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Will Robertson

White Sox Place Shane Smith On 15-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | July 19, 2025 at 1:57pm CDT

The White Sox announced that right-hander Shane Smith has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 16) due to a left ankle sprain.  Outfielder Will Robertson was also optioned to Triple-A, making way for two new arrivals on Chicago’s active roster — Triple-A call-up Wikelman Gonzalez and utilityman Brooks Baldwin, who was reinstated from the 10-day IL.

Taken out of the Brewers’ organization during last winter’s Rule 5 Draft, Smith has immediately enjoyed some success in his first taste of the majors.  Smith has a 4.26 ERA over 86 2/3 innings and 18 starts for the Pale Hose, and he was even selected as Chicago’s rep for the AL All-Star team.  It could be that opposing batters have started to catch up to Smith, however, as the righty has an 11.29 ERA over his last 18 1/3 innings.

Workload could also be a factor, as Smith is nearing his career high of 94 1/3 innings in a single season (set last year when pitching in Milwaukee’s farm system).  Smith has tossed 243 2/3 total innings over his four pro seasons, and he underwent a Tommy John surgery in 2021 that was the likely reason he went undrafted that year coming out of Wake Forest.

The White Sox have made a point of trying to keep Smith’s innings managed, as his last start on July 11 saw the righty throw only two innings.  While obviously Smith would’ve preferred to avoid this ankle injury, the IL stint does somewhat resolve the innings question for the time being, as the righty will now be out of action for at least the rest of July.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Brooks Baldwin Shane Smith Wikelman Gonzalez Will Robertson

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White Sox Acquire Will Robertson From Blue Jays

By Anthony Franco | July 10, 2025 at 9:50am CDT

July 10: The teams have announced the trade. Chicago sent cash back to Toronto in return for Robertson, who has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

July 9: The Blue Jays are reportedly trading outfielder Will Robertson to the White Sox. The move, which has not been announced by either team, was first reported by @JeffreyCole2525 and confirmed by James Fegan of SoxMachine. Toronto designated Robertson for assignment over the weekend.

Chicago already has an opening on the 40-man roster after outrighting Vinny Capra. They’ll use the spot to take a flier on Robertson, a 27-year-old with three major league games under his belt. The Jays promoted the lefty-hitting outfielder in the middle of June. He was optioned back to Triple-A a little over a week later and DFA last week when Ryan Burr returned from the 60-day injured list.

A Creighton product, Robertson was Toronto’s fourth-round pick in 2019. He has never been a huge prospect, but he’s hitting well in his second season at the Triple-A level. Robertson has connected on 14 homers with a .292/.403/.578 slash line in 62 minor league games this year. He has taken walks at a massive 15.5% clip while striking out around a quarter of the time. The Jays have a fairly deep outfield and didn’t give Robertson an opportunity to see how much of that Triple-A production he could carry over against big league pitching. He has a bit of center field experience but fits better in a corner.

The White Sox could look to trade Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman this month. Backup outfielders Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor could also be traded or let go. They should be able to find a taker for Tauchman, who has taken the starting right field job behind a .297/.379/.459 showing. Robertson might begin his organizational tenure on optional assignment to Triple-A Charlotte but should be in line for decent playing time after the deadline.

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Chicago White Sox Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Will Robertson

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Blue Jays Place Andres Gimenez On 10-Day Injured List

By Nick Deeds | July 6, 2025 at 10:16am CDT

The Blue Jays announced a flurry of roster moves this morning, headlined by their move to place second baseman Andres Gimenez on the 10-day injured list with an ankle sprain. Outfielder Joey Loperfido was recalled to the big league roster to replace Gimenez. In a second set of moves, right-hander Ryan Burr was activated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Lazaro Estrada was optioned to Triple-A and outfielder Will Robertson was designated for assignment to make room for Burr on the active and 40-man rosters respectively.

