A’s Re-Sign Michael Stefanic To Minor League Deal
The Athletics re-signed infielder Michael Stefanic to a minor league contract. He’s back in the Triple-A lineup tonight as the designated hitter for the Aviators.
Stefanic elected free agency yesterday after being outrighted from the A’s roster one day earlier. He’d been designated for assignment on Saturday when they acquired Alika Williams from Pittsburgh. That ended Stefanic’s brief stint on the big league roster.
The A’s had called him up last Tuesday when they lost Jacob Wilson to the injured list. Stefanic played twice, once starting at second base and entering the other game as a pinch-hitter. He went 2-5 with a run scored. It marks five consecutive years with some MLB action for the 30-year-old infielder. He’s a lifetime .231/.315/.269 hitter at the major league level.
The righty-hitting Stefanic has been a fantastic Triple-A performer throughout his career. He owns a .326/.422/.447 batting line in more than 2000 plate appearances. Stefanic has elite strike zone judgment and pure contact skills, but he doesn’t hit for much power. He’s also more of a second/third baseman than a true shortstop, which limits his value off the bench for MLB clubs. That’s evidenced by the A’s going with Williams as a more valuable defender behind their middle infield pairing of Jeff McNeil and fill-in shortstop Darell Hernaiz.
Michael Stefanic Elects Free Agency
Infielder Michael Stefanic has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Athletics outrighted him to Triple-A yesterday. Since he has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject further such assignments. He has exercised that right and heads to the open market.
Stefanic, 30, is a journeyman depth infielder. He can bounce around the infield and has torched Triple-A pitching in his career. That has led to a few big league opportunities that he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. In 294 major league plate appearances, he has a .231/.315/.269 batting line. The A’s just added him to their roster when Jacob Wilson got hurt, but they designated Stefanic for assignment a few days later when they acquired Alika Williams.
As mentioned, Stefanic has huge Triple-A numbers, with a .326/.422/.447 line at that level over the years. He generally has a contact-based approach, not hitting for too much power but rarely striking out. He provides defensive versatility, with experience at all four infield spots and the outfield corners in his minor league career. In the big leagues, he has mostly played second base, with brief appearances at third and shortstop.
Stefanic is out of options, which makes it hard for him to hold a roster spot for a lengthy period of time. The A’s added him when they had a need but quickly pivoted and bumped him off the roster.
In these situations, it’s common for the player to return to his previous club on a new minor league deal, but Stefanic can at least explore the market to see if there’s a better opportunity somewhere else. The A’s would probably be happy to get him back with both Wilson and Max Muncy on the IL right now, leaving them a bit shorthanded on the dirt.
Photo courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Imagn Images
Athletics Outright Michael Stefanic
The Athletics sent infielder Michael Stefanic outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, per the MLB.com transaction tracker. They’d designated him for assignment on Saturday when they acquired Alika Williams from Pittsburgh to replace Stefanic as a utility infielder.
Stefanic had a brief stint on the big league roster. The A’s had called him up on Tuesday when they lost Jacob Wilson to the injured list. Stefanic played twice, once starting at second base and entering the other game as a pinch-hitter. He went 2-5 with a run scored. It marks five consecutive years with some MLB action for the 30-year-old infielder. He’s a lifetime .231/.315/.269 hitter at the major league level.
The righty-hitting Stefanic has been a fantastic Triple-A performer throughout his career. He owns a .326/.422/.447 batting line in more than 2000 plate appearances. Stefanic has elite strike zone judgment and pure contact skills, but he doesn’t hit for much power. He’s also more of a second/third baseman than a true shortstop, which limits his value off the bench for MLB clubs. That’s evidenced by the A’s going with Williams as a more valuable defender behind their middle infield pairing of Jeff McNeil and fill-in shortstop Darell Hernaiz.
Stefanic has been outrighted a handful of times throughout his career. That gives him the right to elect free agency, though it seems likelier he’ll accept the assignment back to Las Vegas and hang around as non-roster infield depth.
A’s Acquire Alika Williams, Designate Michael Stefanic
The A’s announced that infielder Alika Williams was acquired in a trade with the Pirates in exchange for minor league righty Kyle Robinson. Infielder Michael Stefanic was designated for assignment to clear space for Williams on the Athletics’ 26-man and 40-man rosters, as the team officially selected Williams’ contract to the active roster.
