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Trevor Kelley

Rays Sign Elvin Rodríguez, Trevor Kelley To Minor League Deals

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The Rays have signed right-hander Elvin Rodríguez to a minor league deal, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press. Fellow righty Trevor Kelley also has a minor league deal with the club, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Both players will receive invitations to major league Spring Training.

Rodríguez, 25 in March, began his professional career with the Angels but went to the Tigers as the player to be named later in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Upton to Anaheim. He worked his way up the minor league ladder and spent 2021 primarily in Double-A but with a brief move to Triple-A. Between the two stops, he made 18 starts and one relief appearance, tossing 77 2/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA, but he struck out 24.6% of batters faced and walked 8.6% of them.

Despite that high ERA, the Tigers added him to the roster in November of 2021 to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. That allowed him to serve as optionable depth for the club in 2022, though his first taste of the majors didn’t go well, to put it mildly. Over five starts and two relief appearances, he tossed 29 2/3 innings with a 10.62 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate were both subpar and he allowed an incredible 12 home runs in that brief time. Things didn’t go much better on the farm, as tossed 99 1/3 innings in Triple-A with a 4.98 ERA.

Rodríguez was outrighted off the club’s roster in November but will now try to get a fresh start with the Rays. His new club will surely try to get better results out of a fastball that was in the 89th percentile in terms of spin last year. If they can succeed and Rodríguez earns his way onto their roster, he still has a couple of option years and just a small amount of service time, allowing them to retain him for the foreseeable future.

Kelley, 30, had some brief and unsuccessful time in the majors with the Red Sox in 2019 and the Phillies in 2020. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for 2022 and cracked the club’s roster in May. From that point on, he was optioned to Triple-A and recalled five times, moving on and off the roster as the club needed. He didn’t find much success in the majors, posting a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings. In 34 1/3 frames for Nashville, however, he registered a 2.36 ERA while striking out 30% of batters faced and walking just 7.1% of them.

The Brewers designated him for assignment when they acquired Bryse Wilson and Kelley cleared waivers. He was eligible to elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright and has used that opportunity to join the Rays. If he can crack their roster, he still has one option year and less than a full season of MLB service time.

Trevor Kelley Elects Free Agency

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The Brewers announced that right-hander Trevor Kelley cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Kelley had been designated for assignment last week when the club acquired Bryse Wilson. Kelley has rejected the assignment and elected free agency, which was his right as a player with a previous career outright.

Kelley, 30, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2015 and worked his way up to the majors in 2019. He got into 10 games for Boston that year but posted an ERA of 8.64. The Sox put him on waivers and Kelley was claimed by the Phillies. He got another four appearances in 2020 but was shelled again with a 10.80 ERA in that short time and was outrighted at season’s end.

The Brewers signed him to a minors deal for 2022 and he was able to crack the club’s roster. He spent the season getting frequently optioned between the majors and minors. He posted a 2.36 ERA in 34 1/3 innings for Nashville with a 30% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 43.9% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, all those rate stats were a bit worse in his 23 2/3 major league innings, leading to a 6.08 ERA.

Kelley evidently didn’t find a club willing to give him a 40-man roster spot, but those solid results in Nashville could get him a minor league deal. Now that he’s a free agent, he can seek out the best opportunity for himself. If he eventually signs elsewhere and makes it back onto a roster someday, he’ll still have one option season and less than a year of MLB service time.

Brewers Acquire Bryse Wilson From Pirates

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3:55pm: In a corresponding move, the Brewers have designated right-hander Trevor Kelly for assignment, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kelley, 30, was signed to a minor league deal prior to the 2022 season and was selected to the roster in May. He tossed 34 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 2.36 ERA but posted a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 big league innings.

3:10pm: The Brewers announced that they have acquired right-hander Bryse Wilson from the Pirates. Wilson had been designated for assignment last week by the Bucs, who will receive cash considerations from Milwaukee in this deal.

Wilson, 25, was selected by Atlanta in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. He shot up prospect rankings in 2018, as he went from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A and the majors at the age of 20. After that surge, he was ranked the #80 prospect in the league by Baseball America going into the 2019 season.

Unfortunately, Wilson hasn’t been able to deliver on that excitement in the subsequent seasons. Atlanta frequently optioned him to the minors over the 2019-2021 seasons, only allowing him to make 20 big league appearances in that time. They then flipped him to Pittsburgh at the deadline in 2021 as part of the Richard Rodríguez trade.

With the Bucs in 2022, he got his most extended stretch of MLB action thus far in his career, tossing 115 2/3 innings over 20 starts and six relief appearances. He posted a 5.52 ERA in that time with solid a 6.3% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate but a meager 15.5% strikeout rate.

