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Will Klein

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

Mariners To Acquire Joe Jacques

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12:10pm: Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reports that the Mariners are sending right-hander Will Klein to the Mariners for Jacques. Klein was just designated for assignment by the Mariners a few days ago. The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man roster spot for him.

Klein has just 7 1/3 innings of major league experience, which all came last year. He allowed nine earned runs in that time. This year, he’s been in Triple-A and has posted a 7.17 ERA at that level with a strong 30.5% strikeout rate but also a massive 18.1% walk rate. That’s generally been his recipe throughout his minor league career.

7:11am: In an early morning deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mariners are acquiring southpaw Joe Jacques from the Dodgers. The return headed to Los Angeles is not yet known, though unlikely to be significant given Jacques’s status as a player on a minor league deal.

Jacques, 30, was a 33rd-round pick by the Pirates all the way back in 2018. He climbed the minor league ladder with Pittsburgh and ultimately reached Triple-A with them before posting a 3.12 ERA across three levels of the minors in his final season with the organization. It wouldn’t be until 2023 when he made his big league debut as a member of the Red Sox, for whom he pitched to a pedestrian 5.06 ERA in 26 2/3 innings of work. He generated an excellent 64.7% ground ball rate, but struck out only 16.4% of his opponents while walking 8.2%. Overall, Jacques profiled as a roughly average to slightly below average reliever based on his peripheral numbers, including a 4.53 FIP and a 4.12 SIERA.

Jacques remained on Boston’s 40-man roster throughout the 2023-24 offseason, but ultimately made just one appearance at the big league level in 2024 before he was designated for assignment and plucked off waivers by the Diamondbacks. He had a similar experience with Arizona, appearing in one game before he was eventually designated for assignment to make room on the roster for newly-acquired reliever A.J. Puk. Those two outings in the majors last year saw him surrender three runs on six hits and a walk across three innings of work while striking out two. Meanwhile, the lefty pitched to a 5.48 ERA in 42 2/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level.

It was a lackluster performance overall, but when Jacques reached minor league free agency he was quickly snapped up by the Dodgers on a minor league deal back in November. Jacques has struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 22 1/3 innings at Triple-A so far this year, although a 3.82 FIP and a .391 BABIP suggest there could be some bad luck baked into those numbers. Clearly, the Mariners saw enough in the underlying metrics to have interest in acquiring him. Yesterday was a day many players on minor league deals around the league had the opportunity to trigger opt outs and upward mobility clauses; if that came to play in this deal, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Seattle add Jacques to the 40-man roster once the deal becomes official.

One possible reason for Seattle to have interest in Jacques is their dearth of left-handed pitching options. Gabe Speier is the only lefty on the Mariners’ pitching staff at the moment, and while he’s currently in the midst of a resurgent season that’s made him a legitimate high-leverage option he’s just one season removed from a 5.70 ERA in 29 appearances. Jhonathan Diaz and Tayler Saucedo are both in the minors on the 40-man roster, but Diaz has been used primarily as a starter this season while Saucedo has surrendered four runs in 3 2/3 big league innings this year. It’s a thin enough group to justify the addition of another arm to the mix, especially one like Jacques that has a minor league option remaining.

Mariners Promote Cole Young, Activate Bryce Miller

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TODAY: The M’s officially announced Young’s selection and Miller’s reinstatement from the IL. Right-hander Casey Legumina and infielder Leo Rivas were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding 26-man roster moves, and righty Will Klein was designated for assignment to open up space for Young on the 40-man roster.

Klein made his MLB debut in 2024 and posted an 11.05 ERA over 7 1/3 combined innings with the Royals and Athletics.  Sent to the A’s as part of the deadline deal that brought Lucas Erceg to Kansas City, Klein was then flipped to Seattle in another trade this past January.

MAY 30: The Mariners will promote top infield prospect Cole Young this weekend, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the team will need to make a move in that regard. They’ll also need to create active roster space for Young and starting pitcher Bryce Miller, who’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Twins.

