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Nationals Activate PJ Poulin For MLB Debut

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The Nationals announced today that left-hander PJ Poulin, recently claimed off waivers from the Tigers, has been added to the active roster. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The club also recalled right-hander Clayton Beeter and optioned righties Zach Brzykcy and Ryan Loutos in corresponding moves. TalkNats reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

It’s been a long journey to the big leagues for the lefty Poulin, now 29 years old, who was drafted by the Rockies back in 2018. With that organization, he reached Triple-A in 2022 and pitched at that level in 2023 as well. However, his results weren’t great for the Isotopes. He had a 6.20 earned run average in 69 2/3 innings for Albuquerque over those two seasons.

In March of 2024, the Rockies flipped him to the Tigers for cash. He was sent to Double-A after that trade but worked his way back up to Triple-A by July of 2024. In the year-plus since that promotion, he has thrown 68 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.54 ERA, 31.9% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and grounders on about half the balls in play he’s allowed.

The Tigers selected him to their 40-man roster a month ago but immediately optioned him back to Triple-A Toledo. He had an upward mobility clause in his contract and the Tigers didn’t want him to get away. However, they made a number of additions to their roster ahead of the deadline, squeezing Poulin onto the waiver wire.

The Nats gave him a roster spot and could give him a significant big league audition as well. Ahead of the deadline, they sent out Kyle Finnegan, Luis García and Andrew Chafin, opening some bullpen spots. They also moved Brad Lord to the rotation a few weeks ago to replace the injured Trevor Williams. The trade of Michael Soroka opened another rotation spot.

In short, there are a lot of innings to cover down the stretch, so guys like Poulin and Beeter could earn roles on next year’s club by putting up some decent numbers before the offseason. Poulin becomes the fourth lefty in the big league bullpen alongside Jose A. Ferrer, Konnor Pilkington and Shinnosuke Ogasawara.

Photo courtesy of Dave Nelson, Imagn Images

Nationals Recall Shinnosuke Ogasawara For MLB Debut

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The Nationals announced this morning that they’ve recalled left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara. Ryan Loutos was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Ogasawara, who is slated to make his MLB debut when he starts against the Red Sox later today, on the active roster. Ogasawara’s impending debut was first reported by the Japanese outlet Sponichi Annex.

Ogasawara, 27, signed a two-year deal worth $3.5MM during the offseason. He did not make the club’s starting rotation out of Spring Training and was optioned to the minor leagues, where he made just three starts before being sidelined by an oblique injury. Ogasawara spent two months on the shelf before beginning a rehab assignment in rookie ball last month. Since then, he’s advanced to the High-A level where he struck out five in four innings of work while surrendering two runs. Despite his most recent start coming in the lower minors, the Nationals clearly feel he’s ready to step into the club’s rotation to help fill in for the injured Trevor Williams, who was sidelined by an elbow sprain on Friday.

Prior to joining the Nationals, Ogasawara had spent nine seasons pitching for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chunichi Dragons. His rookie season as an 18-year-old in 2016 was impressive as he posted a 3.36 ERA across 15 starts in Japan’s Central League, but he struggled at the highest level of NPB play over the next few seasons. He started to turn things back around in 2021, however, and from then on he posted ERAs of 3.64, 2.72, 3.59, and 3.12 across his final four years in NPB.

Impressive as that run prevention in recent years may be, there are some concerns. Ogasawara has struck out just 18.9% of batters faced during his time in NPB, and that’s dropped even lower in recent years as he posted a strikeout rate of just 13.6% for the Dragons last season. Among qualified starters this year in MLB, Ogasawara’s career figure in NPB would place him in the bottom 20 in terms of strikeout rate while his 2024 figure would place him second from the bottom ahead of only Padres righty Randy Vasquez. Vasquez has a 3.79 ERA this year in 18 starts despite shoddy peripherals, so it’s certainly not impossible to find success at the big league level with a low strikeout rate. With that said, it’s clearly an uphill battle to be a quality big league starter with that lack of strikeout stuff. The lefty’s 3.6% walk rate in 2024 should help matters, though, and it’s at least worth nothing that Ogasawara has actually struck out 24% of his opponents in the minor leagues this year.