Selected 37th overall by the Rays in the 2020 draft, Williams came to Pittsburgh in the June 2023 trade that brought Robert Stephenson to Tampa. Williams made his MLB debut in a Pirates uniform later that year, and went onto hit .202/.257/.271 over 208 plate appearances for the Buccos over the 2023-24 seasons. Pittsburgh designated Williams for assignment during the 2024-25 offseason and then outrighted him to Triple-A, where Williams hit an uninspiring .268/.329/.393 over 391 PA for Indianapolis during the 2025 campaign.
This year, Williams has hit .317/.385/.467 over 135 Triple-A plate appearances, representing one of the best offensive stretches of his pro career. Despite this hot bat, the Pirates apparently didn’t want to select Williams’ contract back to the 26-man roster just to be a bench guy, as Konnor Griffin and Brandon Lowe are the starting middle infielders, and Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo are being used at third base.
There’s more of an opportunity for Williams in Sacramento, as both Jacob Wilson and Max Muncy are on the Athletics’ 10-day injured list. Williams could see time at shortstop when Darell Hernaiz isn’t at the position, and some second base at-bats could become available in Jeff McNeil‘s place when a left-hander is on the mound.
Stefanic signed a minor league deal with the A’s last winter, and his contract was selected in the wake of Wilson’s IL placement earlier this week. After all of two games in an Athletics uniform, Stefanic’s tenure with the club may already be over, if he is claimed away on waivers or if he elects free agency over an outright assignment if he clears waivers. Because Stefanic has been outrighted in the past, he now has the ability to reject any future outrights in favor of free agency, though he could opt to stay with the A’s if he feels he’ll get more big league opportunities down the road.
Though Stefanic has hit only .231/.315/.269 over 294 career PA with the Angels, Blue Jays, and Athletics, he had posted some big numbers at Triple-A in the past. Like Williams, Stefanic also has a wealth of experience at shortstop, second base, and third base, plus Stefanic has a handful of games as a first baseman and at both corner outfield positions.
Robinson is a 22-year-old righty who was an 11th-round pick for the A’s in the 2024 draft. The Texas Tech product pitched at both the high-A and Double-A levels last season, but returned to high-A Lansing this year to post a 3.62 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate, and 11.4% walk rate across 27 1/3 innings. Robinson has started 27 of his 34 games as a professional, but he’ll need both miss more bats or improve his control to remain as any kind of a viable starter candidate.
Athletics Announce Several Roster Moves
The A’s announced a broad slate of roster moves Tuesday. In addition to their previously reported selection of Henry Bolte‘s contract from Triple-A, they’ve also selected Michael Stefanic‘s contract and placed shortstop Jacob Wilson on the 10-day injured list due to a left shoulder subluxation. Infielder Brett Harris was optioned to Triple-A as well, while minor league righty Eduarniel Núñez was designated for assignment. Additionally, the A’s noted that catcher Austin Wynns, whom they’d previously designated for assignment, cleared waivers and was released.
As covered this week, Bolte has been the hottest-hitting prospect in the minors. He’s a plus runner with developing pop who recently rattled off hits in an astonishing 12 consecutive plate appearances to boost his batting line to a mammoth .348/.418/.658. He’s popped a dozen homers, swiped 17 bags and should get plenty of run in center field with Denzel Clarke still on the shelf. Zack Gelof has been seeing a good bit of action in center, but the former second baseman will probably head back to the infield with both Wilson — whose known shoulder injury now has a formal designation — and Max Muncy on the injured list.
With two infielders shelved, the A’s will turn to Stefanic, who’ll be making his team debut. The longtime Angels farmhand has seen prior action in parts of four major league seasons. He’s mustered only a .227/.314/.267 slash in 289 big league plate appearances, but the 30-year-old Stefanic is a prolific Triple-A hitter. He’s played parts of six seasons at the top minor league level and touts a .326/.422/.447 batting line with a tiny 9.5% strikeout rate. Stefanic has marginal power, bottom-of-the-scale sprint speed and below-average defensive skills, but scouting reports from Baseball America, FanGraphs and MLB.com have placed 70 and 80 grades (on the 20-80 scale) on his pure hit tool over the years.
