68, indicating he was 32% below league average.

As mentioned, he was better before that. He slashed .278/.367/.344 over the three previous seasons, leading to a 107 wRC+. He didn’t provide much pop, with just three home runs in 559 plate appearances, but he walked at a 12% rate and only struck out 15.4% of the time. When combined with his glovework, FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement in 201 games over that three-year period.

Defensively, Guillorme has 1,339 1/3 innings at second base, 604 at third and 229 1/3 innings at shortstop. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have given him a grade of +7 at the keystone in his career, while his work at the other two spots has been considered close to average.

The Astros have a question mark at second base for the first time in years. Jose Altuve has had that position locked down since he debuted in the summer of 2011. He’s never been a great defender and the metrics have soured on him further recently. Since he’ll turn 35 years old in May, the club is reportedly considering a move to left field for Altuve.

Those reports originally surfaced in connection with rumors that they were still considering re-signing Alex Bregman, which would push Isaac Paredes from third to second. However, it has since become clear that Altuve could be moving to left field with or without Bregman involved. If Bregman signs elsewhere and Altuve ends up on the grass, the club will need solutions at second base.

Mauricio Dubón is on the roster but would ideally be deployed in a super utility role, playing infield and outfield. Shay Whitcomb and Zach Dezenzo are on the 40-man but neither has more than 20 games of MLB experience, and Dezenzo is more of a corner infielder regardless. The Astros signed Zack Short to a minor league deal last month for some extra non-roster depth and now Guillorme gives them another candidate to look at in camp.

The fact that Guillorme hits from the left side probably helps as well, since that has been a focus of the club this offseason. Yordan Alvarez is the only lefty hitter that seems locked into an everyday role at this point. Ben Gamel was signed as a possible outfield addition, though his deal isn’t fully guaranteed and he could be squeezed out if Altuve ends up in left. Guys like Jon Singleton and Taylor Trammell are also lefty swingers who could be on the bench, with Guillorme possibly joining them.

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Houston Astros Transactions Luis Guillorme

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Diamondbacks Outright Luis Guillorme

By Anthony Franco | September 23, 2024 at 11:15pm CDT

The Diamondbacks sent infielder Luis Guillorme outright to Triple-A Reno, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Arizona designated the defensive specialist for assignment last week when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. returned from the injured list.

Arizona signed Guillorme to a big league deal a month ago. He appeared in 18 games with the Diamondbacks and logged 47 trips to the plate. Guillorme drew 11 walks while only striking out eight times, but he hit .162 with two extra-base hits (both doubles). The Snakes were his third team of the season, as Guillorme made nine appearances with the Braves and suited up 50 times for the Angels. He’s hitting .205/.301/.273 over 187 trips to the plate.

The Venezuela native had played parts of six seasons with the Mets before this year. Guillorme provided versatility and solid defense off the bench but never hit enough to be a regular. He ran a .261/.344/.333 slash in a little more than 800 plate appearances before being non-tendered last winter.

Guillorme has the ability to decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency. It seems likelier he’ll stick around as non-roster depth in case Arizona deals with injuries in the infield during the postseason. Reno will play for the Pacific Coast League championship this week, so Guillorme could elect to report and log a few games while awaiting the big league team’s hopeful playoff run. He’ll be eligible for minor league free agency at the start of the offseason if he accepts the outright assignment.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Luis Guillorme

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Diamondbacks Designate Luis Guillorme For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | September 20, 2024 at 2:35pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Infielder Luis Guillorme has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Gurriel landed on the 10-day IL at the start of the month due to a strained left calf. Prior to landing on the shelf, he had been producing at a rate a bit above league average. He has 17 home runs on the year, a batting line of .274/.316/.428 and a 104 wRC+. He also has seven stolen bases and solid defensive metrics, leading to a tally of 1.8 wins above replacement on the year, per FanGraphs.

Getting that kind of production back is nice for the Snakes, assuming he can pick up where he left off, though manager Torey Lovullo might have to make some tough decisions in setting his lineup every day. Pavin Smith has been covering left field with Gurriel out and has a massive .296/.378/.591 line and 161 wRC+ on the year. Moving either to right field isn’t really an option as Corbin Carroll has picked things up after a weak start to the year. He was hitting .197/.282/.291 through the end of May but .254/.344/.520 since, the latter line leading to a 135 wRC+.