A Pittsburgh-area native, Young signed with Seattle out of high school in 2022. He received a $3.3MM bonus as the 21st overall pick. Scouting reports praised a potential plus hit tool and ability to play somewhere up the middle. While Young doesn’t have huge power projection in a 5’11” frame, he was viewed as a very polished player for his age.

That has been borne out in his systematic progression through the minors. He reached base at a .399 clip between two A-ball levels in his first full professional season. Young spent all of last season in Double-A, batting .271/.369/.390 as a 20-year-old in a tough league for hitters. The M’s bumped him to the more favorable Pacific Coast League this season. Young has taken to it well, running a .278/.391/.463 slash with more walks than strikeouts in his first look at Triple-A pitching.

The lefty-hitting Young actually began his Triple-A career mired in a slump. He hit .200 without a home run over 25 games in April. He’s been on an absolute tear since the calendar flipped. Young has raked at a .370/.466/.680 clip over 118 plate appearances in May. He has connected on five home runs, 10 doubles and three triples among a total of 37 hits. He has added another 15 walks while striking out all of eight times.

Young couldn’t have done more this month to force his way to the big leagues. He has divided his time evenly between shortstop and second base this season. Baseball America wrote over the offseason that he’s likely better suited for second base because of average arm strength. That figures to be his long-term home in Seattle. They’re committed to J.P. Crawford at shortstop. The path to playing time at the keystone is much more open. Ryan Bliss will miss most of the season recovering from biceps surgery. Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore have split the second base work over the past few weeks.

Moore is having a strong year, though his bat has tailed off following a huge April. He’s a right-handed hitter with a long track record of producing against lefty pitching. Moore figures to take some starts at second base against southpaws, but he’s versatile enough that it doesn’t need to be a strict platoon. Moore can spell Leody Taveras in right field or play regularly at third base over rookie Ben Williamson, who is hitting .246/.278/.297 through his first 38 games. Mastrobuoni, acquired in an offseason DFA trade with the Cubs, carries a .221/.306/.284 line through 111 plate appearances. He’ll be bumped to a utility role if not optioned to Triple-A.

Young was a consensus Top 100 prospect over the offseason. He meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If he plays well enough to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, he could earn a full year of service time. A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson seems as if he’ll run away with the award, but the runner-up spot is still there for the taking. That would not earn the Mariners any kind of draft compensation, which only applies if the team carries a top prospect in the big leagues for at least 172 days.

If he doesn’t earn the top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Young will fall short of a full service year and remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He’d be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in the big leagues for good.

Mariners Option Gregory Santos

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The Mariners have optioned right-hander Gregory Santos to Triple-A Tacoma and recalled fellow right-handed reliever Will Klein in his place, per a team announcement.

It’s the first time in nearly three years that Santos has been optioned to the minors. He was a notable trade acquisition in the 2023-24 offseason, with the Mariners sending prospects Prelander Berroa, Zach DeLoach and a Competitive Balance (Round B) draft selection to the White Sox in return.

At the time of the swap, Santos was fresh off an excellent breakout season in Chicago and had five years of club control remaining. His 2023 campaign with the South Siders featured 66 1/3 innings of 3.39 ERA ball. Santos had averaged 98.9 mph on his sinker while turning in strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates of 22.8%, 5.9% and 52.5%, respectively. He’d started that season in a low-leverage role but found himself pitching more meaningful innings as the year went on; he finished with five saves and six holds. It looked like the start of a lengthy run as a quality high-leverage reliever.

As we see all too often with pitchers, however, injuries intervened. Santos was diagnosed with a lat strain last spring and spent the first three-plus months of the season on the injured list as a result. He returned in early July but was back on the 15-day IL less than a month later, this time owing to biceps inflammation. He returned in the season’s final week and pitched a pair of scoreless innings.