Núñez, 26, was one of four players the A’s acquired in last year’s blockbuster sending Mason Miller and JP Sears to the Padres. That package was headlined by top prospect Leo De Vries and also included a pair of quality rotation prospects in Braden Nett and Henry Baez. Núñez was the clear “fourth” prospect in the deal. The hope was that he could quickly reach the majors and give the A’s a power arm to plug into their bullpen, given that he’d already had a brief MLB call-up in San Diego and was enjoying success in Triple-A at the time of the swap.
In a way, that proved true. Núñez made his A’s debut just two days after the trade deadline last summer, but he struggled out of the gate. He pitched eight innings with the Athletics and was tagged for eight runs on nine hits, seven walks and a pair of hit batters. Núñez did fan nine batters, but when accounting for all the walks and the pair of batters he plunked, those nine punchouts only represented 23% of the opponents he faced.
Lackluster debut notwithstanding, the A’s surely had some hope that Núñez could turn things around in 2026. That hasn’t happened. Núñez has a respectable 4.61 ERA through 13 2/3 innings (2 1/3 in Double-A, 11 1/3 in Triple-A), but he’s walked 11 of his 67 opponents (16.4%) and plunked another two batters (3%). Since coming to the A’s organization last summer, Núñez has faced 155 batters between the majors and minors. A whopping 19.3% of them have reached base without putting a ball in play, whether by walk or hit-by-pitch. He’s also tossed six wild pitches in a total of 33 1/3 innings.
As concerning as the poor command — if not more concerning — is the precipitous velocity drop Núñez has experienced this season. He sat 98.1 mph on his four-seamer last year but is at an even 95 mph so far in 2026. Last year’s slider sat 88.5 mph. This year, it’s at 87 mph.
There’s no known injury for Núñez. He hasn’t been on the injured list and most recently pitched only two days ago. However, between the velocity drop and the poor command, the A’s probably feel there’s a chance they can pass him through waivers and hang onto him as non-roster depth. That may well be the case, but Núñez is a 26-year-old with a decent track record in the upper minors and a pair of minor league option years remaining. If he’s healthy and another club feels the velocity drop and/or command are fixable with some mechanical adjustments, it’s at least possible he’ll be claimed or flipped to another club in a small trade.
The A’s will have five days to trade Núñez or place him on outright waivers. The waiver process would take another 48 hours, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.
Athletics, Michael Stefanic Agree To Minor League Deal
The Athletics and infielder Michael Stefanic have agreed to a minor league deal, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The deal comes with an invite to big league Spring Training for the upcoming season.
Stefanic, 30 in February, has made cameos at the big league level in each of the past four MLB seasons. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Angels back in 2018, Stefanic played in the lower levels of the minors for a little over the year before the cancelled minor league season in 2020 wiped out a year of development. When he returned in 2021, he looked nothing short of excellent in the upper minors with a .336/.408/.493 slash line between the Double- and Triple-A levels. He struck out at just a 13.9% clip while walking 9.4% of the time. He hit for a bit of power in addition to that discipline, swatting 17 homers and 26 doubles in 125 games.
Stefanic’s minor league numbers have generally been more of the same; in five seasons at the Triple-A level, he’s a career .332/.427/.454 hitter. While he hasn’t come close to showing as much power as he did back in 2021, his contact and discipline has remained excellent for his level and allowed him to succeed with a contact-over-power profile while playing primarily second base but logging time all over the infield. Unfortunately for Stefanic, his game simply hasn’t translated at the big league level in the limited opportunities he’s received.
The 30-year-old is a career .227/.314/.267 hitter across 99 games and 289 plate appearances in the majors. His best stint at the big league level came with the Angels in 2023, when he slashed a solid .290/.380/.355 across 25 games. Those are excellent on-base numbers, but he was helped by a .333 BABIP he hasn’t been able to replicate since thanks to a paltry 22.2% Hard-Hit rate and a barrel rate of 0.0%. That complete lack of power is difficult to make work in the majors; Luis Arraez is virtually the only player in the modern game to find any sort of sustained success with that sort of approach, although others like Nick Madrigal have been able to hold their own in smaller samples.
