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Players Entering Minor League Free Agency

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Major League free agents became eligible to sign with other teams on Thursday, but the minor league free agent market has technically been open since season’s end.  MLBTR has published several posts detailing players who had already elected to become minor free agents, but Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (multiple links) has the full account of all the minor league free agents that officially joined their big league counterparts on the open market on Thursday.

This list details only players who have played in the Major Leagues, and whose minor league free agency hasn’t already been covered on MLBTR in the last month.

Athletics: Aaron Brooks, Carlos Duran, CD Pelham, Bryan Lavastida, Nick Martini, Alejo Lopez

Braves: Ian Anderson, Davis Daniel, Enoli Paredes, Amos Willingham, Brian Moran, Jonathan Ornelas, Chandler Seagle, Matthew Batten, Conner Capel

Orioles: Jakson Reetz, Livan Soto, Thaddeus Ward

Red Sox: John Brebbia, Isaiah Campbell, Mark Kolozsvary, Chadwick Tromp, Seby Zavala, Trayce Thompson

Cubs: Yency Almonte, Zach Pop, Caleb Kilian, Austin Gomber, Forrest Wall, Billy Hamilton, Joe Ross, Tommy Romero, Antonio Santos, Tom Cosgrove, Dixon Machado, Nicky Lopez, Carlos Perez

White Sox: Elvis Peguero, Kyle Tyler, Vinny Capra, Chris Rodriguez, Caleb Freeman, Joe Perez, Owen White, Andre Lipcius

Reds: Tejay Antone, Alan Busenitz, Buck Farmer, Josh Staumont, P.J. Higgins, Eric Yang, Levi Jordan, Edwin Rios, Davis Wendzel, Evan Kravetz, Adam Plutko, Charlie Barnes, Alex Young

Guardians: Riley Pint, Tyler Naquin, Parker Mushinski

Rockies: Xzavion Curry, Sean Bouchard, Owen Miller, Karl Kauffmann,

Tigers: Kevin Newman, Brian Serven, Jordan Balazovic, Nick Margevicius, Blair Calvo

Astros: Jon Singleton, Joe Hudson, Kenedy Corona, Greg Jones, Matt Bowman, Luis Contreras, Tyler Ivey, John Rooney

Royals: John Gant, Spencer Turnbull, Bobby Dalbec, Diego Castillo, Geoff Hartlieb, Jordan Groshans, Nick Pratto, Isan Diaz, Stephen Nogosek, Nick Robertson, Joey Krehbiel, Noah Murdock, Ryan Hendrix

Angels: Shaun Anderson, Brandon Drury, Yolmer Sanchez, Ben Gamel, Evan White, Cavan Biggio, Logan Davidson, Travis Blankenhorn, Oscar Colas, Kelvin Caceres, Dakota Hudson, Chad Stevens, Angel Felipe, Jordan Holloway, Victor Gonzalez

Dodgers: Michael Grove, Luken Baker, Giovanny Gallegos, Kyle Funkhouser, Chris Okey, CJ Alexander, Zach Penrod

Marlins: Jack Winkler, Lane Ramsey

Brewers: Luis Urias, Oliver Dunn, Julian Merryweather, Daz Cameron, Drew Avans, Josh Maciejewski, Jared Oliva

Twins: Jose Miranda, Anthony Misiewicz, Jonah Bride, Thomas Hatch, Daniel Duarte, Connor Gillispie

Mets: Joey Meneses, Jose Azocar, Joe La Sorsa, Gilberto Celestino, Ty Adcock, Bryce Montes de Oca, Yacksel Rios, Oliver Ortega, Luis De Los Santos

Yankees: Kenta Maeda, Jeimer Candelario, Rob Brantly, Andrew Velazquez, Jose Rojas, Joel Kuhnel, Wilking Rodriguez

Phillies: Matt Manning, Adonis Medina, Lucas Sims, Jacob Waguespack, Phil Bickford, Rodolfo Castro, Oscar Mercado, Brewer Hicklen, Christian Arroyo, Payton Henry