Heading into 2025, Santos looked to be on track for a rebound. The lat strain was behind him, he’d finished the prior season healthy, and he posted a 1.59 ERA in six spring appearances (one run in 5 2/3 innings). That hasn’t played out whatsoever.

Santos’ once premium command has been nowhere to be found. He’s pitched seven innings and faced 36 batters. Eight of them have reached via base on balls (albeit, two of them being intentional). He’s also tossed a pair of wild pitches. Equally or more concerning is the fact that he hasn’t recorded a single strikeout yet. He’s still getting heaps of ground-balls (63%), but he’s missing badly and not inducing chases off the plate. His 11.5% opponents’ chase rate is the fourth-worst among all pitchers with at least five innings this year. His 4.6% swinging-strike rate is tied for ninth-worst.

There hasn’t been a major drop-off in Santos’ velocity. His sinker is down a bit, sitting at 98 mph, but that’s less than a one-mile gap from his 2023 peak. He’s had a bit more of a pronounced drop in his slider velo, but there’s no reason to believe he’s injured at the moment. (He is, after all, being optioned and not placed on the 15-day IL.) Santos has seen some changes in his release point from 2023 to 2025, but again, it’s not necessarily a drastic difference. For now, he’ll head to Triple-A Tacoma for a reset and look to get back on track.

It’s possible, though not yet certain, that today’s demotion could alter Santos’ path to arbitration and to free agency. He entered the season with two years and 55 days (2.055) of big league service, meaning he needed 117 days on the roster to reach three years and keep pace for arbitration eligibility this winter and free agency following the 2028 season. Of course, those factors will be rendered moot if he can’t get back on track and reestablish himself as a credible big league reliever.

Klein has actually had similar struggles to those of Santos down in Tacoma this year. He’s faced 36 batters and walked seven of them while plunking another and being charged with four wild pitches. He’s at least missing bats however and is doing so at an eye-popping rate; Klein has fanned 36.1% of his opponents and is sitting on a strong 13.8% swinging-strike rate. He’ll give Seattle a fresh arm one day after four relievers (Santos among them) needed to cover 3 2/3 innings following a rough start from Luis Castillo.

Mariners Acquire Will Klein, Designate Tyler Jay For Assignment

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The Mariners have acquired right-hander Will Klein from the Athletics, according to announcements from both clubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. The A’s get international bonus pool space in return, though the exact amount wasn’t specified. The M’s designated left-hander Tyler Jay for assignment as the corresponding move.

Klein, 25, was traded from the Royals to the A’s as part of last summer’s deadline trade that sent Lucas Erceg to Kansas City. Klein has a sliver of major league experience to this point, having tossed 7 1/3 innings between the two clubs last year, allowing nine earned runs.

That means he currently sports an ugly 11.05 earned run average in the bigs, but it’s a tiny sample of work and he averaged 97 miles per hour on his fastball. In general, his pitching on the farm has resulted in heaps of strikeouts and walks. He has thrown 221 1/3 innings across various minor league levels, with a 5.16 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate and 16.4% walk rate.

Given the poor control, Klein is probably considered something of a project. He still has a couple of options remaining, so the M’s can plug him in as depth while they see if he can rein in his arsenal a bit more.

Jay, 31 in April, was just claimed off waivers from the Brewers earlier this month. He has had a somewhat unique baseball journey, as he was the sixth overall pick in 2015 but various injuries derailed his career. He actually just debuted in the majors last year, almost a decade after being drafted. He tossed 7 2/3 innings between the Mets and Brewers, allowing four earned runs.

It’s hard to glean much from that sample but Jay also tossed 56 2/3 minor league innings last year between those two clubs with a 3.02 ERA. His 20.9% strikeout rate was subpar but he kept walks down to a 5.1% rate and got grounders on 47.3% of balls in play.

The M’s were intrigued enough to grab Jay off waivers but have now bumped him off the roster. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most, waiting to see what comes next, whether that’s a trade or some fate back on the wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any potential trade talks would have to come together in the next five days. He still has options and just a few days of service time, so any acquiring club could perhaps deploy him as a cheap depth arm with roster flexibility.

