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29 Players Elect Free Agency

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October brings postseason play for a handful of teams and their fanbases. Just over two-thirds of the league is now in offseason mode after being eliminated, however. As the season comes to a close, a number of veterans will hit minor league free agency.

These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Guardians Outright Zack Collins

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Guardians catcher Zack Collins went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Columbus, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment earlier in the week, when Cleveland claimed Eric Haase off waivers from the division-rival Tigers. Collins has been outrighted in the past and will thus have the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

Selected by the White Sox with the No. 10 overall pick of the 2016 draft, Collins was viewed a bat-first catching prospect with plus raw power and a keen eye at the plate. Questions about his hit tool and ability to stick behind the plate have long existed, but Collins has displayed that ability to draw free passes and put the ball in the seats in pro ball. He’s walked in 13.1% of his big league plate appearances and boasts an even heartier 17.5% walk rate in the minors. Strikeout issues have cut into his power potential, but Collins still popped 19 homers in 471 trips to the plate between High-A and Double-A in 2017 and slugged 22 long balls between Triple-A and the big leagues in 468 plate appearances back in 2019.

Collins has just 11 home runs in 465 trips to the plate at the MLB level, and that’s due largely to a huge 33.5% strikeout rate. When Collins does make contact, it’s typically scalding; Statcast credits him with an average exit velocity of 91.2 mph and a 10.6% barrel rate in his career. He’s clobbered nearly 46% of his batted balls at 95 mph or greater — he’s just swung and missed too much to capitalize on that knack for hard contact. He’s a career .188/.300/.329 hitter in the big leagues but carries a much better .252/.371/.468 slash in 1040 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Defensively, Collins has drawn below-average grades in framing and blocking. He posted strong caught-stealing rates earlier in his minor league career but has struggled over the past two seasons — particularly under the new rules in 2023 (4-for-32). Collins has begun to log more time at first base and designated hitter in recent seasons.

Guardians Claim Eric Haase, Designate Zack Collins

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The Tigers announced Monday that catcher Eric Haase, whom they designated for assignment over the weekend, has been claimed off waivers by the Guardians. Cleveland designated fellow catcher Zack Collins for assignment in a corresponding move.

Haase, 30, goes from his hometown team back to the team that originally drafted him and gave him his Major League debut back in 2018. Cleveland selected Haase in the seventh round of the 2011 draft but traded him to Detroit for cash in Jan. 2020. He appeared in just seven games during the shortened 2020 season but broke out in 2021 and has seen semi-regular playing time over the past three seasons.

In 2021-22, Haase turned in a .242/.295/.451 batting line, swatting 36 home runs, 29 doubles and a pair of triples in 732 plate appearances. That offense clocked in about six percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+, and Haase showed some defensive versatility along the way. In addition to his work behind the plate, the Tigers frequently used him in left field (in addition to a pair of one-off appearances in right field and at first base).

The 2023 season has been a rough one for Haase, however. In 286 trips to the plate, he’s slashing .201/.246/.284. Haase has seen his ground-ball rate increase, while his exit velocity and hard-hit rate have both trended in the wrong direction. He’s also popping the ball up to the infield at a career-high rate.

Guardians catchers rank dead-last in offense this season, batting a combined .184/.258/.312. Even a small step toward Haase’s 2021-22 production would clear that remarkably low bar. For now, Haase will split time behind the plate with top prospect Bo Naylor. If he shows well down the stretch, Haase can be retained for another three years via arbitration, so there’s potential for him to stick around for awhile in his original organization. He’s out of minor league options, however, meaning he can’t be sent down without first clearing waivers.

Collins, 28, was the No. 10 overall draft pick by the White Sox out of Miami back in 2016 but has yet to establish himself at the MLB level. He’s spent parts of five seasons in the Majors and tallied 465 plate appearances during that time. His .188/.300/.329 slash is illustrative of his struggles to make contact, though. Collins has a huge 13.1% walk rate in his career, but he’s also fanned in 33.5% of his plate appearances. He’s a .252/.371/.468 hitter in 1040 Triple-A plate appearances.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the only action the Guardians can take with Collins is to attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He’ll be placed on either outright waivers or release waivers within the next few days.

Guardians Designate Daniel Norris For Assignment, Select Zack Collins

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The Guardians made a series of roster moves today, with Zack Meisel of The Athletic among those to relay them. Catcher Zack Collins has been selected to the roster while left-hander Tim Herrin has been recalled. In corresponding moves, Cam Gallagher was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list while lefty Daniel Norris was designated for assignment.