Pirates: Brett Sullivan, Nick Solak, Nelson Velazquez, Beau Burrows, Ryder Ryan

Cardinals: Zach Plesac, Anthony Veneziano, Tyler Matzek, Zack Weiss, Drew Rom, Aaron Wilkerson

Padres: Eguy Rosario, Tim Locastro, Reiss Knehr, Nate Mondou

Giants: Sean Hjelle, Miguel Diaz, Max Stassi, Sam Huff, Cole Waites, Drew Ellis, Ethan Small

Mariners: Michael Fulmer, Casey Lawrence, Collin Snider, Jesse Hahn, Nick Anderson, Josh Fleming, Austin Shenton, Jacob Nottingham, Beau Taylor, Cade Marlowe, Jack Lopez, Michael Mariot, Hagen Danner

Rays: Cooper Hummel, Jonathan Hernandez, Jamie Westbrook, Tres Barrera

Rangers: Omar Narvaez, Cal Quantrill, Ty Blach, Alan Trejo, Joe Barlow, Cory Abbott, Michael Plassmeyer, Alex De Goti

Blue Jays: Eloy Jimenez, Buddy Kennedy, Joe Mantiply, Elieser Hernandez, Rene Pinto, Adam Kloffenstein

Nationals: Francisco Mejia, Juan Yepez, Joan Adon, CJ Stubbs, Parker Dunshee, Erick Mejia, Adrian Sampson, Delino DeShields

Cardinals Sign Zach Plesac To Minor League Deal

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Zach Plesac is back in affiliated ball. The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed the righty to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Memphis. Plesac had spent the past couple months pitching in the Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks.

Plesac pitched well in the independent ranks. He turned in a 2.84 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate over seven starts. His stuff was sharp enough for the Cardinals to view him as a viable depth starter. Plesac needed to pitch his way back to affiliated ball after a rough 2024 season with the Angels. He only made three MLB starts and was blitzed for 11 runs across 12 innings. Things didn’t go much better in Triple-A, where he allowed a 5.69 ERA through 99 2/3 frames spanning 18 appearances.

It has been a while since Plesac was an effective starter. He was brilliant for Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season, turning in a 2.28 ERA over eight outings. That came against a generally weak slate of lineups with teams playing a limited schedule, though, and the former 12th-round pick wasn’t able to build off it. He owns a 4.86 ERA in 58 MLB appearances since that season.

St. Louis has had the best rotation health of any team this year. They’ve only used six starters. Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante and Erick Fedde have each taken all 12 turns. Steven Matz briefly joined the group when they used a six-man rotation to navigate a busy part of the schedule. He started twice and is now back in the bullpen.

They have another hectic stretch coming up, as they only have one off day (on June 16) for the remainder of the month. That could lead them to go back to a six-man rotation. Liberatore also left yesterday’s outing a little early with general fatigue, though there’s no indication it’ll impact his ability to make his next start. John Denton of MLB.com suggested this week that pitching prospect Michael McGreevy could be recalled as soon as this Sunday to fill out the staff — presumably with Matz staying in the bullpen. If that’s how things play out, Plesac can backfill the Triple-A rotation.

Zach Plesac Signs With Long Island Ducks

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Right-hander Zach Plesac has signed with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, the team announced yesterday. He’s the third former big leaguer to sign with the Ducks in the past week, joining Seth Beer and Mark Mathias.

The 30-year-old Plesac has pitched in the majors in each of the past six seasons, albeit for only 12 rough innings with the Angels in 2024. He made three starts for the Halos and was rocked for 11 runs (8.25 ERA) on a dozen hits and seven walks with only five strikeouts. Four of those hits against Plesac were home runs. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A Salt Lake, where he logged an ugly 5.69 ERA in 99 2/3 innings.