While it’s not great for the A’s to have already lost one of the three players they got for Erceg, they at least are getting some pool space out of this deal. As mentioned, the exact amount wasn’t reported, but pool space can only be traded in $250K increments. The A’s will get a bump of at least that much, which they can use to add some more talent to their system.

Athletics Sign José Leclerc

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The Athletics announced that they have signed right-hander José Leclerc to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $10MM guarantee for the former Ranger. Fellow righty Will Klein has been designated for assignment to open a roster spot.

Leclerc, 31, jumps across the American League West. He had spent his entire career with the Rangers up until now. During his time in Texas, he has shown flashes of excellence as a reliever. In general, his career has been defined by a strong ability to get strikeouts but also some poor control.

Overall, he has 360 1/3 innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.27 earned runs per nine. His 31.2% strikeout rate is a very strong number but his 13.2% walk rate is much higher than average.

That lack of control has made his performance somewhat inconsistent. He was once the primary closer for the Rangers, having earned 12 saves in 2018 and 14 more the year after. But he missed essentially all of the next two seasons. A right teres muscle tear limited him to just two appearances during the shortened 2020 season. He then required Tommy John surgery in March of 2021, which wiped out that whole year.

Since coming back, he hasn’t been able to retake the closer’s role, with just 12 saves over the past three years combined. However, his control has actually been better lately, at least relative to his own previous performance. He had a 14.9% walk rate as of his Tommy John surgery. Since coming back, he has only walked 11.3% of batters faced. That’s still a high number, as league average is usually in the 8-9% range, but it was a noticeable improvement.

From the start of the 2022 season to the present, he has a 3.36 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and, as mentioned, an 11.3% walk rate. His 3.60 FIP and 3.58 SIERA are marginally higher than his ERA, likely because his .271 batting average on balls in play and 76.5% strand rate are a bit on the fortunate side. He also formed a notable portion of the Texas relief corps during their World Series run, tossing 13 2/3 innings with a 3.29 ERA during the 2023 postseason.

His ERA did jump to 4.32 in 2024, but that doesn’t seem to have been his fault. His .314 BABIP was actually on the high side last year. His 30.9% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate were pretty close to what he has done before. His 3.48 FIP and 3.26 SIERA both suggest he was pretty similar to the guy he was going into the year.

In addition to the strikeouts, Leclerc has often been good at avoiding damage. Statcast had his hard hit rate at 30.7% last year, which placed him in the 96th percentile of qualified pitchers. That was actually above his career rate of 29.3%. His 87.4 mile per hour average exit velocity was in the 84th percentile last year. Again, his career average of 86.4 mph is even better. The pitch velocity on his four-seam fastball and sinker both averaged around 95 miles per hour, while he also mixed in a slider, cutter and changeup.

It’s an interesting buy-low move for the A’s, since they are grabbing Leclerc after a rough year in the ERA department, but with encouraging numbers under the hood. They already have one of the best closers in the league in Mason Miller, so they can use Leclerc in a setup capacity.

The club has been surprisingly aggressive this winter in bolstering the roster. They gave a big deal to sign free agent right-hander Luis Severino, acquired lefty Jeffrey Springs from the Rays and signed outfielder/designated hitter Brent Rooker to a five-year extension.

Cynically, this likely has a lot to do with the club having to spend its revenue-sharing money in order to avoid a grievance from the MLBPA, but they are making some notable improvements nonetheless. The team went 32-32 in the second half of 2024 after graduating a lot of young talent to the majors, so it’s not impossible for them to be a surprise contender in 2025, especially with their new additions. Though if that doesn’t come to pass and they are still shy of contention, Leclerc could then be traded prior to the summer deadline as long as he’s having a strong year, since he’s only on a one-year deal.