Making room for Ogasawara on the active roster is Loutos, who was plucked off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this year but has surrendered ten runs (eight earned) in 7 1/3 innings of work for the Nationals across eight appearances where he’s walked (eight) more batters than he’s struck out (six). Loutos will return to Triple-A and continue serving as an optionable depth piece for the Nationals to call on when they need an extra arm for the bullpen.

Nationals Place Trevor Williams On Injured List With Elbow Sprain

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The Nationals announced a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by their placement of right-hander Trevor Williams on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was recalled to the MLB roster to replace Williams. In an additional move, Washington has activated catcher Keibert Ruiz from the 7-day concussion-related injured list and optioned catcher Drew Millas to Triple-A.

Williams, 33, has been part of the Nationals’ rotation all year but struggled badly with his results. The righty is sporting a 6.21 ERA across 17 starts and 82 2/3 innings this year. That’s the third-worst figure in baseball among pitchers with at least 80 innings of work this year. Brutal as the results have been, it’s perhaps worth noting that Williams has gotten quite unlucky according to the underlying metrics. His .347 BABIP allowed is nearly fifty points higher than his career mark, and a 61.6% strand rate suggests he’s been the victim of poor sequencing as well. Williams’s 4.08 FIP and 4.45 FIP paint him as a roughly average fifth starter based on his performance this year, despite the rough run prevention numbers.

In terms of strikeout and walk rate, Williams hasn’t been all that different than 2024. Last year saw him pitch to a dazzling 2.03 ERA in 66 2/3 innings, but his results then were much better than the metrics suggested they should have been. Taken together, Williams’s strong but abbreviated 2024 and his brutal first half this year paint a picture of a mid-to-back of the rotation arm: 30 starts, a 4.34 ERA, a 3.51 FIP, and a 4.23 SIERA. Perhaps there would’ve been a pitching-needy club or two who would have viewed Williams as a decent innings-eating arm to bet on for a low-cost flier this summer, but today’s injury news will throw a wrench into that possibility.

The exact details surrounding Williams’s injury are not yet known, but any injury involving a pitcher’s elbow is concerning and will typically be treated with an abundance of caution to avoid further damage. Williams figures to be out for several weeks at the very least and could miss much longer than that. A clearer timeline for his return to action figures to be available with time, but Mark Zuckerman of MASN reports that Williams himself suggested that the injury is “comparable” to the flexor strain that cost him more than three months last year. A similar timeline for his recovery this time around would likely put an end to his 2025 campaign.

For the time being, Williams will be replaced on the roster by Loutos. The righty was plucked off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this year but has surrendered eight runs (six earned) in just 4 1/3 innings during his time in a Nationals uniform. He’ll help eat innings for now, but the club will need to replace Williams in the rotation eventually. Cade Cavalli and Shinnosuke Ogasawara are both on the 40-man roster and could be called upon, though Cavalli has struggled at Triple-A this year while Ogasawara is currently pitching at High-A as he works his way back from an injury.

As for Ruiz, the catcher was placed on the 10-day IL after being struck by a foul ball while in the dugout on June 24, but was later moved to the concussion-related IL after experiencing headaches. He figures to resume getting the lion’s share of playing time behind the plate going forward, with Riley Adams serving as his backup. The eight-year, $50MM extension the Nats signed Ruiz to prior to the 2023 season hasn’t worked out so far, and he’s hitting just .247/.278/.320 in 66 games this year. Even so, the former top prospect is still just 26 years old and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that his numbers could improve given how common it is for catchers to be relatively late bloomers at the big league level.

Nationals Place Andrew Chafin On 15-Day Injured List

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The Nationals announced that left-hander Andrew Chafin has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain.  Chafin’s placement is retroactive to June 11.  Right-hander Ryan Loutos (who was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this week) was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.

Signed to a one-year, $1MM Major League deal at the start of May, Chafin has a 3.18 ERA over 11 1/3 relief innings for Washington.  The secondary metrics include a 25.9% strikeout rate that exactly matches Chafin’s career average, as well as a 57.1% groundball rate that harkens back to Chafin’s early-career model as more of a groundball specialist.  Chafin has yet to allow a home run this season, which partially explains why he has kept his ERA in check despite a huge .414 BABIP and an uncharacteristically huge 20.4% walk rate (almost double his career 10.3BB%).

