Minor MLB Transactions: 9/27/20
With the final day of the 2020 regular season underway, a number of teams made a final roster move before the action kicked off. We’ll use this post to track some of those moves…
- The Pirates placed catcher Jacob Stallings into the 7-day concussion protocol, the team announced. Andrew Susac was added to the active roster for today’s action. To make room on the 40-man roster, Keone Kela was moved to the 45-day injured list. Susac had been on the taxi squad. The 30-year-old backstop made appearances in the bigs for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2018 with the Giants, Brewers, and Orioles. He spent 2019 with the Royals Triple-A affiliate. Stallings, 30, misses the final day of the season after slashing .248/.326/.376 across 42 games and 143 plate appearances. Stallings was the Pirates’ primary catcher for the first time in his career this season, starting 40 of the team’s 60 games.
- Joe Hudson has been recalled from the Mariners’ alternate training site for the final game of the season, per the Mariners’ PR department. Luis Torrens was placed on the 10-day injured list with back spasms. Hudson is making his third trip to the Mariners this season having one 3 for 17 in 9 games thus far. The 24-year-old catcher has started 16 games behind the plate for Seattle since coming over from the Padres at the deadline. Between both clubs, he slashed .257/.325/.371 across 78 plate appearances. It’s notable that Mariners’ manager Scott Servais noted that the offseason plan for Torrens will be to get strong enough to handle a full 162-game season, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns. The Mariners would like Torrens to add 8-10 pounds before next season.
- The Cardinals activated outfielder Austin Dean before Sunday’s game, optioning Nabil Crismatt to the team’s alternate site, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com (via Twitter). The 25-year-old Crismatt made 6 appearances out of the bullpen for the Cardinals this season with a 3.24 ERA over 8 1/3 innings. This was the first taste of big-league action for the right-hander. Dean was acquired in the offseason from the Marlins, but he’s appeared in just 3 games for the Cardinals this season. The 26-year-old has been out since mid-September with a right elbow strain.
Cardinals Select Nabil Crismatt
The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract off right-hander Nabil Crismatt. Fellow righty Roel Ramirez was optioned to the alternate training site in a corresponding move. The Cards are also bringing right-hander Jake Woodford up as the 29th man for tonight’s twin bill against the Cubs.
Crismatt, 25, was a minor league signee whom the Cardinals invited to Spring Training over the winter. He’s spent most of his career in the Mets organization and was with the Mariners organization in 2019. A starter for most of his career in the minors, Crismatt has struggled in parts of two Triple-A stints but carries a 2.82 ERA with 9.3 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9 through 195 Double-A frames. Home runs have been an issue for him in the launching pad that is the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, but even in spite of the long balls, he’s averaged nearly 11 punchouts per nine frames at that level.
The Cards have had seven players make their MLB debuts since they resumed play after a team Covid-19 outbreak wiped out more than two weeks of their schedule. Crismatt will be the eighth if and when he gets into the game. He’ll also serve as rotation depth or bullpen length for the remainder of the season as the Cards work their way back toward a full-strength roster.