Leclerc’s pact takes the club’s payroll to $74MM and their competitive balance tax number to $106MM, per the calculations of RosterResource. Reporting has indicated the club needs a CBT number of $105MM to avoid that grievance, but a final CBT calculation doesn’t come until the end of the year. The A’s might want to push it a bit further, just in case they end up trading players like Leclerc at the deadline and knocking that number down. Otherwise, their deadline dealings would have to be fairly revenue neutral.

Klein, 25, was one of three players that the A’s just acquired from the Royals in the Lucas Erceg trade at last year’s deadline. He didn’t have much big league experience prior to the deal and the A’s mostly kept him on optional assignment. He currently has 7 2/3 innings of MLB experience with nine earned runs allowed.

That’s obviously not a huge sample size and the A’s surely acquired Klein based on his larger sample of work in the minors. His numbers on the farm are vaguely Leclerc-esque, since he has been able to get strikeouts but has also given out plenty of walks. He has 221 1/3 minor league frames under his belt with a 5.16 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate and 16.2% walk rate.

The punchouts are attractive but even those faded in 2024. He tossed 43 Triple-A innings on the year between the two organizations, with a 22.4% strikeout rate and the walk rate still up at 16.7%. The 3.77 ERA wasn’t bad but a .234 BABIP and 75.4% strand rate surely helped him there, which is why he had a 5.42 FIP.

The Erceg deal was considered light by many observers at the time. It can often be difficult to grade a trade so soon after it’s consummated but it doesn’t bode well for the A’s that they are now potentially moving on from one of the three players they got in return.

They will now have a week to figure out Klein’s fate, whether that’s a trade or something on the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so that leaves five days for trade talks. He still has a couple of option years left, meaning any acquiring club could potentially keep him in the minors until he shows improved control.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the $10MM guarantee.

A’s Select Grant Holman

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The Athletics announced a quartet of roster moves, including the news that right-hander Grant Holman’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Las Vegas.  Star slugger Brent Rooker is also back from the paternity list, and right-hander Will Klein and infielder Armando Alvarez were both optioned to Triple-A to create the two needed opening on the 26-man roster.

Holman will be making his Major League debut whenever he makes his first official appearance for the A’s.  A sixth-round pick in the 2021 draft, Holman has worked exclusively as a reliever since he was promoted to Double-A in 2023, and his results this season have been spectacular.  The righty has a tiny 0.55 ERA over 48 2/3 combined innings at Double-A (19 1/3 IP) and Triple-A (29 1/3 IP), along with a strong 29% strikeout rate and a more modest 11.83% walk rate.  It should be noted that Holman has received a lot of batted-ball luck in the form of a .174 BABIP against Triple-A competition, but allowing just one homers in 29 1/3 frames of Pacific Coast League action is quite impressive.

MLB Pipeline rates Holman as the 21st-best prospect in Oakland’s farm system, and he received a 60-grade on his 95mph fastball.  Beyond that top offering, Holman also has a decent slider and a rather lightly-used splitter.  It makes for a pretty solid arsenal for a reliever, and Pipeline’s scouting report observes that “much of Holman’s step forward this season has come simply as a result of being healthy and getting regular reps,” following two seasons of elbow and shoulder problems.

There’s plenty of intrigue in Holman’s arsenal, and the 24-year-old should get opportunities for an Athletics team that continues to evaluate young talent as part of its rebuild.  Mason Miller has deservedly drawn most of the headlines, but Oakland’s bullpen has been pretty decent as a whole this season, and Holman will become the latest rookie arm to try and earn higher-leverage work.

Royals Acquire Lucas Erceg

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The Royals have acquired right-hander Lucas Erceg from the Athletics, per announcements from both clubs. The A’s receive right-handers Mason Barnett and Will Klein as well as outfielder Jared Dickey.