The A’s will bring Stefanic in as some much-needed infield depth behind a group that is largely unproven outside of AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Jacob Wilson. Max Muncy was unable to make an impact in 63 games for the club this year, while Zack Gelof hasn’t impressed at the big league level since his debut 2023 season due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Players like Darell Hernaiz, Max Schuemann, and Brett Harris could provide depth behind that group, but adding another option like Stefanic makes some sense given a thin market for infield talent this winter and the Athletics’ typical lack of resources. If the A’s don’t manage to bring in another infield bat to their mix this winter, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Stefanic compete with someone like Schuemann for a bench job headed into camp this spring.
Ryan Borucki, Michael Stefanic Elect Free Agency
Left-hander Ryan Borucki and infielder Michael Stefanic have both elected free agency, as per the MILB.com transactions wire. Both players were outrighted off the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster during the regular season and chose to accept the outright assignments rather than elect free agency at the time, but it was expected that they would opt into minor league free agency at some point after season’s end.
Borucki began his career in Toronto’s organization and spent parts of his first five MLB seasons (2018-22) with the Jays before he was traded to the Mariners in June 2022. After a brief stint in the Cubs’ farm system, the southpaw’s next big league action came with the Pirates from 2023-25 until he was designated for assignment and released in August. The Jays soon picked him up on a minor league contract and he got a brief run on their active roster in September, appearing in four games before being DFA’ed and outrighted.
Over 256 1/3 innings in the Show, Borucki has a career 4.28 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate, and 48.3% grounder rate. Those numbers included a 4.63 ERA in 35 combined innings with the Pirates and Blue Jays in 2025. Borucki is the type of specialist reliever whose career was heavily impacted when MLB instituted the three-batter rule for relievers in 2020, as Borucki has struggled badly against right handed-hitting batters but dominant against left-handed bats.
Between those splits, his low strikeout totals, and the natural variance involved with being a grounder specialist, Borucki will very likely again have to settle for a minor league contract as he enters his age-32 season. He is bound to land somewhere since so many teams need bullpen depth and/or left-handed relief help, but Borucki may be facing another round of DFA and outrights unless he can both earn a look in a big league bullpen and start producing consistent results.
Stefanic began his pro career as an undrafted free agent with the Angels in 2018, and broke into the majors by appearing in 90 games with Los Angeles over the 2022-24 seasons. He inked a minors deal with Toronto last winter and had his contract selected for a nine-game cup of coffee in May when the Jays were in need of infield depth. Stefanic produced a .462 OPS over 25 plate appearances in 2025, and he has hit .227/.314/.267 in 289 career PA in the Show.
This uninspiring slash line is a far cry from the impressive numbers Stefanic has posted in Triple-A, as he has batted .332/.427/.454 over 1884 PA with the Blue Jays’ and Angels’ top affiliates. Between these stats and his ability to play all over the infield, Stefanic should catch on somewhere on another minors contract, but he is out of minor league options.
Blue Jays Outright Michael Stefanic
The Blue Jays outrighted Michael Stefanic off their 40-man roster and assigned the infielder to Triple-A Buffalo after Stefanic cleared waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling. Stefanic had the opportunity to elect free agency since he has been previously outrighted in his career, but he instead chose to remain in Toronto’s organization.
After signing a minor league deal with the Jays back in November, Stefanic had his contract selected to the MLB roster in early May since Toronto wanted more infield depth in the wake of Andres Gimenez‘s quad strain. Stefanic appeared in nine games for the Blue Jays and hit .182/.280/.182 over 25 plate appearances before he was designated for assignment earlier this week, as the Jays needed roster room to accommodate Gimenez’s return from the 10-day injured list.
The 29-year-old Stefanic has hit only .227/.314/.267 across 289 career PA in the majors over the last four seasons, with most of that experience coming with the Angels before his Blue Jays stint this year. While known more for his defensive versatility than his bat, Stefanic has an eye-opening .344/.436/.468 slash line in 1561 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Since this hot hitting in the minors has yet to translate to much success against MLB pitching, Stefanic may have felt more comfortable staying with the Jays rather than testing a potentially uncertain free agent market. His removal from the 40-man roster will make a future call-up slightly trickier from a transactional standpoint, plus the Jays could also turn to Will Wagner, Orelvis Martinez, or Leo Jimenez (who are all on the 40-man) in the event of another infield vacancy on the active roster.
