Rockies Claim Sammy Peralta From Brewers
The Rockies have claimed left-hander Sammy Peralta off the Brewers’ waiver wire, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Colorado has officially announced the move, and shifted right-hander McCade Brown to the 60-day injured list to create space for Peralta on the 40-man roster. Peralta has been optioned to the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate.
The Brew Crew designated Peralta for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Luis Matos. Peralta’s tenure with the Brewers will end after two Triple-A appearances and zero big league games, as Milwaukee just claimed Peralta off waivers from the Angels last October.
Appearing in each of the last three MLB seasons, Peralta’s resume in the Show consists of 30 appearances and 45 2/3 innings with the White Sox and Angels from 2023-25. He has a 5.12 ERA, 17.3% strikeout rate, and 11.2% walk rate, and Peralta has averaged only 89.3mph on his fastball during his brief time in the majors.
Peralta drastically cut back on his fastball in 2025 and also cut back on his changeup usage, instead incorporating a sinker a third of the time and boosting his slider up to a 49% usage rate, without any real change in results. While his ERA jumped from 4.80 in 2024 with the Sox to 7.59 with the Angels in 2025, Peralta’s underlying metrics didn’t change much, so his change in pitch repertoire didn’t have any impact on his performance either under the hood or in terms of bottom-line results.
Peralta routinely pitches multiple innings in relief, making him a useful depth option for the Rockies’ bullpen. Brennan Bernardino is also the only left-hander in Colorado’s current relief mix, which could give Peralta some extra opportunity to stick with the team if and when he is eventually called up from Triple-A.
Brown started the season on Colorado’s 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, and the move to the 60-day IL ensures that his 2026 debut won’t come until at least the last week of May. 2025 marked Brown’s first taste of the big leagues, as he posted a 7.36 ERA over 25 2/3 innings and seven starts for the Rockies.
Rockies Outright Keegan Thompson
5:12pm: Thompson has already cleared waivers and is indeed accepting the outright assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Although Colorado announced the DFA this afternoon, they apparently placed him on waivers earlier in the week.
12:37pm: The Rockies announced they’ve designated reliever Keegan Thompson for assignment. The right-hander is out of options and didn’t win a spot in Warren Schaeffer’s bullpen. Colorado selected the contracts of backup catcher Brett Sullivan and rookie first baseman T.J. Rumfield, each of whom was informed they’d made the team over the weekend. Thompson’s DFA cleared one spot on the 40-man roster, while the other was opened with Pierson Ohl (Tommy John surgery) going on the 60-day injured list.
Colorado also optioned hard-throwing righty Seth Halvorsen, who walked 12 batters in five innings this spring. They made five more season-opening IL placements. First baseman Blaine Crim (left oblique strain), utility player Tyler Freeman (back tightness), and outfielder Zac Veen (right knee contusion) all land on the 10-day injured list. Righties McCade Brown (shoulder inflammation) and RJ Petit (Tommy John surgery) open on the 15-day injured list. Colorado will move Petit to the 60-day IL whenever they need a 40-man roster spot. Freeman’s injury means first baseman/outfielder Troy Johnston claims the last bench role.
Thompson’s DFA wasn’t motivated by 40-man concerns but rather his out-of-options status. The Rockies opted to carry Jaden Hill and Zach Agnos in middle relief over Halvorsen and Thompson. They’re dedicating long relief roles to Chase Dollander and Antonio Senzatela. Trade pickup Brennan Bernardino is their only left-hander in the group, while they’ll use Jimmy Herget, Juan Mejia and Victor Vodnik in the late innings.
Colorado claimed Thompson off waivers from the Reds in January. He was on a split contract with Cincinnati that would have paid $1.3MM if he made the MLB roster and $350K for time spent in the minors. The Reds tried to sneak him through waivers but the Rockies placed a claim to take a look at him in camp. The 31-year-old righty had a tough spring, allowing 10 runs with six free passes (five walks and a hit batter) against four strikeouts over 12 innings.
There’s a decent chance Thompson sticks in the organization. He’ll likely go on waivers this week. If he clears, he’s unlikely to decline a minor league assignment and walk away from his $350K Triple-A salary. Thompson spent all of last year at the Triple-A level in the Cubs’ system. He turned in a 4.50 ERA while striking out nearly 30% of opponents across 64 innings.
Rockies Select McCade Brown
TODAY: The Rockies officially announced the selection of Brown’s contract. In corresponding moves, left-hander Lucas Gilbreath was optioned to Triple-A, and right-hander Dugan Darnell was moved to the 60-day injured list. Darnell was placed on the 15-day IL two days ago due to hip inflammation, and the shift to the 60-day IL means that his rookie season has officially been ended. Darnell posted a 3.86 ERA over his first 11 2/3 innings in the majors, though he had more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five).
AUGUST 22: The Rockies will promote pitcher McCade Brown to make his MLB debut on Sunday against the Pirates, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The 25-year-old will step into the rotation spot vacated when the Rox released Austin Gomber this afternoon. General manager Bill Schmidt tells Harding that the Rockies weren’t going to make an effort to re-sign Gomber, a free agent, and preferred to take a look at Brown to see if he should be part of next year’s Opening Day roster. They’ll need to clear a 40-man roster spot this weekend.
Brown was a third-round pick out of Indiana in 2021. Colorado left him exposed in last winter’s Rule 5 draft, where he went unprotected. The 6’6″ righty has had a breakout minor league season that might’ve garnered him legitimate consideration in the upcoming Rule 5. Colorado was going to add him to the 40-man roster at the beginning of the winter regardless. They’ll select his contract a couple months earlier to evaluate him over six or seven starts down the stretch.
On the one hand, they’ll give him a soft landing with a debut against the league’s worst lineup at PNC Park. He won’t have much margin for error, though, as the Bucs will send Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes to the mound. Brown will skip past the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and make the jump from Double-A. He has logged 43 innings with a 3.14 earned run average, striking out 33.5% of opponents. He’d punched out more than 35% of batters faced with a sub-2.00 ERA over nine High-A starts earlier in the year.
That production came against mostly younger competition, largely because of injury. Brown only made 18 appearances over three college seasons. He lost all of 2023 and the first half of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was all over the place with his command when he returned last year, which isn’t uncommon for pitchers working back from surgery.
Brown has never placed among Colorado’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs gave him an honorable mention in his writeup of the system in January, writing at the time that he was likely to end up in the bullpen. That could still be the case, but the Rox have nothing to lose in trying him out as a starter. Ryan Feltner leads their rotation with a 4.75 ERA, and he’s been limited to six starts by injury. Kyle Freeland is their only other returning starter who has allowed fewer than six earned runs per nine. Brown doesn’t need to show much to have a chance at cracking the ’26 rotation.