Erceg took an unusual path to being a midseason trade target. He was drafted by the Brewers as a third baseman back in 2016 but flamed out as a hitter and eventually moved to the mound. In 2021, he tossed 47 2/3 innings at the Double-A level, allowing 5.29 earned runs per nine. As you might expect for a new convert to pitching, control was an issue at first. Erceg gave out walks to 16.4% of batters faced that year but he also got strikeouts at a decent 21.1% clip and grounders at a strong 56.8% rate.

He has generally made positive progress in each season since as he has become more accustomed to his new career path. In 2022, he logged 61 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.55 ERA, a decent step forward from the prior season. His strikeout and walk rates also improved to 24.4% and 13.1%, respectively.

In 2023, he started the year back at Triple-A before he was traded from Milwaukee to Oakland in a cash deal, with the A’s adding him to their roster shortly thereafter. He tossed his first 55 major league innings last year with a 4.75 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 14.3% walk rate and 46.1% ground ball rate. The control was still an issue but it was an encouraging debut nonetheless, especially for a guy with such a limited track record on the mound. He averaged 98 miles per hour with both his four-seam fastball and his sinker while also throwing a changeup, slider and cutter.

His second major league season has seen him continue to grow. His 26.3% strikeout rate is a slight drop from last year but he has cut his walk rate all the way down to 8.3%, with his ground ball rate also creeping up to 50.5%. That’s resulted in a 3.68 ERA in 36 2/3 innings, with Erceg racking up three saves and 12 holds on the year.

The A’s didn’t necessarily have to trade Erceg now. He came into this season with less than a year of service time, meaning he can still be retained for five seasons after the current campaign, but there are also logical reasons why they were tempted to make him available.

Due to his unusual trajectory, Erceg is now 29 years old. With the A’s deep in a rebuild, he will be in his early 30s and into his arbitration seasons by the time they are likely to be competitive again. Relievers are generally considered pretty volatile in general and that might be even more true with Erceg, who has such limited experience relative to most of his peers. Rather than hold him and take the risk that his performance takes a downturn or he suffers an injury, the A’s decided to make him available at this deadline, while the industry consensus has generally been that the acquisition costs for pitching have been quite high.

The Royals have surged back into contention after many years of struggles and have been aggressive in bolstering their roster for a playoff push. The bullpen has naturally been a target area for the club this year, as their relievers have a collective 4.30 ERA that places them 24th in the majors. Their 18.6% strikeout rate is actually second to last, ahead of only the Rockies.

They acquired Hunter Harvey from the Nationals recently and this trade for Erceg will give them a couple of fresh arms who both have big punchout potential. They also added Michael Lorenzen as a swingman to bolster the group in general, as he can help them in multiple ways.

Considering the A’s just got Erceg in a cash deal last May, they are likely quite happy to cash him in for three younger players barely over a year later. Barnett, 23, was a third-round pick of the Royals in 2022. He made 23 starts last year between High-A and Double-A with a 3.30 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. His ERA has jumped to 4.91 at Double-A this year but with similar peripherals. His .336 batting average on balls in play and 64.2% strand rate are probably masking those underlying metrics, as he has a 27.4% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. Baseball America currently lists him as the #11 prospect in the Royals’ system while FanGraphs has him slightly higher at #7.

Klein, 24, is a reliever who made his major league debut this year. He has 5 2/3 innings in the show so far with a 6.35 ERA. Command appears to be the biggest issue with him. Since being selected in the fifth-round of the 2020 draft, he has tossed 216 minor league innings with a 5.17 ERA. His 30.7% strikeout rate is quite impressive but he’s also given free passes to 16.1% of batters that have come to the plate. BA and FG both put him at #16 in the system.

Dickey, 22, was just drafted in the 11th round last year. He’s slashing .269/.360/.424 in High-A this year for a wRC+ of 127 and has also stolen eight bases. Neither BA nor FG have him on their KC prospect lists.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported on X that Erceg was headed to the Royals. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the return on X.

Royals Select Dan Altavilla

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The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Dan Altavilla. The club already had a 40-man vacancy. Right-hander Will Klein was optioned to open an active roster spot.