Early in his career, Plesac looked like a potential long-term member of the rotation in Cleveland. He debuted with 115 2/3 frames of 3.81 ERA ball in 2019 and followed that with 55 2/3 innings and a 2.28 ERA the following season. A pedestrian 21.3% strikeout rate and an unsustainable 81.5% strand rate across those two seasons portended regression in his shiny 3.32 earned run average, but Plesac looked the part of an innings-eating fourth starter who relied more on command than overpowering his opponents.

For much of the next two seasons, that’s just how it played out. Plesac started 59 games for the 2021-22 Guardians and turned in a solid, if unremarkable 4.49 ERA. He fanned only 17.2% of his opponents but also limited them to a 6.2% walk rate. His 42.7% ground-ball rate was about average, and while his 1.38 homers per nine frames were too high, that lack of free passes helped to ensure that a fair number of those big flies were solo shots.

Plesac’s velocity and strikeout rate continued to decline in 2023-24, however. The 93.9 mph he averaged on his four-seamer was a distant memory last year, when his four-seamer sat at just 90.5 mph in Triple-A. With fewer missed bats and lesser velocity came more hard contact and more home runs.

Many players have used the Atlantic League — the Ducks, in particular — as a springboard back to affiliated ball. Plesac will hope to be the latest player to do so. He’ll pitch all of this season at 30 and still has three seasons of club control remaining if he ends up back in the majors.

Angels Release Zach Plesac

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The Angels are releasing right-hander Zach Plesac, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (X link). The veteran starter had been on optional assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake. The move drops the Halos’ 40-man roster count to 38. Los Angeles could also move Mike Trout and Luis Rengifo to the 60-day IL at any point since both players are done for the season.

Plesac signed a $1MM free agent deal with Los Angeles over the winter. They ran him through waivers early in the season before reselecting his contract in mid-June. Plesac only started three games at the major league level, surrendering 11 runs in 12 innings. He’d otherwise been pitching in Salt Lake, where he owns a 5.69 ERA across 18 appearances. Plesac showed good control in the minors but only fanned 15% of opposing hitters. He last pitched for the Bees on August 3, though the team did not place him on the injured list at any point.

Assuming he’s healthy, Plesac could look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere. He’ll likely clear release waivers and become a free agent. Plesac hasn’t gotten much of an MLB look in either of the past two years, combining for eight starts between the Guardians and Halos since the beginning of the ’23 campaign. He’s still attacking the strike zone in the minors and was a serviceable back-end starter for Cleveland from 2021-22. Plesac’s dominant showing in 2020 looks like a quirk of the shortened season and in-division schedule, but his 4.49 ERA across 50 outings over the next two years is viable #5 starter production.

Angels Designate José Suarez, Cole Tucker For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have reinstated infielder Brandon Drury from the injured list and selected the contract of right-hander Zach Plesac. In corresponding moves, left-hander José Suarez and infielder Cole Tucker have been designated for assignment.

Suarez, 26, had a solid two-year run as a swingman for the Angels. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he made 45 appearances for the club, with 34 of those being starts. He logged 207 1/3 innings, allowing 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all around league average in that time.

But things have been dire since then. He spent about four months on the injured list last year with a shoulder strain and had an ERA of 8.29 in the 33 2/3 innings he was able to pitch. The Halos clearly hoped for a bounceback, tendering Suarez a contract. The two sides eventually went to a hearing, with the club winning and paying Suarez $925K instead of his requested figure of $1.35MM. He’s avoided the IL this year but the results haven’t improved, as he has an 8.15 ERA in 35 1/3 innings pitched so far this season.

It’s likely not as bad as that seems, as his .375 batting average on balls in play and 57.1% strand rate are both on the unlucky side. But his walk rate has been over 12% this year and last year, which hasn’t helped him. Since he’s out of options, the only way for the Angels to get him off the active roster was to remove him from the 40-man completely.