Joc Pederson is hitting well out of the designated hitter slot. Jake McCarthy is playing well in center and the same goes for Christian Walker at first base. Solid players like Josh Bell and Randal Grichuk are already getting little playing time and the return of Gurriel will further crowd things, though that’s a good problem for the Snakes to have as they look to lock down a playoff spot in the final days of the season. They are currently 85-68, tied with the Mets for the second and third Wild Card spots. The Padres are two games up on that pair while Atlanta is two games back.

Guillorme was signed to the roster a month ago while Ketel Marte was injured. Since then, he has appeared in 18 games and hit .162/.347/.216. Marte was reinstated from the IL September 6 and served as the designated hitter for a couple of games but has since retaken his spot at the keystone, cutting into Guillorme’s playing time. Guillorme has over five years of big league service time and can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has now been bumped off the roster entirely.

He’ll be placed on waivers in the coming days. He won’t be playoff eligible with any other club at this point, which limits any appeal of claiming him. He had a solid run as a utility guy for the Mets not too long ago, hitting a combined .278/.367/.344 over the 2020-22 seasons. But he hit just .224/.288/.327 last year and got himself non-tendered. This year, he has bounced between Atlanta, Anaheim and Arizona with a line of .205/.301/.273 in 79 games. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, though perhaps he would consider accepting just in case Marte suffers an injury again and some postseason playing time opens up.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Luis Guillorme

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Diamondbacks Designate Gavin Hollowell For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | August 20, 2024 at 2:30pm CDT

The Diamondbacks officially announced their signing of infielder Luis Guillorme, which was reported earlier today. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Blaze Alexander and designated right-hander Gavin Hollowell for assignment.

Hollowell, 26, has never pitched for the D’backs at the big league level. He had spent his entire career with the Rockies until they put him on waivers in June. The Snakes claimed him at that time but mostly have kept him on optional assignment since then. He was briefly recalled at the start of July but was optioned back down to Triple-A Reno a day later without getting into a game.

The Snakes were likely intrigued by his big strikeout numbers in the minors. Those have sometimes come with plenty of walks, which was certainly the case after switching organizations. In 17 1/3 Triple-A innings since coming to the Diamondbacks, he has a 3.63 earned run average and 30.4% strikeout rate but a huge walk rate of 16.5%. Combined with his time in the Rockies’ system earlier this year, his 2024 season consists of 23 2/3 minor league innings with a 5.70 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate and 16.1% walk rate.

Those control issues weren’t as bad in previous seasons. He tossed 96 minor league innings over the 2021 to 2023 period with an even 3.00 ERA, 32% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. He also tossed 40 2/3 major league innings for the Rockies with a 6.20 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.

He’s now been squeezed off Arizona’s roster. With the trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, they will have to put him on waivers in the coming days. Though the control hasn’t been there this year, his strikeout stuff could intrigue some clubs around the league. If he is claimed, he will still have an option year remaining after this campaign, giving him some future roster flexibility. He also has less than a year of major league service time, meaning a claiming team could control him well into the future.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Blaze Alexander Gavin Hollowell Luis Guillorme

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Diamondbacks To Sign Luis Guillorme

By Darragh McDonald | August 20, 2024 at 1:15pm CDT

The Diamondbacks are signing infielder Luis Guillorme, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase on X. It appears to be a major league deal, as Álvarez-Montes adds that the infielder is already at LoanDepot Park in Miami for tonight’s game against the Marlins. The Snakes will need to make a corresponding move or moves to add the veteran to their active and 40-man rosters.

Once Guillorme officially becomes a Diamondback, it will be his third club of the year. He began the season with Atlanta but was traded to the Angels in May. The Halos had most of their infield either banged up or on the injured list at that time, with each of Anthony Rendon, Michael Stefanic, Brandon Drury, Luis Rengifo and Miguel Sanó dealing with injuries. He played a part-time role with the Angels until he was released last week.

Between the two clubs, Guillorme has hit .218/.285/.290 this year, a line that translates to a wRC+ of 63. That’s roughly in line with last year’s production, when he hit .224/.288/.327 with the Mets for a wRC+ of 70. He was non-tendered after 2023 and became a free agent, which led to his deal with Atlanta.