Now out of options, it seems Wilson’s rotation opportunities dried up in Pittsburgh, but the Brewers are willing to take a shot. The front of the Milwaukee rotation is spoken for with Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta and Eric Lauer taking the first four spots. Wilson could be in competition for the final spot with the likes of Aaron Ashby and Adrian Houser. An injury to anyone in the rotation could open things up a bit, but it’s also possible that a couple of the guys in that trio end up in the bullpen as long relief options.

Brewers Place Eric Lauer On 15-Day Injured List

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The Brewers placed left-hander Eric Lauer on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation.  The placement is retroactive to September 8.  Right-hander Trevor Kelley was called up to take Lauer’s spot on the active roster.

Milwaukee has essentially gone all season without its rotation at full strength, and the injuries have now started to mount up as the Brewers chase an NL wild card berth.  Lauer joins Freddy Peralta and Aaron Ashby as starters on the IL, leaving the Brew Crew with Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Adrian Houser, and Jason Alexander as the provisional starting four.  No immediate decision needs to be made about a rotation replacement since the Brewers have off-days on both Monday and Thursday, but Triple-A hurler Ethan Small is the only other pitcher currently in the organization who has made a start for Milwaukee this season.

With two solid seasons under his belt now, Lauer has emerged as a stable member of the Brewers rotation.  The southpaw has a 3.91 ERA over 145 innings this year, albeit with a below-average 22.8% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.  In fact, Statcast metrics across the board weren’t very favorable to Lauer in either 2021 or 2022, and it seems as though Lauer has benefited from a .257 BABIP.  His 3.58 ERA since the start of the 2021 season is over half a run lower than his 4.19 SIERA.

Still, the bottom-line results are more than enough for a fourth or fifth starter, and prior to this elbow problem, Lauer had also been a pretty stable source of innings amidst several other injuries that sidelined Milwaukee starters.  Losing Lauer and Peralta will further tax an already-struggling Brewers staff — since August 1, Brewers pitchers have a cumulative 1.2 fWAR, the sixth-lowest total of any pitching corps in baseball.  This has contributed to the Brewers’ major slide from NL Central contenders to outside the postseason bracket altogether, 3.5 games behind the Phillies for the last wild card slot.

Brewers Activate Aaron Ashby From 15-Day IL

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The Brewers reinstated left-hander Aaron Ashby from the 15-day injured list today, as Ashby is slated to start today’s game against the Pirates.  Righty Trevor Kelley was optioned to Triple-A to open up a 26-man roster spot.

Following his (retroactive) IL placement on June 17, Ashby ended up missing only a minimal amount of time — a sigh of relief, given that Ashby had been sidelined by forearm inflammation. The injury wasn’t considered to be too serious at the time, and Ashby will indeed make a pretty quick return to help a Milwaukee rotation that has been shorthanded for much of the season. Even with Ashby and (earlier this week) Brandon Woodruff returning, Freddy Peralta is still on the 60-day IL until late July, and Adrian Houser was just placed on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a flexor strain.

Ashby will try to pick up the slack by continuing what has been a pretty solid sophomore year in the big leagues.  Beginning the season as a swingman, Ashby’s last five outings were all as a starting pitcher.  The left-hander has a 4.25 ERA over 55 total innings, posting a 62.6% grounder rate and an impressive array of Statcast numbers, apart from a 10.7% walk rate that is well below the league average. Control has been something of an issue for Ashby at both the MLB and minor league levels, but his ability to miss bats and generate grounders makes him yet another intriguing product of the Brewers’ pitching development system.

In other Brewers injury news, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Luis Perdomo is “struggling to get going” from an elbow injury that sent him to the IL back in late May. Perdomo underwent a Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2021 season, though Counsell didn’t give any indication that Perdomo’s current issue was also season-threatening, or something that could require another surgical procedure.

Hunter Renfroe will also still miss a bit more time, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes that Renfroe has yet to start running on the field following a calf strain that sent him to the injured list over a week ago. Renfroe’s 10-day minimum IL time expires on Sunday, but the Brewers will continue to be cautious in bringing Renfroe back, for fear of exacerbating the injury.  Renfroe had 13 home runs and a .247/.300/.490 slash line over his first 217 plate appearances this season.

Brewers’ J.C. Mejia Suspended 80 Games After Positive PED Test

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Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that Brewers reliever J.C. Mejía has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol. He heads to the restricted list, freeing up a 40-man roster spot. Milwaukee selected right-hander Trevor Kelley onto the big league roster in a corresponding move.

Mejía has made just a pair of appearances as a Brewer. Acquired from the Guardians last November after he’d been designated for assignment by Cleveland, he’s allowed six runs through 2 1/3 innings with Milwaukee. He’d been much better with Triple-A Nashville, however, tossing 10 2/3 frames of one-run ball across six outings. Mejía walked six batters with the Sounds, but he also punched out 15 and allowed just four hits.