They will now have one week to try to trade him or pass him through waivers. Perhaps some pitching-needy club with a plan to get him back on track will be intrigued, though his recent struggles will obviously tamp down interest. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would be able to elect free agency since he has more than three years of service time. But since he has less than five years of service, he would forfeit the remainder of his salary by doing so. Given those circumstances, he’s likely to end up sticking with the Angels as non-roster depth.

Tucker, 27, was once a highly-touted prospect with the Pirates but has continually struggled in the major leagues. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in mid-April and was added to their roster a couple of weeks later. He has since received 57 plate appearances in 25 games but has struck out at a 29.8% rate and produced a meager line of .180/.263/.300. That brings his career output to .213/.266/.316.

The Halos will have a week to figure things out with Tucker as well, but interest is likely to be very low based on his limited production. He has a previous career outright and would be able to elect free agency in the event he’s outrighted again.

When the Angels added him to their roster, Tucker told reporters that he was offered a coaching position by the Mariners but wanted to keep playing. Perhaps he will continue pursuing playing opportunities but it sounds like he will have some fallback plans for whenever he decides to hang up his spikes.

Plesac signed with the Halos in the offseason, a deal with a $1MM guarantee, but later ran him through waivers. He had the right to reject an outright assignment by virtue of having more than three years of service time, but since his service clock is below five, doing so would have meant forfeiting the rest of that money.

He reported to Triple-A and has made 13 starts at that level with a 5.42 ERA, 15.8% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. The Angels announced that José Soriano was scratched from tonight’s start with lower abdominal pain and that Plesac will take the mound instead. Plesac could stick in the rotation but also has a couple of options and can be sent back down to Salt Lake without being exposed to waivers again.

Orioles Claim Liván Soto Off Waivers From Angels

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The Angels announced that infielder Liván Soto has been claimed off waivers by the Orioles while right-hander Zach Plesac has been sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. Both players were designated for assignment earlier this week. The Orioles had two open spots on their 40-man roster, which is now at 39. The O’s also announced their claim of Soto, noting that he has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

This is the second time the Orioles have claimed Soto off waivers from the Angels this year. The first came back in February, though the Angels were able to claim him right back that same month, just over a week later. But now Soto is going from the Angels’ roster to the Orioles’ roster yet again.

Soto, 24 in June, has excelled in the majors so far, though in a small sample. He has slashed .375/.414/.531 in his 71 plate appearances in the big leagues. His minor league track record doesn’t suggest he can maintain anything close to that kind of production. In 1,505 trips to the plate on the farm since the start of 2021, he has a combined batting line of .246/.340/.355 for a wRC+ of 86.

Despite that subpar offensive output, he has other attributes. He had a bit of speed, racking up double-digit stolen base totals in the minors in 2021 and 2022, and has enough versatility to play the two middle infield spots or third base.

The Orioles have an infield filled with young talent, including Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday up the middle. Ryan Mountcastle has been getting most of the playing time at first base this year while Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías have been sharing third base and Jorge Mateo is on hand as a bench/utility option.

The recent promotion of Holliday likely left the O’s with a spot on the Tides for Soto and they had two open spots on the 40-man, so it’s understandable why they would put in a claim and add some extra depth. Soto is still young and has another option year remaining after this one, so he can theoretically continue serving as a depth option well into the future if he continues to hang onto his 40-man spot. Though the O’s also have a penchant for claiming guys and trying to run them through waivers later, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Soto sent down that path at some point.

As for Plesac, 29, he seemed to be emerging as a viable big league starter with Cleveland a few years ago. He had a 3.32 earned run average over 29 starts in 2019 and 2020, but his ERA climbed over the next two seasons, a combined 4.49 in 2021 and 2022. His first five starts in 2023 led to an awful 7.59 ERA and he lost his roster spot with the Guardians.

The Halos signed him to a $1MM deal this winter but put him on waivers after just two Triple-A starts and none of the other 29 clubs put in a claim. Since he has over three years of big league service time, he can technically reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. But since he doesn’t have five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his salary, so it seems fair to expect him to accept it and stay with the Halos as non-roster depth.