Prior to the lackluster performance that began last year, Guillorme had a some solid years in Queens. He got into 201 games for the Mets over the 2020 to 2022 period, slashing .278/.367/.344 for a wRC+ of 107. He did that while bouncing between the three infield positions to the left of first base, getting average-ish grades at all three in that time.

The Diamondbacks recently lost a big piece of their infield with Ketel Marte landing on the injured list due to a left ankle sprain. That has led to Kevin Newman moving from a bench role into the club’s regular at the keystone, next to Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop and Eugenio Suárez at third base.

The club has Blaze Alexander on hand as infield depth but he’s fairly lacking in experience, with just 61 big league games under his belt to this point. He’s also right-handed, whereas Guillorme hits from the left side, so having both on the bench could give manager Torey Lovullo a bit more flexibility in optimizing his non-Marte lineups. Guillorme has a 98 wRC+ against righties in his career, compared to a 63 wRC+ against southpaws. Newman, a righty, has a 98 RC+ with the platoon advantage but a 69 without.

It’s a fairly low-cost pickup for the Snakes, as the Angels are on the hook for most of Guillorme’s $1.1MM salary. Arizona will only have to pay him the prorated version of the $740K league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Angels pay.

Guillorme hasn’t been in amazing form of late but has a decent track record, which could perhaps allow him to help the Diamondbacks get through this period of time without Marte, which they hope will be short. If Guillorme bounces back and holds his roster spot through the end of the year, he can be retained for 2025 via arbitration.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Luis Guillorme

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Angels Designate Jose Cisnero For Assignment

By Nick Deeds | August 18, 2024 at 1:09pm CDT

The Angels announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Jose Cisnero for assignment. The move opens up an active roster spot for right-hander Victor Mederos, who was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. The club also announced that infielder Luis Guillorme, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released.

Cisnero, 35, made his big league debut back in 2013 with the Astros and struggled over parts of two seasons in Houston, with a 4.66 ERA in 48 1/3 innings of work. That would be the journeyman’s only big league action for several years, as the right-hander bounced around various minor league affiliates and independent leagues from 2015 to 2018 before landing with the Tigers in 2019. The then-30-year-old righty impressed in 40 innings of work at the Triple-A level with a 2.70 ERA and a 27.7% strikeout rate, earning him another crack at the big leagues.

The right-hander ultimately spent the next five seasons pitching for the Tigers as a solid, reliable middle relief option. He posted a 3.89 ERA (114 ERA+) with a 4.09 FIP overall, and was particularly impressive from 2020-22 when he pitched to a 2.94 ERA with a 3.65 FIP in 116 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the wheels started to come off for Cisnero last year when he posted a 5.31 ERA with a 4.60 FIP in 63 appearances for the Tigers. Those struggles came in spite of strong strikeout (26.2%) and walk (9.4%) rates that solidly outperformed not only his career numbers, but the numbers he had posted while pitching so effectively for the club in previous years. With strong peripherals, including a 3.73 SIERA and a 4.20 xFIP, suggesting better days ahead, the Angels took a one-year flier on Cisnero’s services this past offseason.

Unfortunately, that experiment did not pay off. Cisnero’s 2024 campaign has been nothing short of brutal as he’s been lit up to a 6.89 ERA with a 6.24 FIP thanks primarily to the fact that he’s allowed four home runs in just 15 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander was sidelined for three months by a bout of shoulder inflammation and made his return to the mound just yesterday, but surrendered two runs (one earned) in 1 2/3 innings of work that saw him allow a hit, a walk, and hit a batter while striking out just one of the eight opponents he faced. That was evidently enough for the Angels to decide to pull the plug on the right-hander, who will now be available for any club in the league to claim off waivers if they so choose.

Taking Cisnero’s place on the Halos’ active roster is Mederos, who has not yet pitched in the majors this year. The right-hander struggled in a brief cup of coffee in the majors last year with a 9.00 ERA in three appearances and hasn’t fared much better in 21 starts split between the High-A and Double-A levels this year, with a 6.56 ERA and a 16.7% strikeout rate in 94 2/3 innings of work. As for Guillorme, the veteran of seven MLB seasons posted a .231/.302/.298 slash line in 50 games for the Angels this year after being acquired from the Braves in an early-season trade. He’ll turn to the free agent market in search of greener pastures, and it’s not hard to imagine a team in need of infield depth having interest in the 29-year-old’s services given his strong defensive reputation and left-handed bat.