Milwaukee has deployed the 25-year-old solely in relief this year. Mejía started 11 of his 17 appearances with Cleveland last season, his first crack at the major league level. That didn’t go especially well, as he was thrust into the rotation while the club dealt with various injuries and managed just an 8.25 ERA.

Mejía won’t be paid or receive service time for the next couple months. He’ll be eligible to return in mid-August but won’t be allowed to participate in postseason play this year. Mejía becomes the second player the division-leading Brew Crew have lost to a PED suspension in as many months; catcher Pedro Severino was suspended 80 games on the eve of Opening Day after his own positive test.

Kelley, 28, signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee last November. The right-hander appeared in 14 MLB games with the Red Sox and Phillies between 2019-20, allowing 12 runs in 11 2/3 innings. He spent all of last season with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett, never getting an MLB call from the eventual World Series champs despite posting an excellent 1.52 ERA over 41 1/3 frames.

Assigned to Nashville to open the year, Kelley has picked up where he’d left off at the minors’ highest level. He has allowed only two runs in 13 innings out of the bullpen, racking up 17 punchouts against four walks. Kelley has a pair of option years remaining, so the team can shuttle him between Milwaukee and Nashville while keeping him on the 40-man roster.

Brewers Sign Three To Minor League Deals

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The Brewers have signed outfielder Jonathan Davis and right-handers Trevor Kelley and Jason Alexander to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Davis, 29, has spent parts of four years in the big leagues — all with the Blue Jays except for a brief 12-game stint with the Yankees late in the 2021 season. He’s never received regular playing time in the big leagues, as evidenced by the fact that last year’s 64 games played and 103 plate appearances were both career-high marks. Davis, often used as a late-inning pinch runner and defensive replacement by the Jays over the years, is 11-for-13 in stolen bases attempts at the MLB level but just a .171/.272/.248 hitter in 259 plate appearances. He’s been better in Triple-A, where he’s a .249/.356/.416 hitter in 640 trips to the plate.

The 28-year-old Kelley also comes to the Brewers organization with some big league experience, albeit a good bit less. He tallied 11 2/3 innings between the Red Sox and Phillies in 2019-20 but was tattooed for a dozen runs on 17 hits (four homers) and six walks with 11 punchouts. It’s not a great big league track record, but Kelley also posted a microscopic 1.52 ERA in 41 1/3 frames with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate last season and carries a lifetime 1.66 ERA in 130 innings at that level. Kelley has fanned 24.8% of his opponents in Triple-A and posted a 9.1% walk rate.

Alexander joins the Brewers after parts of four pro seasons split between the Angels and Marlins organizations. An undrafted free agent out of Cal State Long Beach, the now-28-year-old righty has a pedestrian 4.87 ERA in 281 minor league innings but much more encouraging rate stats. While Alexander’s 20.6% strikeout rate is below average, he’s walked only 6.1% of his career opponents and tallied a huge 56.2% ground-ball rate since turning pro. Alexander didn’t pitch much with the Marlins organization last year, but in 19 2/3 frames across three levels (including 14 2/3 innings in Triple-A), he logged a 1.37 ERA with a 22-to-3 K/BB ratio and an enormous 67.3% grounder rate.

Outrighted: Phillies, Angels

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Let’s check in on a few of the latest outrights…

  • Phillies hurlers Enyel De Los Santos and Trevor Kelley cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com tweets. The Phillies designated both right-handers for assignment in recent days. De Los Santos joined the Phillies in a one-for-one swap with the Padres for infielder Freddy Galvis before 2018. While De Los Santos then had a strong first season in the Phillies’ system, his stock fell last year in a rough showing divided between Triple-A and the majors. Kelley, whom the Phillies claimed off waivers from the Red Sox last winter, allowed four earned runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings this year before Philly designated him.
  • The Angels outrighted Jose Rodriguez to their alternate site after he cleared waivers. Rodriguez has thrown 21 1/3 innings of 2.53 ERA ball as an Angel since 2019, but he has allowed five home runs, struck out just 13 hitters while walking 12, and logged a 6.72 FIP/6.27 xFIP.

Phillies Designate Nick Williams, Trevor Kelley For Assignment; Nick Pivetta Optioned

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The Phillies announced a series of roster moves Tuesday, selecting the contracts of right-handers Connor Brogdon and Blake Parker. In corresponding 40-man moves, Philadelphia designated outfielder/former top prospect Nick Williams and right-hander Trevor Kelley for assignment. Right-hander Nick Pivetta was also optioned to Philadelphia’s alternate training site.