Angels Designate Zach Plesac, Liván Soto For Assignment

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves today, placing right-handers Chase Silseth and Guillo Zuñiga on the 15-day injured list, Silseth due to right elbow inflammation and Zuñiga a right pectoral strain. Taking their spots on the active roster will be taken by right-handers Carson Fulmer and Hunter Strickland, with each having their contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club has designated infielder Liván Soto and right-hander Zach Plesac for assignment.

It’s not yet clear how severe the injuries to Silseth and Zuñiga are, though the club clearly feels that each hurler needs an IL stint. In the case of Silseth, he recently underwent an MRI but is still awaiting the results, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. While the club awaits to find out the severity of that ailment, José Soriano will step into the rotation and start on Wednesday, per Fletcher.

Soriano was a starter as a prospect but required Tommy John surgery in February of 2020 and then again in June of 2021. Obviously, he hardly pitched from 2020 through 2022, but he returned to the mound in a relief role last year. He tossed 23 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.24 earned run average and posted a 3.64 ERA in 42 major league innings. His 12.4% walk rate in the majors was very much on the high side but he also punched out 30.3% of batters faced and kept 51% of balls in play on the ground.

The Halos stretched him out this spring but he got squeezed out of a rotation spot with each of Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning and Silseth staying healthy through the end of camp. Soriano has been working a long relief role of late, with a pair of three-inning appearances thus far. Now that Silseth is on the shelf for a little while, it seems he’ll get stretched out again.

Soriano’s move means that the bullpen is losing two members, between him and Zuñiga, so the Halos will add Fulmer and Strickland to fill those spots. The 30-year-old Fulmer was with the Angels last year but was non-tendered at season’s end, eventually returning on a minor league deal. He has made one minor league appearance already this year, tossing three innings, meaning he could perhaps provide the bullpen with some length.

He was only able to toss 10 major league innings last year, with a 2.70 ERA in that time, but his larger body of major league work has thus far resulted in a 6.14 ERA over 140 2/3 innings. His 19% strikeout rate, 13.2% walk rate and 40.7% ground ball rate are all a few ticks worse than league average.

Strickland, 35, has a 3.41 ERA over his 408 major league appearances dating back to 2014. However, it’s been a while since he’s been in impressive form. He was limited to just 11 Triple-A innings last year with an 11.45 ERA before being released by the Reds in May and sitting out the rest of the year. In 2022, he was able to make 66 appearances for the Reds in the big leagues but with a 4.91 ERA. But in 2021, he was able to finish with a 2.91 ERA over 57 appearances.

To add those two arms to the roster, the Angels have removed Plesac and Soto. The 29-year-old Plesac once looked like a rotation building block in Cleveland, as he posted a 3.32 ERA over 29 starts in 2019 and 2020. But his ERA jumped in the next two seasons, as he posted a combined 4.49 ERA over 2021 and 2022. His first five starts of the 2023 campaign led to a disastrous 7.59 ERA and he was outrighted off Cleveland’s roster, becoming a free agent at season’s end.

The Angels gave him a roster spot via a one-year major league deal with a $1MM base but he’s quickly been bounced off the roster. He had a lackluster 5.68 ERA in his three spring appearances and has a 4.66 ERA with a 17.5% walk rate after two Triple-A starts this year. The Angels will now have a week to trade Plesac or put him on waivers. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with more than three years of service time. However, he lacks the five years of service time necessary to both reject the outright assignment and retain his salary, so he might decide to stay and keep his $1MM in that scenario.

As for Soto, 24 in June, he has an excellent career batting line of .375/.414/.531 but in a tiny sample of just 71 plate appearances. In 1,505 minor league plate appearances since the start of 2021, he’s hit a combined line of .246/.340/.355 for a wRC+ of just 86. Despite that fairly tepid offense, Soto can steal some bases and is capable of providing solid defense at the three infield spots to the left of first base.