Chafin has traditionally kept pretty even numbers against both left-handed and right-handed batters, though his splits are rather pronounced this year — right-handed hitters have an .871 OPS over 26 plate appearances and lefty batters have only a .607 OPS in 28 PA.  Chafin, Jose A. Ferrer, and Colin Poche (who is now in the Mets organization) are the only left-handers who have seen action in Washington’s bullpen this season, and Ferrer is now the last southpaw standing with Chafin sidelined.

The severity of the hamstring strain isn’t yet known, so for now there isn’t any reason to expect Chafin to be out of action for much more than the 15-day minimum.  The 30-39 Nationals will need to really heat up in order to avoid being sellers at the trade deadline, and a veteran rental pitcher like Chafin would seem like a prime candidate to be moved if healthy.

Nationals Claim Ryan Loutos

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The Nationals announced that they have claimed right-hander Ryan Loutos off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. The Dodgers designated the righty for assignment last week. The Nats had a roster vacancy after recently releasing righty Jorge López but their 40-man is now full.

Loutos, 26, joins his third club of the year. He started the season with the Cardinals but was designated for assignment at the end of April. The Dodgers then acquired him in a cash deal but gave him the DFA treatment again a few days ago, which led to this waiver claim.

His major league track record is still fairly limited. He logged 2 1/3 innings for the Cards last year and added another three innings for the Dodgers this year. He has allowed five earned runs while striking out two, walking two and hitting one batter.

The Nats are presumably more interested in his minor league track record, which provides a far larger sample of work to look at. He has logged 231 innings on the farm from 2021 to the present with a 4.68 ERA. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a 3.14 ERA in 71 2/3 innings, with a 24.3% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. He has also generated grounders on close to half the balls in play he’s allowed.

Loutos can also be optioned to the minors for the rest of this year and one additional season. The Nats had an open roster spot, so Loutos is essentially a free flier on a young arm with some intriguing numbers. He’ll head to Rochester for now but should be up in the big leagues whenever Washington needs a fresh bullpen arm.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Dodgers Re-Sign Chris Stratton

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve re-signed veteran reliever Chris Stratton to a major league deal. He had been designated for assignment on Monday. Stratton went unclaimed on waivers, elected free agency, and immediately returned on a fresh contract. Fellow righty Ryan Loutos was designated for assignment to open space on the active and 40-man rosters. Additionally, catcher Chuckie Robinson went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City after being DFA on Tuesday, according to the MLB.com transaction log.

Stratton’s first stint as a Dodger lasted a week. He signed an MLB deal on May 25 and was DFA on June 2. He made two intervening appearances, giving up two runs while striking out five over three innings. Stratton had been released by Kansas City midway through May after allowing an earned run average approaching 8.00 across 17 appearances. That followed up a rough first year with the Royals, as Stratton posted a 5.55 ERA across 58 1/3 frames last year.

The 34-year-old owns a 6.09 ERA in 71 outings over the past two seasons. He’d been a capable middle reliever for the few years before that. Stratton worked 82 2/3 innings of 3.92 ball between the Cardinals and Rangers two seasons ago. His velocity has tapered off since then. Stratton averaged north of 93 MPH on his fastball a couple years back but is down to 91 this season.

He’ll return as a fresh arm in the middle innings who doesn’t cost the Dodgers anything financially. The Royals are on the hook for what remains of his $4.5MM salary. Los Angeles only pays him the prorated portion of the $760K minimum for whatever time he spends in the big leagues — the same amount they’d have paid Loutos.

Loutos, 26, landed with the Dodgers via DFA trade with St. Louis in early May. He has spent the majority of the past month in Triple-A, only twice appearing in the big leagues. Loutos gave up three runs in two innings to the Mets in mop-up work on Wednesday. He has allowed five runs in 5 1/3 major league innings. He has posted a 2.41 ERA over 18 2/3 Triple-A frames this year.

Robinson was dropped from the 40-man roster this week when the Dodgers signed José Ureña. They had just claimed him from the Angels. The 30-year-old catcher has a previous career outright, so he can either report to OKC or elect free agency and seek out other opportunities.

Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reported that Stratton was re-signing. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic was first on the Loutos DFA.

Dodgers Designate Chris Stratton For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that they have acquired right-hander Will Klein from the Mariners in exchange for minor league lefty Joe Jacques, a move that was previously reported. They have also recalled righty Ryan Loutos. In corresponding moves, right-hander Noah Davis has been optioned to the minors and righty Chris Stratton has been designated for assignment.