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Los Angeles Angels Transactions Jose Cisnero Luis Guillorme Victor Mederos

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Angels Select Niko Kavadas, Designate Luis Guillorme

By Steve Adams | August 16, 2024 at 4:05pm CDT

4:05pm: The Angels have now made all of these moves official. Lopez and Kavadas have been selected, with Guillorme and Calhoun designated for assignment.

12:59pm: The Angels are calling up first baseman/designated hitter Niko Kavadas to make his major league debut, as first reported by Chuck Freeby. In order to make space for Kavadas on the roster, the Angels will designate infielder Luis Guillorme for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. The Halos are also reportedly set to select the contract of infielder Jack Lopez and designate Willie Calhoun for assignment. All of those moves will be announced later today.

Kavadas, 25, was acquired from the Red Sox alongside three other minor leaguers in the trade sending reliever Luis Garcia to Boston prior to the deadline. He’s posted a combined .264/.400/.521 slash between the two organizations’ Triple-A affiliates this year, though it’s worth noting he’s struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, batting just .159/.229/.341 in 48 plate appearances.

An 11th-round pick by the Red Sox in 2021, Kavadas has clear plus power. He hit 26 homers in 515 plate appearances across three levels in 2022, belted 22 homers in just 480 plate appearances last year, and already has 19 long balls in 383 plate appearances this season.

That big-time power comes with a familiar red flag, however, in the form of strikeouts. Fans have seen plenty of three-true-outcomes sluggers over the years, and Kavadas embodies that approach to its fullest extent. A whopping 57% of his professional plate appearances have ended in either a homer, walk or strikeout. This season, he’s punched out in 33.9% of his plate appearances — and that’s actually an improvement over last year’s 35.8% mark. He’s also drawn a walk in a gaudy 16.2% of his trips to the plate.

The 6’1″, 235-pound Kavadas is a well below-average runner, and scouting reports peg his glovework at first base to be below-average as well. His huge power is his carrying tool, and whether he’s able to make enough contact to get to that power with regularity will determine the type of future he has. Players who whiff this much in the upper minors don’t tend to make enough contact to succeed in the big leagues, although Baseball America wrote in 2023 that Kavadas is an “intelligent hitter” with at least a chance to close some of the holes in his swing as he gains more experience.

Nolan Schanuel, the Angels’ 2023 first-rounder, skyrocketed to the majors less than two months after being drafted and has settled in as the primary first baseman. The 22-year-old Schanuel is in many ways the opposite of Kavadas: a first-base prospect with elite bat-to-ball skills but more a more suspect power profile.

After a slow start to the season, Schanuel is hitting .269/.382/.409 with nearly as many walks (14.6%) as strikeouts (15.2%) through his past 250 trips to the plate. He’s slumped lately, but the Angels presumably want to keep getting him exposure to big league pitching. That the promotion of Kavadas coincides with the DFA of Calhoun — who’s seen 60 games at designated hitter this year — suggests that Kavadas and his simultaneously thunderous and porous left-handed bat could get the bulk of the Angels’ DH reps down the stretch.

As for the 29-year-old Guillorme, he’s split the season between the Braves and Angels, batting a combined .218/.285/.290 in 138 plate appearances. He’s never been a big threat at the plate, but the versatile Guillorme offers strong infield defense across second base, shortstop and third base. He’s a career .254/.336/.327 hitter in 961 plate appearances — the vast majority of which came with the Mets from 2018-23.

With the trade deadline behind us, Guillorme will be placed on outright waivers or released. He’s earning just a $1.1MM base salary this season and has about $266K of that yet to be paid out. He’s versatile, experienced and affordable enough that another club might consider placing a claim. Guillorme has more than five years of service, meaning he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and retain his entire salary. As such, if he clears waivers he’ll surely become a free agent and look to latch on with a new club — likely on a minor league deal. The new team would only owe him the prorated minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster/injured list.

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Los Angeles Angels Transactions Jack Lopez Luis Guillorme Niko Kavadas Willie Calhoun

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