The Angels put Soto on waivers in February and he was claimed by the Orioles, though the Halos claimed him back a couple of weeks later. The Halos will now have a week to figure out how to proceed this time, whether that’s a trade or putting Soto on waivers again.

Angels Outright Adam Kolarek

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The Angels have outrighted left-hander Adam Kolarek off their 40-man roster, the team announced.  The move creates a 40-man roster spot for Zach Plesac, whose one-year deal with the Halos is now official.

Kolarek is a recent signing in his own right, joining the Angels on a one-year deal worth $900K back in November.  Because Kolarek has been previously outrighted in his career, he would have the right to reject this assignment and re-enter free agency, though he would also be walking away from that $900K salary.  It seems like this transaction might be something of a paper move that gives Los Angeles some roster flexibility but won’t impede Kolarek’s path to competing for a bullpen job this coming spring.

The groundball specialist has a 3.62 ERA over his 149 1/3 innings in the majors, a tenure that includes a World Series ring with the 2020 Dodgers.  Kolarek had a 3.07 ERA over 108 1/3 innings with the Rays and Dodgers from 2018-20, though some control problems have both limited his results and his time in the majors altogether, as he has posted a 4.68 ERA over 32 2/3 frames since the start of the 2021 season.  Kolarek spent that time with the Athletics, another stint with the Dodgers, and a brief four-game stretch with the Mets last season, plus some time in the Braves farm system without a big league call-up.

Angels Sign Zach Plesac

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TODAY: The deal is official, and MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (X link) reports that Plesac signed a one-year contract worth $1MM in guaranteed money.

DECEMBER 30, 10:34pm: Murray reports that it’s a major league deal between the Angels and Plesac, though the specific terms of the contract are still not known.

10:14pm: The Angels are in agreement with right-hander Zach Plesac on a deal, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that a deal between the two sides was close.

Plesac, 29 next month, made just five starts for the Guardians last offseason before being demoted to Triple-A and eventually outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in June. The right-hander posted a disastrous 7.59 ERA across 21 1/3 innings of work in those five contests, and his performance at the Triple-A level last season did little to inspire confidence: Plesac mustered just a 6.08 ERA with a 17.9% strikeout rate in 19 appearances at the level. While those brutal numbers surely make Plesac something of a surprising choice for any club to add to their pitching staff to those unfamiliar with the right-hander, it’s worth noting that Plesac had established himself as a solid middle-to-back of the rotation starter in the years prior to his disastrous 2023 campaign.

Initially drafted in the 12th round of the 2016 draft, Plesac made his big league debut as a 24-year-old back in 2019, when he made 19 starts in the majors for Cleveland. At the time, he had the look of a solid mid-rotation starter with a 3.81 ERA (126 ERA+) across 21 starts in his rookie season even as his 4.94 FIP and lackluster 18.5% strikeout rate both left much to be desired. Plesac then took a major leap forward during the shortened 2020 season. The right-hander posted an incredible 2.28 ERA that was 96% better than league average by measure of ERA+ and a strong 3.39 FIP.

During the truncated campaign, Plesac’s peripherals caught up to his performance as he struck out 27.7% of batters faced while walking just 2.9%. That strikeout-to-walk ratio placed Plesac between Brandon Woodruff and Clayton Kershaw for the 13th best figure among starters that year, while only Kyle Hendricks and Marco Gonzales allowed less free passes. The strong performance set him up to be a key cog in Cleveland’s rotation for years to come headed into the 2021 season.

Unfortunately for both the Guardians and Plesac, that future as a key piece of Cleveland’s pitching corps did not come to pass. Plesac instead reverted to his previous, low-strikeout rate form in 2021 and has stayed that way ever since. Unlike his rookie campaign in 2019, however, his results fell back down to Earth alongside his peripherals. The diminished results with a 4.49 ERA (90 ERA+) and a 4.59 FIP across 274 1/3 innings between 2021 and 2022. Although his walk rate remained at a strong 6.2% during that time, he struck out a measly 17.2% of batters faced. That figure was the fifth-worst punchout rate among starters with at least 250 innings pitched between the two seasons.