Stratton, 34, was just signed about a week ago after being released by the Royals. He tossed three innings for the Dodgers over two appearances, allowing two earned runs and two walks and two hits while striking out five.

The veteran parlayed a solid 2023 season into a surprising two-year, $8MM deal with Kansas City going into 2024. But since signing that pact, he hasn’t been especially effective. He has thrown 78 1/3 innings dating back to the start of last season with a 6.09 earned run average. His 46.1% ground ball rate in that time is strong but his 18.2% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate are both a few ticks worse than average.

Since the Royals released Stratton, they remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club can sign Stratton and only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, as the Dodgers just did. That amount was subtracted from what the Royals paid.

The Dodgers were happy to grab a fresh veteran arm for a few days, but since they had no commitment to him, they have quickly jettisoned him for more fresh arms. He is likely to wind up on the open market again in the coming days and will see if another team is looking for bullpen reinforcements. He had a strong run of results from 2020 to 2023. In the last of those years, he tossed 82 2/3 innings with a 3.92 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

Dodgers Activate Clayton Kershaw

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May 17: The Dodgers have activated Kershaw, as expected. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was optioned to the minor leagues to make room for Kershaw on the active roster, while southpaw Blake Snell was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster. Given that Snell has already been on the shelf for nearly six weeks and has only recently resumed a throwing program, Snell’s transfer is largely a procedural move that does not necessarily indicate a change in his timetable for return.

May 13: Clayton Kershaw will make his season debut against the Angels on Saturday, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters (including David Vassegh of 570 Sports). The Dodgers will need to activate him from the 60-day injured list.

Kershaw opened the season on the 60-day IL as he recovers from offseason surgeries on his left knee and left foot. He has made five minor league rehab starts going back to April 16. He’s combined for a 2.57 ERA across 21 innings. Kershaw reached six innings in an appearance for the team’s complex affiliate on May 6. He threw four frames and 57 pitches during his most recent start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday.

The future Hall of Famer signed an incentive-laden contract for what will be his 18th MLB season. While he’s only guaranteed $7.5MM, the deal contains $8.5MM in incentives depending on his workload. He’d unlock a $1MM bonus for making his 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th starts. The deal also contains roster bonuses. He’ll collect an additional $2.5MM for reaching 30 days on the active roster, $1MM for 60 days, and $1MM for 90 days.

Kershaw was limited to seven starts last season. He missed the first few months recovering from the shoulder procedure that he’d undergone late in 2023. Bone spurs in his foot sent him back to the injured list at the end of August. Kershaw wasn’t able to return for the World Series run. He finished the year with a 4.50 ERA across 30 innings.

In other Dodger rotation news, Roberts said that Roki Sasaki reported some arm soreness coming out of his start on Friday (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). The team has not decided whether it’ll require an IL stint. Sasaki has gotten out to a rocky start to his MLB career. He has only completed six innings in one of his first eight outings. He has yet to record more than four strikeouts in a game and carries a 4.72 ERA with very poor strikeout and walk rates.

If Sasaki avoids the IL, Kershaw could push the Dodgers back to a six-man rotation. Injuries to Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow have dropped them to a five-man staff comprising Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Sasaki, and Landon Knack.

Dodgers Acquire Ryan Loutos, Claim J.P. Feyereisen

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The Dodgers have acquired right-hander Ryan Loutos from the Cardinals in exchange for cash and claimed righty J.P. Feyereisen off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The Loutos trade was previously reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Dodgers moved righties Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech to the 60-day injured list to open 40-man roster spots for the two pickups.

Loutos, 26, has had a somewhat unusual trajectory to the big leagues, as explored in this profile from Goold last year. Due to his computer science background, the Cards hired him to develop an app to help minor leaguers use data, and let him pitch as well. “I know what I need to do to improve. I know what I could do,” Loutos said. “But I also know from their shoes what they see: ‘OK, let him play for a while. See what happens. Worst-case scenario, we maybe offer him a job in the front office. Best-case scenario, maybe he’s in the big leagues someday.’”

So far, the playing part has worked out okay. He made his major league debut last year, though it was brief. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings over three appearances. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has logged 134 innings on the farm with a 5.10 earned run average, 24.2% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate.

Feyereisen, 32, has a much longer big league track record. In 2021, he tossed 56 innings between the Brewers and Rays with a 2.73 ERA. He managed to top that performance in 2022, tossing 24 1/3 scoreless innings, with a 29.1% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. However, a shoulder injury intervened and stopped him from building on those numbers.