Gimenez suffered an ankle injury on Wednesday, and aggravated the issue further on Friday after initially attempting to play through it. He was viewed as day-to-day initially, but Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet noted yesterday that Gimenez was being sent for an MRI. That MRI revealed a sprain, and the Blue Jays evidently felt the issue was severe enough to warrant a trip to the injured list. Gimenez’s exact timeline for return is not yet known, but the timing of the injury means he won’t be back until after the All-Star break at the very earliest.

It’s a tough blow for the division-leading Blue Jays, as while Gimenez is batting just .218/.300/.322 on the year he’s offered his trademark strong glove at second base and has heated up considerably since returning from a quad strain at the start of June. In 25 games since returning, Gimenez had slashed .253/.340/.349 with a wRC+ of 101. A combination of league average offense and Gimenez’s stellar defense is enough to make him an extremely valuable player, as seen in 2023 when he posted 3.8 fWAR for the Guardians despite a 97 wRC+.

While Gimenez is on the shelf, the Jays appear likely to rely on some combination of Will Wagner, Leo Jimenez, and Davis Schneider at the keystone. Loperfido is replacing Gimenez on the roster after posting a 111 wRC+ at the Triple-A level throughout this season, but he hit just .214/.264/.350 in 81 games for the Jays last year and seems unlikely to be much more than a depth option for the club during this return to the majors. Acquired from the Astros as part of the Yusei Kikuchi trade, Loperfido does actually have some experience at second base in the minors but has been limited to the outfield and first base at the big league level.

As for Burr, the right-hander is now poised to make his season debut after being sidelined by a bout of right shoulder inflammation during Spring Training. Burr posted a 4.08 ERA in 75 innings with the White Sox between 2018 and 2022 before spending the 2023 campaign in the Rays’ minor league system. He joined the Blue Jays for the 2024 season and posted a 4.13 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work with an impressive 33.6% strikeout rate. Toronto is surely hoping Burr can leverage that high strikeout rate into stronger results going forward, and if he can it wouldn’t be hard to see him become a late-inning option for the Jays to help set up Jeff Hoffman.

Making room for Burr on the 40-man roster is Robertson, who crushed the ball at Triple-A this year to the tune of a .288/.410/.582 slash line (159 wRC+) in 51 games to break down the door to the majors and force himself onto the big league roster for the first time in his career. He ultimately appeared in just three games at the big league level, however, and struck out in seven of his 12 plate appearances in the majors. He did notch his first big league hit before getting sent back down, however, and since then he’s continued to hit at a high level in the minors. The Blue Jays will now have one week to either trade Robertson or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he can be outrighted to the minor leagues as a non-roster depth option for the remainder of the season.

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Toronto Blue Jays Winter League Andres Gimenez Joey Loperfido Lazaro Estrada Ryan Burr Will Robertson

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Blue Jays Notes: Rotation, Yesavage, Outfield

By Steve Adams | June 20, 2025 at 3:34pm CDT

The Blue Jays could get Max Scherzer back as soon as next week, writes Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. The future Hall of Famer tossed 74 pitches and punched out eight hitters — including a rehabbing Wilyer Abreu — in a rehab start against the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate this week. The Jays will need to see how Scherzer’s ailing thumb responds, but he’s built up and feels his stuff is where it needs to be. If Saturday’s scheduled bullpen session between starts goes well, Scherzer could return to the Jays next Tuesday.

A healthy Scherzer would be a welcome boon at an opportune time. Toronto recently lost Bowden Francis to the injured list. Kevin Gausman has allowed 17 runs over his past 20 innings. Chris Bassitt has allowed at least three runs in four of his past five starts, pitching to a 5.59 ERA in that span.

