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Rob Brantly

Marlins Select Janson Junk

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The Marlins are selecting the contract of right-hander Janson Junk, according to a team announcement. Right-hander Lake Bachar was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Junk on the active roster, while a 40-man roster spot was opened up by transferring catcher Rob Brantly to the 60-day injured list.

Junk, 29, was a 22nd-round pick by the Yankees back in 2019 who made his big league debut with the Angels back in 2021. Once a fairly well-regarded pitching prospect, Junk pitched to a 4.74 ERA and a 5.22 FIP in 24 2/3 innings spread across seven appearances (six starts) in the majors during the 2021 and ’22 seasons. Following the 2022 campaign, the Angels traded Junk to Milwaukee as part of the package for outfielder Hunter Renfroe. Junk didn’t get much of an opportunity in the majors with the Brewers either, however, pitching just 15 1/3 innings for the club with a 5.87 ERA and 5.22 FIP between the 2023 and ’24 seasons.

Those struggles in Milwaukee culminated in Junk eventually being bounced around the majors in the second half of last year. Junk was designated for assignment by the Brewers in late July and was claimed briefly by the Astros before being DFA’d once again and finding himself in Oakland. Junk appeared in just one game for the club but surrendered seven runs without recording an out and was eventually outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September of last year. He then reached minor league free agency during the offseason and signed a minors pact with the Marlins back in February.

Junk’s time with the Marlins organization has seen him pitch extremely well at Triple-A Jacksonville. In nine appearances (eight starts) for Miami’s affiliate, he’s pitched to a 2.48 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate in 45 1/3 innings of work. For a pitcher with a 4.03 career ERA across five seasons at the Triple-A level, it’s a noticeable step forward, and those impressive minor league numbers were clearly enough to get the attention of a Marlins club that’s always looking for extra arms who can pitch in flexible roles. He’ll join the Miami bullpen for the time being, where there should be opportunities for advancement into a late-inning role if he performs well given the club’s lackluster 5.09 bullpen ERA.

As for Bachar, the soon-to-be 30-year-old hurler is in his second season with the big league Marlins. He’s posted a 4.50 ERA in 36 innings of work as an up-and-down reliever for the club to this point, and while that league average (101 ERA+) production is hardly exciting, it’s the sort of effectiveness that should keep him in the conversation for appearances with the rebuilding Marlins going forward. Brantly, meanwhile, heads to the 60-day IL after sustaining a lat strain in April. That’ll keep him out of commission for at least another month, though a trio of Liam Hicks, Agustin Ramirez, and Nick Fortes seem perfectly capable of holding down the fort while Brantly is on the shelf.

Marlins Designate Xzavion Curry For Assignment, Select Rob Brantly

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The Marlins announced a series of roster moves today. Right-hander Edward Cabrera was reinstated from the 15-day injured list and catcher Rob Brantly was selected to the roster. In corresponding moves, catcher Nick Fortes was placed on the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain and righty Xzavion Curry was designated for assignment.

The Marlins started the season with Nick Fortes and Rule 5 pick Liam Hicks as their catching duo. Fortes is generally considered to be more of the glove-first variety. Hicks hasn’t hit much in his first eight major league games but has been known more for his bat, with questionable work behind the plate. Prospect Agustín Ramírez is also on the 40-man and has huge offensive numbers but prospect evaluators have also been suspicious about his work behind the plate.

Rather than recall Ramírez and have two weak defenders for the catching position, the Fish have replaced Fortes with Brantly. He’s a 35-year-old veteran depth guy who signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in the offseason. He made his debut back in 2012 and has received scattered playing time over the years. Despite debuting over a decade ago, he has appeared in just 138 games in his career. 2017 was the last time he got into more than six games in a season. 2013 was the last time he went beyond 14.

He is not really known for his bat, with a .222/.284/.322 line in his major league career. His minor league work has been better, with a .272/.357/.396 slash and 102 wRC+ since the canceled 2020 season. His work behind the plate in Triple-A has generally been well regarded. He can take up some of the catching duties and has certainly been around the game longer than the 25-year-old Hicks. That could provide the club with some veteran experience to help manage the pitching staff, which is largely composed of fairly inexperienced hurlers and veterans the Marlins are hoping to trade.

To open a 40-man spot for Brantly and an active roster spot for Cabrera, they have designated Curry for assignment. Cabrera started the season on the IL due to a blister on his throwing hand but is now ready to return.

Curry, 26, was added to the roster a few days into the season. Thanks to spring injuries suffered by Cabrera and Ryan Weathers, the staff was a bit taxed in the early going. He pitched on March 30 and April 2 but his usage has fallen off, with just one appearance on April 8th since then.