He underwent shoulder surgery and was traded to the Dodgers ahead of the 2023 season. He hasn’t been able to fully re-establish himself in the majors since then. He eventually spent that entire 2023 season on the IL, not making an official appearance anywhere. The Dodgers shuttled him to Triple-A and back in 2024. He only got to pitch 11 big league innings, with an 8.18 ERA in those. His 5.48 ERA in Triple-A wasn’t especially impressive either.

He was outrighted off the roster last year, allowing him to elect free agency and sign a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks coming into 2025. He got called up a couple of weeks ago after posing a 0.96 ERA in Triple-A. He then allowed two earned runs in two innings for the Snakes before getting designated for assignment and put on waivers.

For the Dodgers, they are likely happy to have some fresh arms, one of which they are already familiar with. With Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow both on the IL due to shoulder inflammation, they are down to a four-man rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. The club is keeping Sasaki and Yamamoto on the weekly schedule the pitchers are accustomed to from their time in Japan.

That situation, plus plenty of other injuries, have led to a great deal of creativity in cobbling the staff together. Pitchers like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller and Ben Casparius have made spot starts. Yoendrys Gómez, recently claimed off waivers from the Yankees, is working a long relief role. Both Loutos and Feyereisen have options, so the Dodgers are adding some arms with some roster flexibility. The team is about to start a stretch of playing ten straight games. After one off-day, they will play another nine straight.

To open spots for those two, Kopech and Treinen hit the 60-day IL. Kopech’s move isn’t especially surprising. He’s been on the 15-day IL all year long due to a shoulder impingement and still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment. Even if he were to start one now, he would need a few weeks as a sort of delayed spring training. He could be reinstated from the IL in a couple of weeks but that doesn’t seem to be likely.

The move for Treinen is more notable. He started the season healthy but landed on the 15-day IL April 19th due to right forearm tightness. This transfer to the 60-day IL indicates the Dodgers don’t expect him back before the middle of June. He is 36 years old, turning 37 in June, and has a recent history of arm injuries. He only tossed five innings in 2022 due to shoulder problems and then underwent surgery which wiped out his 2023 campaign.

He got back on track last year with a 1.93 ERA in 46 2/3 innings, plus another 12 1/3 postseason innings with a 2.19 ERA, helping the Dodgers win the World Series. The team believed in that bounceback enough to give him a two-year, $22MM deal in free agency, the largest deal for a reliever going into his age-37 season or older since Mariano Rivera’s deal with the Yankees back in 2010.

Shortly after Treinen landed on the IL last month, manager Dave Roberts described the injury as a “low-grade sprain of the forearm” and downplayed the severity by saying “we’re in the dodged-a-bullet category.” It’s unclear if Roberts was just masking the extent of the injury or if something changed, but Treinen now appears to be slated for an absence of at least a couple of months.

Photo courtesy of John Geliebter, Imagn Images.

Cardinals Designate Ryan Loutos For Assignment

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The Cardinals have designated right-hander Ryan Loutos for assignment, per the team. He’s the corresponding move for the previously reported promotion of infielder/outfielder Jose Barrero. The Cards have formally announced the selection of Barrero’s contract and optioned infielder Thomas Saggese to Triple-A Memphis.

Loutos, 26, made his big league debut with the Cardinals last summer, appearing in three games and tossing 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball. The undrafted free agent originally signed with the Cards after the 2021 draft and has steadily climbed the minor league ranks, posting solid numbers with the exception of a rough 2023 campaign.

In 2024, Loutos pitched 53 innings and tallied 18 saves in Triple-A. He logged a 3.40 ERA in Memphis, punched out 25.8% of his opponents and issued walks at a 10% clip. It wasn’t necessarily a dominant performance, but Loutos sat 94.3 mph with his heater and induced swinging strikes at a roughly average rate. His velocity is up a bit this season, sitting 94.6 mph in Triple-A, and he’s held opponents to three runs on seven hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts in seven innings. All three of those runs allowed came in his first appearance of the season. He’s since rattled off seven shutout frames.

The Cardinals will have to either trade Loutos or place him on waivers within the next five days. Waivers would be another 48-hour process, meaning the maximum length of his stay in the proverbial DFA limbo will be one week.

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