Scherzer, 40, lasted only three innings in his Jays debut early this season and pitched only 43 1/3 innings with Texas in 2024. There are genuine concerns about his health, both in terms of his thumb being able to hold up over the course of a full big league start and in terms of how it’ll recover between outings when he’s taking the ball every fifth day. At least with regard to his two rehab starts — 56 pitches and 74 pitches — he’s been holding up well enough during those games themselves. It might be a bit before the Jays let him unleash 100 pitches, but even if his pitch count is closely monitored, Scherzer should stabilize a rotation that’s cycled through a hodgepodge of fifth starter options this year.

The occupant of that fifth and final spot in the rotation, even with Scherzer back in the fold, is up in the air. Lefty Eric Lauer, who signed a minor league deal over the winter, has been excellent pitching in a variety of roles. Matheson notes that Lauer is angling for that fifth spot, quoting the lefty as follows: “I’m a starter and I want to be a starter. The fifth spot is kind of up in the air. I go out there and try to take that fifth spot every time.”

Lauer has indeed made a strong case. He’s pitched in 10 games for Toronto, four of them starts, and picked up 35 1/3 innings with a 2.29 earned run average. He’s fanned 26.1% of his opponents against an 8% walk rate. His ability to sustain that strikeout rate is a bit questionable, given below-average swinging-strike and chase rates of 9.8% and 24.6%, respectively, but this is far and away Lauer’s best work since his 2021-22 peak with the Brewers.

That said, another low-cost pickup has made a similarly strong case. Right-hander Spencer Turnbull, signed to a deal after the season was underway, has pitched 4 1/3 innings and held opponents to one run. He’s allowed seven hits, walked two and only fanned a pair, but Turnbull can add to his case when he starts tonight’s game against the White Sox.

Mitch Bannon of The Athletic adds that manager John Schneider called the fifth starter’s spot a “healthy competition” between Lauer and Turnbull. For now, both are in the picture. If there are any setbacks with Scherzer, perhaps that’ll remain the case. But if Scherzer returns next week, the Jays will have more healthy rotation arms than spots available — hardly a bad thing. If they get to that enviable spot, the Blue Jays could consider a variety of options. Turnbull could serve as a piggyback option behind either Lauer or Scherzer. They could go with a six-man rotation. They could alternate Turnbull/Lauer in that fifth spot depending on their opponent.

Further down the road, Toronto is hopeful that 2024 first-rounder Trey Yesavage can push to join the starting staff. That’s not likely in 2025, as he was only just promoted to Double-A and has already thrown nearly two-thirds as many innings this year as he did in his junior season at East Carolina University. However, Bannon writes in a separate piece that the hard-throwing Yesavage could emerge as a candidate to join the major league club down the stretch if the Jays are in contention — perhaps in the bullpen.

Schneider tells Bannon that Yesavage “has definitely opened some eyes here” and that “the stuff is real.” Blue Jays scout Coulson Barbiche adds that even when he was watching Yesavage pitch in college, he seemed “darn near ready-made” for the major leagues.

The 6’4″, 225-pound Yesavage has breezed through minor league lineups in his first full pro season, logging a 2.67 ERA with a mammoth 42.5% strikeout rate and an almost comical 21.1% swinging-strike rate. His 11.5% walk rate needs to come down, but Yesavage is already at his third minor league level of the season. The Jays may not have been all that aggressive with his original assignment to Low-A, but they’re promoting him aggressively now; Yesavage spent only four starts in High-A before being bumped to Double-A, where he’s now made two starts.

Good questions on the pitching side of the roster are circulating at the moment, but there’s also some uncertainty with the team’s mix of position players — specifically in the outfield. The Jays have Daulton Varsho and Anthony Santander on the injured list at the moment, but there’s still a surplus of outfield talent on the roster — particularly with Nathan Lukes returning from the concussion list today.

Shi Davidi of Sportsnet looks at what could be a looming logjam. Varsho is one of the game’s premier defenders and will man center field once healthy. Santander and George Springer will share one corner spot and the DH spot. Addison Barger is in the midst of a breakout and has logged plenty of time in right field, but he can play third base regularly once the rest of the group is healthy. Prospects Alan Roden and Jonatan Clase are also in the mix, as are Lukes, Will Robertson, Myles Straw and Davis Schneider.