He’ll now head into DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Marlins technically have five days to explore trade possibilities. Curry was passed through waivers unclaimed in February. He hasn’t had many opportunities to raise his stock since then but other clubs have been going through injury troubles, perhaps opening an opportunity for him somewhere.

His major league work isn’t terribly inspiring, with a 4.38 earned run average, 15.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate in 150 innings. He has flashed better numbers in the minors. In 2021 and 2022, he tossed 219 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.28 ERA, 28.7% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. He does have an option remaining, so an acquiring club would not need to put him on the active roster in the short term.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

Marlins, Rob Brantly Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Marlins are in agreement with catcher Rob Brantly on a minor league deal with an invite to MLB Spring Training, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. The veteran returns to the organization with which he made his MLB debut more than a decade ago.

Brantly, now 35, was a Tigers draftee whom Detroit included in their 2012 deadline deal to acquire Aníbal Sánchez and Omar Infante from Miami. The Marlins called him up within a month of the trade. Brantly appeared in 98 games for the Fish, hitting .235/.298/.325 over 356 plate appearances. Miami lost him on waivers to the White Sox during the 2014-15 offseason.

That kicked off an extended career as a journeyman depth catcher. Brantly has appeared at the major league level in seven of the past 10 seasons. He hasn’t appeared in more than 14 big league games in any of those years. Brantly still has far more MLB experience with the Marlins than he does with any other team. He has appeared in 39 contests with five different teams since the end of the 2013 campaign.

Three of those games were last year as a member of the Rays. Brantly had a brief stint on Tampa Bay’s big league roster while starting catcher Ben Rortvedt was away attending to the birth of his child. He spent the rest of the year with Triple-A Durham, hitting .250/.316/.394 over 179 trips to the plate. Brantly is a .266/.324/.390 hitter over parts of 12 Triple-A seasons.

The Marlins have three catchers on their 40-man roster: Nick Fortes, Liam Hicks and Agustín Ramírez. Hicks is a Rule 5 pick out of the Rangers organization. Ramírez is a highly-regarded prospect who headlined last summer’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade return. Fortes is the only member of that trio who has played in the big leagues. Brantly brings a lot of experience to the upper minors. He could back up Ramírez at Triple-A Jacksonville to open the season.

Nine Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

Infielders

Pitchers

Rays Outright Rob Brantly

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August 27: Brantly cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A Durham, per the MLB.com transaction log. It isn’t clear whether he’ll elect free agency or rejoin the Bulls for the rest of the season.

August 24: The Rays announced that catcher Rob Brantly was designated for assignment.  Catcher Ben Rortvedt was activated from the team’s family emergency list in the corresponding move, and Rortvedt will resume his usual share of the catching duties with Alex Jackson.  Rortvedt was initially placed the paternity list last week, but Bally Sports’ Tricia Whitaker reported (via X) that Rortvedt was moved to the family emergency list in order to spend a bit of extra time with the newborn baby.

Brantly’s minor league contract was selected to Tampa’s roster at the time of Rortvedt’s departure, and Brantly’s brief stint with the Rays saw him make nine plate appearances over three games.  It marked his first Major League playing time since he appeared in a single game with the Yankees during the 2022 season.

A third-round pick for the Tigers in the 2010 draft, Brantly was traded to the Marlins in July 2012 and he appeared in 98 games with 356 PA for Miami over the 2012-13 seasons.  That initial dose of playing time remains the bulk of Brantly’s MLB resume, as he has since received 109 PA in 39 games spread over seven different seasons, while bouncing around the league as catching depth.  Tampa Bay signed Brantly to a minor league contract this past offseason, making the Rays the 12th different organization Brantly has been part of since the start of his pro career (plus he has been with the White Sox on two separate occasions).

This journeyman career has included multiple outright assignments, so if Brantly clears waivers and the Rays outright him to Triple-A, the 35-year-old has the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency.  Brantly’s reputation as a solid defender who works well with pitchers could earn him interest from yet another club in free agency or on the waiver wire, or Brantly might just opt to remain with the Rays at the Triple-A level.

Rays Select Rob Brantly

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8:40pm: Manager Kevin Cash told reporters that Fairbanks would be shut down from throwing entirely for two to four weeks (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). That makes it seem unlikely he’ll be able to return this season, though Cash didn’t officially rule his closer out for the year.