Altavilla, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason. He has since made 24 appearances for Triple-A Omaha, allowing 2.63 earned runs per nine innings. That’s at least partially luck, as he has been giving out walks at a 12.8% clip and can’t continue stranding 91.8% of baserunners forever. But his 27.5% strikeout rate with the Storm Chasers was quite strong and he’s also been getting grounders on 44.6% of balls in play.

That performance will get Altavilla back to the big leagues for the first time since 2021. He made 119 appearances in the majors from 2016 to 2021 with a 4.03 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, 12.1% walk rate and 38.8% ground ball rate. But he underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2021 and hasn’t made it back to the majors until now.

He signed a two-year minor league deal with the Red Sox and didn’t pitch in any official capacity in 2022. He returned to the mound last year but struggled to get back in form right away. He tossed 12 innings on the farm last year with an ERA of 3.00, but he was helped by a tiny .194 batting average on balls in play as he only struck out 14.3% of opponents while giving out walks at a 10.2% clip.

The Sox released him in August but his new deal with the Royals seems to have allowed him to get back on track. It was reported last week that the Royals are looking for bullpen help, with some more swing-and-miss a specific target area. Altavilla could perhaps give the club an internal source of that upgrade they are looking for, based on his strikeout numbers this year and earlier in his career.

If Altavilla clicks, perhaps that will alter the club’s approach prior to the July 30 trade deadline. If it doesn’t work out, he’s likely to end up designated for assignment since he is out of options. But if he manages to hang onto his roster spot through the end of the schedule, he can be retained for next year via arbitration since he has less than five years of major league service time.

Royals Place Alec Marsh On Injured List, Recall Will Klein For MLB Debut

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The Royals announced Thursday that righty Alec Marsh is headed to the 15-day injured list with a right elbow contusion. Right-handed reliever Will Klein has been recalled to take his spot on the roster and will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game.

Marsh took a comeback liner from Blue Jays rookie Addison Barger off his arm in yesterday’s game and exited the contest (video link). X-rays came back negative, though Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweeted after last night’s game that Marsh had severe bruising and an imprint of the seams was visible on his arm where he’d been struck. He’ll sit down for a couple weeks to let that subside before stepping back into the rotation.

Selected with the 70th overall pick in 2019, Marsh won the Royals’ fifth starter job over veteran Jordan Lyles in spring training and has had a fine start to his season. He’s taken the ball five times and pitched 26 2/3 innings with a 2.70 earned run average. His 15.9% strikeout rate and 36.3% grounder rate are both well below average, but Marsh also touts a strong 6.5% walk rate on the season. He’s not likely to sustain this level of success without upping his whiffs and/or grounders, and he’ll surely wind up seeing more than three percent of his fly-balls leave the yard (which has been his HR/FB rate in 2024). Even with those red flags, he still looks like a viable fifth starter in a vastly improved Kansas City rotation.

The 24-year-old Klein was Kansas City’s final pick in the shortened, five-round 2020 draft. He came off the board with the No.  135 overall selection and has steadily risen through the minor league ranks since. Klein logged a 3.38 ERA and fanned a third of his opponents in Double-A last year before reaching Triple-A and limping to a 5.66 ERA with a bloated 14.4% walk rate in 35 innings down the stretch. He’s opened the 2024 campaign with 11 shutout frames in Triple-A Omaha, however. Klein’s command remains an issue, evidenced by a 13.6% walk rate, but he’s whiffed nearly 28% of his opponents this season and kept the ball on the ground at a solid 44% rate.

Klein entered the season ranked 18th among Royals prospects at both Baseball America and MLB.com. Both outlets credit him with a plus-plus heater (70-grade on the 20-80 scale) that sits in the upper 90s and frequently reaches triple digits. Klein also garners praise for a plus slider/cutter and above-average curveball but unsurprisingly draws below-average reviews for his command of that potent arsenal. He has late-inning potential if he can get to even average command, but he’s thus far walked 16% of his opponents in pro ball.

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