Of course, it’s worth noting that even in those 2021 and ’22 seasons where Plesac offered diminished production relative to his previous heights, the right-hander’s results were only around 10% below league average. A team can do far worse than 25 starts at that level of production for their fifth- or sixth-best starting option; 31 starters posted an ERA- of 110 or higher while throwing at least 100 innings in the majors last season, or more than one per team in the league. If the Angels believe Plesac’s 2023 campaign was an anomaly and his 2021-22 performance is a more accurate baseline, the right-hander could be a valuable depth option for a club that saw 14 different pitchers draw starts in 2023.

After losing Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers in free agency earlier this month, the Halos have plenty of work to do as they look to retool their roster and return to contention in 2024 on the heels of back-to-back 89-loss seasons. Though the specific terms being discussed between Plesac and Anaheim are not yet clear, a deal for Plesac figures to be either a minor league pact or perhaps a relatively inexpensive major league deal that won’t prevent the Angels from making other additions to the roster, including in the rotation. Either way, Plesac has options remaining headed into 2024 and would likely compete for a spot in the Angels’ starting rotation this spring before potentially starting the season as depth at the Triple-A level should he be unable to secure a starting spot.

Zach Plesac Files For Free Agency

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Right-hander Zach Plesac recently filed for free agency, according to his player profile on MLB.com. Plesac, 28, struggled to a 7.59 ERA and 4.47 FIP across five starts with the Guardians this season before being designated for assignment back in June. His struggles continued at the Triple-A level after he accepted an outright assignment, with the righty posting a 6.08 ERA in 19 appearances for the club’s affiliate in Columbus.

Plesac made his major league debut in 2019 and had the look of a solid mid-rotation starter, with a 3.81 ERA (126 ERA+) across 21 starts in his rookie season, though his 4.94 FIP and lackluster 18.4% strikeout rate both left much to be desired. During the shortened 2020 season, Plesac took a significant leap forward, with an incredible 2.28 ERA that was 96% better than league average by measure of ERA+ and a strong 3.39 FIP. In the shortened season, Plesac’s peripherals caught up to his performance as he struck out 27.7% of batters faced while walking just 2.9%.

Headed into the 2021 campaign, Plesac looked like he’d be a stalwart of Cleveland’s rotation for years to come. That did not come to pass, however, as Plesac reverted to his previous, low-strikeout rate form in 2021 and beyond. Unlike 2019, however, his results fell back down to Earth alongside his peripherals, leaving him with a 4.49 ERA (90 ERA+) and a 4.59 FIP across 274 1/3 innings between 2021 and 2022. During that time, he struck out a measly 17.2% of batters faced, the fifth-worst punchout rate among starters with at least 250 innings pitched between the two seasons.

Now that Plesac has elected free agency, he’ll be able to look for the chance to continue his career with any of the 30 big league clubs. Given his brutal results both in the majors and at Triple-A this year, it’s hard to imagine him finding anything better than a minor league offer with a contender. That said, it’s at least feasible that a team without hope of contending next season could offer Plesac a spot in the Opening Day rotation given the upside he flashed early in his career, his relative youth, and the fact that he could be controlled beyond the 2024 campaign.

If such an offer doesn’t materialize, Plesac could be one of the more interesting depth starters to be had on a minors pact this winter. After all, even his considerably diminished performance in 2021 and 2022 was just below league average for a starting pitcher, and even a contending club could do far worse than Plesac if looking for a stopgap option to cover for a midseason rotation injury. Further adding to his value on the open market is the fact that Plesac has minor league options remaining, meaning an interested club could shuttle him from the majors to Triple-A throughout next season without exposing him to waivers.

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