5:20pm: The Rays announced a series of roster moves today, including selecting catcher Rob Brantly to the roster. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow backstop Ben Rortvedt, who has been placed on the paternity list. The club already had a 40-man vacancy and won’t need to make a corresponding move there. The Rays also placed right-hander Pete Fairbanks on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain, as was reported yesterday, with righty Joel Kuhnel recalled to take his spot. There’s still no word on exactly how long Fairbanks will be out of action.

Brantly, 35, is a veteran depth catcher who has frequently carved out part-time roles in the major leagues. He has already appeared in eight major league seasons, suiting up for the Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Giants and Yankees, with minor league appearances for several other clubs. But all those stints have been fairly brief, as his career highs for games and plate appearances were set with the 2013 Marlins, when he got into 67 contests and stepped to the plate 243 times.

He signed a minor league deal with the Rays this offseason and has been with Triple-A Durham all year so far. He has appeared in 45 games for the Bulls, hitting .262/.323/.418 for a wRC+ of 91. That’s a bit better than his major league track record, which consists of a .225/.287/.326 line and a 68 wRC+ in his 456 plate appearances.

The Rays have split most of their playing time behind the plate between Rortvedt and Alex Jackson this year. René Pinto is also on the 40-man roster but he was placed on the minor league injured list at the end of July and hasn’t played in the past few weeks. With Rortvedt now stepping away for a few days, Brantly will slot in next to Jackson to share the catching duties for the time being. Brantly is out of options, so he may end up getting designated for assignment when Rortvedt returns.

Latest On Rays’ Roster Plans

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6:15pm: Topkin adds that each of Uwasawa, Brantly, and Smith have upward mobility clauses in their contracts rather than traditional opt outs, meaning that each can request to be made available to the other 29 clubs, at which point if a club agrees to give a given player an active roster spot the Rays will have the choice between adding the player to their 40-man roster or trading him to the interested team. Per Topkin, Brantly, Uwasawa and Smith have all told the Rays that they wish to use their assignment clauses.

10:57am: The Rays reassigned right-handers Naoyuki Uwasawa, Burch Smith, and Joe Record, catchers Francisco Mejia and Rob Brantly, and outfielder Jake Mangum to their minor league camp on Friday.  Manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that while none of the six players would be making the Opening Day roster, the Rays were hoping the entire group would remain as minor league depth.

Uwasawa, Smith, and Brantly have some say in their futures, as each of the trio can opt out of their minor league contracts if they aren’t included on the big league roster.  Erasmo Ramirez is another veteran in camp on a minors deal, yet Topkin reports that Ramirez will report to Triple-A and pass on exercising his opt-out clause.

Uwasawa is perhaps the most interesting name in the group, as the 30-year-old is making the jump to MLB after nine seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.  The righty signed a split contract with the Rays that will pay him $2.5MM in the majors and $225K for his time in the minors, as well as a $25K signing bonus and $1MM worth of incentive clauses that would start to kick in if Uwasawa pitched at least 70 big league innings this season.

Though Uwasawa was offered guaranteed contracts by other MLB teams, he chose Tampa Bay “because the success and the rich history of pitching development really intrigued me,” as the right-hander said in a statement at the time of his signing.  It isn’t yet clear if Uwasawa will now stay with the Rays, as he told Topkin (X link) that he would be speaking with his agent to weigh options, including opting out if another team is willing to give him a clearer shot at pitching in the bigs.

Uwasawa didn’t help his case for a roster spot by posting a 13.03 ERA over four appearances and 9 2/3 innings in Spring Training, though he looked a lot sharper in his most recent Grapefruit League outing — he held the Orioles to one run on four hits and a walk over four innings on March 15.  As both Topkin and Cash noted, some adjustment time was inevitable for Uwasawa in his first exposure to the North American style of baseball.

With Brantly and Mejia now cut, it essentially finalizes Alex Jackson’s expected role as the Rays’ backup catcher behind Rene Pinto.  The catching position has long been both a revolving door and a question mark for the Rays, and Topkin feels another backstop might still be added if the Rays like another name who might become available as rival teams also shed players from their spring rosters.

Rays Sign Rob Brantly To Minor League Deal

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve signed veteran catcher Rob Brantly to a minor league contract and invited him to big league camp in spring training. He’ll compete with fellow non-roster invitee Alex Jackson and any subsequent catching additions for playing time alongside Rene Pinto.

Brantly, 34, has appeared in parts of eight big league seasons but never tallied more than 243 plate appearances in a single MLB campaign. He hasn’t appeared in more than six MLB games in a season since 2017 and didn’t appear in the Majors at all last year, spending 2023 with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A club in Buffalo.