Gallagher was removed from last night’s game with a potential head injury, per Tom Withers of the Associated Press. It appeared to stem from being struck by a foul ball earlier in the contest, per Bally Sports Cleveland. It seems the issue is significant enough that the club will give him a breather for at least a week.

The Guards have had Gallagher and Bo Naylor as their catching duo in recent days, with David Fry having been placed on the IL due to a left hamstring strain last week and Mike Zunino released earlier in the summer. With Gallagher now set to miss some time, the club needed an extra backstop and has opted for Collins.

The 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the offseason and has been with Triple-A Columbus all year so far. In 109 games at that level this season, he’s hit .255/.364/.437 for a wRC+ of 101. He’s struck out in 31.5% of his plate appearances but walked at a 14.5% clip and launched 15 home runs.

That’s somewhat similar output to what he’s done in the majors so far. In 150 games dating back to 2019 with the White Sox, Blue Jays and Pirates, he’s been punched out at a 33.6% clip while walking in 12.9% of his trips to the plate. He has 11 home runs in 459 plate appearances while slashing .185/.295/.327 for a 74 wRC+. He has generally received poor marks for his defense in the big leagues, with -23 from Defensive Runs Saved so far and a score of -16.7 from the FanGraphs framing metric.

Collins is out of options but can be retained for future seasons via arbitration if he continues to hang onto his roster spot. He came into this year with a service time tally of two years and 95 days. He won’t have enough time to reach the three-year mark this year and could therefore be controlled for four future seasons.

In order to get Collins onto the 40-man, the Guards have bumped off Norris. The 30-year-old southpaw signed a minor league deal with Cleveland in the offseason and has twice now been selected and then designated for assignment shortly thereafter. He’s made six appearances for the Guards with a 3.38 ERA but has been helped by a .172 batting average on balls in play in that time. He has a 5.60 ERA in 53 Triple-A innings this year.

With the trade deadline now in the rearview, the Guards will have to put Norris on waivers in the coming days. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but he accepted his outright when he was DFA’d in June and could perhaps do the same again this time around.

Guardians Sign Zack Collins To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians announced Thursday that they’ve signed catcher Zack Collins to a minor league deal and invited him to big league camp this spring. Cleveland also confirmed its previously reported minor league deals/non-roster invites with lefty Phillip Diehl and righty Dusten Knight.

Collins was the tenth overall pick by the White Sox back in the 2016 draft. As with most players who have that type of draft pedigree, he once ranked among the sport’s consensus top-100 prospects, though he’s yet to establish himself as a viable big leaguer on either side of the ball.

The 28-year-old Collins has logged big league action in each of the past four seasons, batting a combined .185/.295/.327 with an impressive 12.9% walk rate but a troubling 33.6% strikeout rate through 459 plate appearances. He split the 2022 campaign between Toronto and Pittsburgh, slashing .155/.231/.320 in 108 trips to the plate. He’s notched a much more impressive .248/.377/.495 output in 570 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, but strikeouts have been an issue there as well (26.9%).

Defensively, Collins has graded out poorly in the Majors, recording negative framing marks and being dinged for -23 Defensive Runs Saved in just 608 career innings behind the plate. He’s also thrown out a below-average 18% of base thieves at the MLB level, though his 32% caught-stealing rate in the minors is far better and comes in a much larger sample. Each of the White Sox, Blue Jays and Pirates have given Collins some time at first base in the Majors, and he’s tallied another 304 innings there in the minors, so there’s a bit of versatility in his skill set.

Mike Zunino, signed to a one-year, $6MM deal earlier in the offseason, is slated to shoulder the bulk of the Guardians’ workload behind the plate in 2023, at least in the season’s early stages. His backup, however, remains something of an open question. Top catching prospect Bo Naylor is viewed as the organization’s catcher of the future, but the team may prefer that he heads to Triple-A and logs regular playing time early in the year. Bryan Lavastida is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, though minor league veterans like Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria will join Collins in camp as non-roster invitees.

That gives Cleveland as many as four catchers who could open the season in Triple-A Columbus, although Collins’ ability to mix in at first base could help them carry at least three backstops on the Triple-A roster. Still, it seems likely that at least one of the NRIs in camp could be cut loose at some point. For now, there’ll be some healthy competition to determine who opens the year as Zunino’s backup.

Which Remaining Free Agent Hitters Were Shifted The Most In 2022?