Blue Jays Designate Michael Stefanic, Ali Sánchez
The Blue Jays have designated infielder Michael Stefanic and catcher Ali Sánchez for assignment, per a team announcement. Their spots on the roster will go to second baseman Andrés Giménez and catcher Tyler Heineman, who have formally been reinstated from the injured list.
Stefanic, 29, appeared in nine games for the Jays after Giménez hit the injured list and went 4-for-22 with four singles, three walks and three strikeouts. That marked the fourth season in which he’s logged big league time but the first that he’s done so for any team other than the Angels. Stefanic has appeared in 99 MLB games and batted .227/.314/.267 in 289 trips to the plate.
For all his struggles in limited big league time, Stefanic has excelled at the top level in the minors. He’s played parts of five Triple-A seasons and touts a .344/.436/.468 batting line in a hefty sample of 1568 plate appearances. Stefanic has drawn 190 walks in Triple-A (12.2%) against just 147 strikeouts (9.7%). He has nearly 3000 career innings at second base and about 700 innings of work at both shortstop and third base. He’s regarded as a poor defender at each spot, however, and offers below-average grades in both power and speed as well.
The 28-year-old Sánchez went 2-for-11 with a double in his short time with the Jays. He was selected to the major league roster when Heineman hit the 7-day concussion injured list. This is Sánchez’s fourth season with a brief big league appearance, but he’s never tallied more than 31 games or 96 plate appearances at the major league level in a given season. He’s a .176/.217/.222 hitter in 43 MLB games/121 plate appearances.
Though he’s never hit in his limited MLB time, Sánchez is regarded as a quality defensive backstop with a nice track record at the plate in Triple-A. He’s played parts of six seasons there and turned in a .266/.338/.399 batting line. It’s not exactly standout production, particularly in typically hitter-friendly Triple-A settings, but Sánchez puts the ball in play at a better-than-average clip and walks in nearly 10% of his plate appearances in Triple-A; for a catcher with a sound defensive skill set, that’s decent production — certainly enough to make him a quality No. 3 or No. 4 catcher on a team’s depth chart.
The maximum length of the DFA window for either Stefanic or Sánchez is seven days. The Jays are free to explore trades or place them on waivers along the way, although since waivers are a 48-hour process, they’d need to have a trade lined up within five days or else go the waiver route with either or both players.
Blue Jays Select Michael Stefanic, DFA Dillon Tate, Place Andrés Giménez On IL
The Blue Jays announced that they have placed second baseman Andrés Giménez on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain. Infielder Michael Stefanic had his contract selected from Triple-A to replace Giménez on the active roster. In a corresponding move to open a space on the 40-man, right-handed reliever Dillon Tate was designated for assignment.
Giménez exited Wednesday’s game against the Angels early after hurting himself while running to first base on a bunt hit. He sat out the series finale on Thursday, so his IL placement is retroactive to May 8. The second baseman has struggled at the plate so far in his first season with the Blue Jays. Still, he has offered value with his Gold Glove-caliber defense and strong baserunning. Needless to say, his glove and his legs will be missed for however long he is out. As of right now, it’s hard to say how long that will be; the severity of his strain has not yet been made clear. In Giménez’s place, Ernie Clement will most likely get the bulk of the starts at second base.
Stefanic signed with the Angels as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and made his big league debut for L.A. in 2022. He appeared in 90 games for the Angels from 2022-24, seeing time at both second and third base. The infielder slashed .232/.317/.275 with a 72 wRC+ in 264 trips to the plate. Stefanic elected free agency last fall after he was outrighted off of L.A.’s 40-man roster, and he quickly latched on with the Blue Jays, signing a minor league pact in November. He has continued to mash at Triple-A Buffalo, much like he did as a minor leaguer in the Angels’ system. So far this year, he hit .319 with an .826 OPS and a 142 wRC+ prior to his call-up.
The Blue Jays claimed Tate off waivers from the Orioles in September 2024. He was a dependable middle reliever for Baltimore from 2020-22, pitching 158 innings with a 3.65 ERA and a 3.62 SIERA. However, he missed the 2023 season with a right elbow flexor strain and has not looked nearly as effective since his return. He pitched particularly poorly in his five appearances for Toronto this season, giving up three runs on seven hits and six walks in 5 1/3 innings of work.