In 456 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, Brantly carries a .225/.287/.326 batting line. He’s also suited up for a whopping 11 Triple-A seasons and delivered a .267/.325/.390 output in more than 2500 plate appearances. Brantly sports a career 29% caught-stealing rate, and Baseball Prospectus has credited him with strong framing marks in the upper minors dating back to 2019.

It still seems quite likely that additional catching help will be brought in by the Rays. Pinto is the only backstop on the team’s 40-man roster at present, and although he’s a talented defender he’s also a 27-year-old with just 188 big league plate appearances and a career .235/.255/.399 batting line in that tiny sample. Brantly is a long shot to crack the Opening Day roster, but he’s an experienced hand who can work with catching prospect Dominic Keegan and the team’s young pitchers in spring training and/or in Triple-A Durham this season.

Blue Jays Announce Five Minor League Deals

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The Blue Jays today announced five minor league deals, including the previously reported deals for right-handers Julian Fernández and Casey Lawrence. The other three are right-hander Drew Hutchison, lefty Paul Fry and catcher Rob Brantly. All five will receive invitations to major league Spring Training.

Hutchison, 32, returns to the organization that drafted him in 2009. He worked his way up to the majors in 2012 and had some success with the Jays, including a 2014 season where he made 32 starts with a 4.48 ERA. Unfortunately, his performance dipped in subsequent years and he was traded to the Pirates in 2016. He’s gone into journeyman mode since that time, also suiting up for the Phillies, Rangers and Tigers. With Detroit in 2022, made 18 starts and 10 relief appearances, posting an ERA of 4.53 over 105 1/3 innings. His 14.7% strikeout rate was well below par, but his 9.1% walk rate and 40.3% ground ball rate were close to league average. He’ll give the Blue Jays some veteran rotation depth in the minors, should injuries create a need during the season.

Fry, 30, seemed to have a breakout in 2020. He made 22 appearances for the Orioles that year with a 2.45 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 57.6% ground ball rate. His 9.2% walk rate was a tad high, but it was a few ticks better than the 11.4% rate he posted the year before. Unfortunately, his improved control slipped from his grasp over the next two seasons. In 2021, his walk rate shot up to 16.3%, pushing his ERA to 6.08 in the process. His 2022 was similar, with a 14.8% walk rate and 6.23 ERA, a year that included a trade to the Diamondbacks, who outrighted him in August.

Assuming Yusei Kikuchi is in the club’s rotation, then Tim Mayza and Matt Gage are the only lefty relievers on the 40-man. If Fry can improve his command at all, he still has a couple of option years remaining and between three and four years of MLB service time. If he earns his way back on the 40-man, he could be retained for future seasons via arbitration.

Brantly, 33, is a journeyman catcher who has spent time in the big leagues with the Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Giants and Yankees. Though he’s played in parts of eight MLB seasons, he’s gotten into just 135 big league games and made just 456 plate appearances. He has a .225/.287/.326 batting line for his career for a wRC+ of 68. He’s made it to the bigs in each of the past four seasons but didn’t get into more than six games in any of them. The Jays have Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk to handle the big league catching duties but traded Gabriel Moreno to the Diamondbacks in the Daulton Varsho trade. Varsho himself has plenty of catching experience but seems ticketed for outfield work for the Jays. Brantly gives the club a veteran depth option to have on hand in the minors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/29/22

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Catching up on some minor moves from around the baseball world….

Latest Moves

  • The Yankees announced that catcher Rob Brantly was re-signed to a new minor league contract.  Brantly was designated for assignment earlier this week and cleared waivers, but then opted to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.  After two days of testing the market, Brantly is now back in the organization and has been assigned to Triple-A.  Originally joining the Yankees back in August 2020, the veteran backstop has appeared in seven games with New York at the MLB level, including one game this year to provide depth when Kyle Higashioka was on the COVID-IL.

Earlier Today

  • The Braves announced that right-hander Tyler Thornburg has been released.  Thornburg was designated for assignment earlier this week, after posting a 3.86 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, and 10.6% walk rate over 9 1/3 relief innings.  After missing the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery, Thornburg signed a $900K deal with Atlanta, and the injury-plagued righty will now return to the open market in search of another new contract. Atlanta also selected the contract of reliever Jesus Cruz.
  • The Pirates outrighted left-hander Cam Alldred to Triple-A after Alldred cleared waivers.  Another recent DFA, Alldred made his Major League debut in cup-of-c0ffee fashion this season, tossing a scoreless inning for Pittsburgh on May 12.  Mostly working as a reliever over 178 1/3 innings in the Pirates’ farm system, Alldred has a 2.83 ERA, though with an underwhelming 23.56% strikeout rate.
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