It’s highly doubtful the Jays would move one of the more established veterans or Barger, given how well he’s hitting, but Davidi wonders whether the Blue Jays might be deep enough in outfielders to deal from that hefty supply as they look to improve for the stretch run.

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Notes Toronto Blue Jays Addison Barger Alan Roden Davis Schneider Eric Lauer Jonatan Clase Max Scherzer Myles Straw Nathan Lukes Spencer Turnbull Trey Yesavage Will Robertson

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Blue Jays Select Will Robertson, Place Nathan Lukes On Injured List

By Nick Deeds | June 11, 2025 at 11:45am CDT

June 11: The Jays will place Lukes on the 7-day concussion list as the corresponding move to bring Robertson to the majors, manager John Schneider announced today (via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson).

June 10: The Blue Jays are promoting outfielder Will Robertson to the majors, according to a report from Trevor Hahn of News Tribune Sports. Toronto has space on their 40-man roster, so the only corresponding move needed to bring Robertson into the fold will be one to clear room on the active roster.

Robertson, 27, was Toronto’s fourth-round pick back in 2019. After getting a taste of pro ball in Low-A during his draft year, Robertson’s career was delayed slightly by the canceled minor league season in 2020 and when he returned in 2021 he struggled somewhat across 56 games at the High-A level with a wRC+ of just 94 as he hit .235/.310/.385. He once again put up relatively middling numbers the following year, this time slashing .215/.291/.401 (89 wRC+) across 90 games in his first taste of the Double-A level. Overall, Robertson’s approach came with a hefty dose of strikeouts and somewhat limited power that made it difficult for him to put up even average results early in his professional career.

Things began to change during a repeat of the Double-A level in 2023, however. That year, Robertson hit .245/.323/.488 with a wRC+ of 118. He pushed his walk rate up to 9.7%, the best it had been since his draft year, cut his strikeout rate by two points, and slugged 19 homers in 103 games. That sort of strong performance is to be expected of a 25-year-old making his second trip through Double-A, but it was still enough to get him promoted to Triple-A Buffalo for the first time in his career. While Robertson’s increased walk rate and power remained from the year prior, his strikeout rate jumped to 31.3% in 2024 as he struggled against Triple-A pitching an ultimately slashed just .226/.319/.429 with a wRC+ of 95.

Robertson’s 2024 performance may have seemed to indicate he didn’t have much of path to the big leagues, but he’s changed that narrative with a brilliant season in 2025 so far. In 51 games for the club’s Buffalo affiliate, Robertson has crushed the ball to the tune of a .288/.410/.582 slash line. He has 12 home runs in just 188 plate appearances, he’s walking a whopping 17.0% of the time, and he’s striking out less than he has since 2019 with a 23.9% clip. Taken together, it leaves him with a 159 wRC+ that’s good for fourth in the International League this year. Robertson isn’t considered much of a prospect, as he isn’t even ranked on MLB.com’s Top 30 Blue Jays prospects list. Regardless of a player’s prospect status, however, Robertson’s numbers are the type that will get you attention from the big league club.

That’s especially true for a Blue Jays club that is running a bit thin on outfield depth after losing both Anthony Santander and Daulton Varsho to the injured list. Alan Roden, Myles Straw, Jonatan Clase, Addison Barger, and Nathan Lukes have been mixing and matching in the outfield for the Jays in recent weeks alongside veteran right fielder George Springer, and Ben Nicholson Smith of Sportsnet was among those to relay this afternoon that Lukes had been scratched from today’s lineup due to neck discomfort. Perhaps Robertson’s call-up is a sign that Lukes’ neck issue is serious enough to require a stint on the injured list, though it’s also possible Robertson’s phenomenal play to this point in the year has simply forced the issue in the eyes of Blue Jays brass.

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Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Nathan Lukes Will Robertson

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