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It was announced back in September that Major League Baseball would be implementing some new rules for the 2023 season. One such change will be the limiting of defensive shifts, with teams required to have two infielders on each side of second base and all four on the near side of the outfield grass at the time the pitch is released.

The exact ramifications of these changes will be discovered as the 2023 season progresses, but the hope is that some routine grounders turn into hits instead. Those players who have been shifted the most could stand to reap the most benefit from the new environment. The prototypical example of the hitter that is the most harmed by the shifts has been a plodding and pull-happy left-hander who can be neutralized by having an infielder in deep right field. However, each player is unique and will have been attacked in different ways, so let’s look at the data, with a minimum of 100 plate appearances required to be considered here. Which free agents were shifted the most in 2022? (Quick note that Stephen Vogt has been excluded since he previously announced 2022 would be his last season.)

1.  Rougned Odor – 93.8%
2. Kole Calhoun – 93.4%
3. Zack Collins – 88.9%
4. Brett Phillips – 88%
5. Brandon Belt – 85.2%
6. Mike Ford – 84.6%
7. Jed Lowrie (as a lefty) – 83.5%
8. Robbie Grossman (as a lefty) – 82.6%
9. Michael Perez – 81.8%
10. Mike Moustakas* – 81%
11. Tommy La Stella* – 80.5%
12. Josh VanMeter – 79.7%
13. Luke Voit – 76.9%
14. Colin Moran – 75%
15. Adam Duvall – 71.7%
16. Gary Sánchez – 70.5%
17. Dominic Smith – 70.4%
18. Jackie Bradley Jr. – 64%
19. Jurickson Profar (as a lefty) – 63.8%
20. Didi Gregorius – 60.3%

(* – Moustakas and La Stella technically aren’t free agents right now. However, they were both recently designated for assignment and are likely to be released given their onerous contracts.)

Odor has been quite awful at the plate recently, with his batting average finishing at .207 or below in each of the past four years. However, his batting average on balls in play has been at .244 or below in each of those seasons, well below his earlier career marks and the .290 league average in 2022. Perhaps the shift bans could get him closer to his earlier career number when he hit between .259 and .271.

Belt hit .285/.393/.595 over 2020 and 2021, good enough for a wRC+ of 162 which trailed only Juan Soto and Bryce Harper among all MLB hitters in that time. He was actually shifted more in those two seasons than he was in 2022. Injuries limited him to just 78 games and tepid production this year, but perhaps better health and some more open space on the field could help him return to being one of the best hitters in the league.

As for the rest, some of these guys are role players or aging veterans, but a few of them could be sneaky value pickups in the latter half of the offseason. Like Belt, many of them are coming off disappointing and/or injury-marred years and will be looking to bounce back in 2023. Grossman posted a 118 wRC+ over 2020 and 2021 but just an 82 this year. Voit had a 153 wRC+ in the shortened 2020 season but dipped to 112 and 102 in the past two campaigns. Duvall had a 108 wRC+ over 2019-2021 but an 87 here in 2022. Sánchez recorded a 143 wRC+ in his first two seasons but just a 96 in the following five years, including an 89 in the most recent campaign. Smith posted a huge 150 wRC+ over 2019 and 2020 but has slid to just 82 since. Profar is coming off a decent campaign and is arguably the best free agent still unsigned.

Pirates Outright Six Players

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The Pirates have outrighted Peter Solomon, Beau Sulser, Jason Delay, Blake Cederlind, Eric Stout and Zack Collins off their 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Both Stout and Collins have elected free agency. The made the moves after reinstating Canaan Smith-Njigba, Colin Holderman, Yerry De Los Santos, Cederlind and Max Kranick off the 60-day IL.

Solomon, 26, was claimed off waivers from the Astros in September. He never made it to the majors in Pittsburgh, staying at Triple-A for his brief stint with the Bucs. Across both team’s Triple-A affiliates he threw 109 2/3 innings of 5.58 ERA ball, striking out eight batters per nine innings and walking 4.4. He did make it to the majors in 2021 for the Astros, throwing 14 innings of 1.29 ERA ball, although that was held together by an 88.9% LOB rate.

Sulser was a tenth round draft pick in 2017, and made it to the majors for the first time in 2022. He had a 3.72 ERA across 9 2/3 innings in Pittsburgh, before the Orioles claimed him off waivers in May. There, he spent much of the year in the minors but threw 12 2/3 innings of 3.55 ERA ball in the bigs. Altogether, Sulser would strike out 19.1% of major league batters and walk 9.1% in 2022.