Williams, 26, was considered one of the game’s 100 best prospects for several years but has yet to put things together in the Majors. The 2012 second-rounder went from Texas to Philadelphia as one of the centerpieces in the Cole Hamels blockbuster, but the club never seemed completely sold on his abilities. Williams fared reasonably well at the plate in 2017-18, hitting a combined .269/.330/.446 (105 wRC+ and OPS+), but defensive shortcomings overshadowed that respectable output at the plate.

Once the Phillies signed both Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen in the same offseason, the writing has appeared to be on the wall for Williams. He stuck with the club through the 2019 season by virtue of the fact that he had a pair of minor league options remaining, but playing time was sparse — even after Odubel Herrera was suspended and McCutchen tore his ACL. Williams in just 67 games and took only 112 plate appearances, batting a woeful .151/.196/.245 in that extremely limited role. A club looking for a low-cost outfield flier could do worse than speculating on Williams, but it’s also perhaps telling that he’s been a largely superfluous piece in Philadelphia for more than a year and has yet to be traded.

Kelley, 26, appeared in four games with the Phils this season but was tagged for four runs on eight hits and a walk in 3 1/3 frames. He’s appeared in the Majors in each of the past two seasons — with the Red Sox in 2019 — but struggled in a small sample of games. The former 36th-round pick has a sharp minor league track record in terms of ERA, but he’s never missed a huge number of bats or demonstrated particularly strong control. The Phils plucked him off waivers when the Red Sox designated him back in December.

Turning to Pivetta, the 27-year-old is in his final option year and could well be running out of chances with the Phils. He’s long been praised for his raw abilities, but Pivetta has yet to demonstrate that he can efficiently command what appears to be a solid arsenal of pitches. He’s been prone not only to walks, hit batsmen and wild pitches but also to the long ball.

At his best, Pivetta sits nearly 95 mph with his fastball, drops a curve with elite spin, generates swinging strikes at a strong 12 percent clip and averages nearly 11 punchouts per nine frames. However, those appealing traits are still accompanied by inconsistency and results that fall shy of what one might otherwise expect from a pitcher with his stuff. Philadelphia has tried him both as a starter and reliever, and he’s offered glimpses of his potential at numerous points without settling in as a consistent contributor.

As for today’s two new additions, Parker is a well-known reliever who spent half the 2019 season with the Phils. The former Angels and Twins closer has a mid-90s heater and a big splitter that can function as an out pitch when he’s at his best. Consistency has been an issue for him as well, but the 35-year-old has a career 3.56 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 285 2/3 frames.

The 25-year-old Brogdon will make his MLB debut the first time he takes the hill. The Phillies’ 10th-round pick back in 2017, Brogdon skyrocketed across three levels last year, ultimately putting together a combined 2.61 ERA with 106-to-24 K/BB ratio (12.6 K/9, 2.8 BB/9) in 76 innings of relief.

Phillies Designate Robert Stock For Assignment, Set Opening Day Roster

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The Phillies set their Opening Day roster this morning, announcing within their press release that righty Robert Stock was designated for assignment. The club has selected the contracts of veteran infielder Neil Walker and right-handers Trevor Kelley and Ramon Rosso. The Phils also reinstated Scott Kingery, Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter and lefty Austin Davis from the injured list. The Phils’ initial roster only includes 29 players, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes, but it seems they could yet add veteran infielder Phil Gosselin to the mix. They’ll first need to make another 40-man move to clear space on the roster, however, which is likely the reason he has not yet been included.

Stock, 30, averages nearly 98 mph on his heater and posted a 4.11 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate in 50 1/3 innings with the Padres between 2018-19. That’s a solid-enough resume, but he’s still bounced from St. Louis, to Houston, to Pittsburgh, to Cincinnati, to San Diego and Philadelphia since being a 2009 second-round pick and has only these past two seasons of MLB work on his resume.

Injuries have played their role, but Stock also has struggled to locate the ball throughout his time in the minor leagues (career 5.5 BB/9). He has a pair of minor league options remaining and was claimed by the Phils the last time he hit waivers, so perhaps another club will speculate on his powerful right arm.

It was already known that the veteran Walker would make the club’s Opening Day roster. The former Pirates stalwart has long been a steady producer and has recently added more positions to his repertoire, appearing at third base, first base and in the outfield corners. The switch-hitter batted .261/.344/.395 in 381 plate appearances with the Marlins last year and won a spot on the Phillies over veterans Logan Forsythe and Josh Harrison, among others.

Rosso, 24, has a strong minor league track record as a starter but seems likelier to operate out of the bullpen early in the season. It’ll be his MLB debut whenever he gets into a game. Kelley appeared in the big leagues with th Red Sox last year and was a waiver claim by the Phils, who later outrighted him off the 40-man but kept him in the organization. He pitched his way back into the mix this summer and will get his first MLB look with the Phils in the near future.

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