The Pirates used no fewer than eight catchers in 2022, and despite Delay spending the first few months of the season at Triple-A, he wound up as their starter by season’s end and his 57 games at catcher were the most on the team. Across those appearances, he hit just .213/.265/.271 with one home run. The bat was never Delay’s strength, and he does grade out well defensively behind the plate.

Cederlind came through the Pirates system as a strong relief pitcher, but injuries have derailed his career in recently. After making his major league debut in 2020 and tossing four innings out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen he underwent Tommy John surgery in early 2021. That is never a quick recovery, but Cederlind had to undergo a second surgery this year to remove loose bodies from his elbow, and as such never pitched in either 2021 or 2022.

Pittsburgh purchased Stout from the Cubs midway through the 2022 campaign, and wound up throwing 18 2/3 innings out of their bullpen. His 5.79 ERA doesn’t show much promise, and Stout will need to find a way to limit the walks, after he gave up 15 free passes this season in Pittsburgh.

The sixth man to be outrighted was Collins, a former top-100 prospect out of the White Sox system. It never worked out for the catcher in Chicago, and the White Sox shipped him to the Blue Jays for Reese McGuire at the start of the season. He struggled there, hitting .194/.266/.417 with four home runs across 79 plate appearances. The Pirates claimed him off waivers in September, but he picked up just a solitary hit across 29 plate appearances.

After these moves, and Pittsburgh’s earlier acquisition of first baseman Ji-Man Choi from the Rays, their 40-man roster is full.

Pirates Claim Zack Collins and Junior Fernández Off Waivers

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The Pirates have made a couple of waiver claims today, per Justice delos Santos of MLB.com. They’ve grabbed catcher Zack Collins from the Blue Jays and reliever Junior Fernández from the Cardinals. Both players have been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. The Bucs already opened up one 40-man roster spot earlier today by designating infielder Josh VanMeter for assignment, but have opened another by designating left-hander Cam Vieaux.

Collins, 27, was traded to the Blue Jays in early April, with fellow catcher Reese McGuire going to the White Sox. Part of the appeal of that trade for the Jays was the fact that Collins was still optionable, whereas McGuire wasn’t. As such, Collins has been bounced between the majors and the minors a few times, with Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk getting the bulk of the playing time in the bigs. While in the majors, Collins has added a bit of pop but also his share of strikeouts. He’s hit four home runs in 26 games, slashing .194/.266/.417 for a wRC+ of 93 while going down on strikes in 39.2% of his plate appearances. In 36 Triple-A games, he’s struck out 25.8% of the time but walked at an incredible 20.6% rate, producing a batting line of .195/.361/.398, wRC+ of 107.

For the Pirates, he can be optioned for the remainder of this year but will be out of options next season. The catching job in Pittsburgh is fairly wide open, as Roberto Perez was supposed to be the everyday guy this year until he required season-ending hamstring surgery. There’s apparently mutual interest in a reunion, though he will be a free agent at season’s end. For the time being, rookie Jason Delay and journeyman Tyler Heineman are on the active roster. Collins won’t reach arbitration this winter and can be kept around cheaply as long as he continues to hold his roster spot.

Fernández, 25, joins a new organization for the first time, as he has spent his entire career in the Cardinals’ system until now. He’s logged 50 2/3 innings of MLB action over the past four seasons, producing a 5.51 ERA in that time. Perhaps his best attribute is his ability to get batters to hit the ball into the ground. He has a 49.4% ground ball rate in his time in the majors, including a 60.4% rate this season. For context, the MLB league average is 42.8% this year. Like Collins, he can be optioned for the rest of this season but will be out of options next year. He will also come up short of arbitration this winter and can be kept around for years if the Pirates deem him worthy of a roster spot.

As for Vieaux, 28, this is the second time he has been designated for assignment by the Pirates this season. The first time, he cleared waivers and was outrighted. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Pirates will put him on waivers again in the coming days. If he clears again, he will be eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, as is the right of any player who has previously been outrighted in their career. He’s only been able to throw 8 2/3 innings in the majors this year, with one especially ugly outing bumping his ERA up to 10.38. In 45 Triple-A innings for the season, he has a 2.80 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 43.1% ground ball rate.

Blue Jays Designate Zack Collins For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated catcher Zack Collins for assignment, tweets Mitch Bannon of Sports Illustrated. The move creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster for reliever Julian Merryweather, who was activated from the 60-day injured list between games of today’s doubleheader with the Orioles. Righty Casey Lawrence was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to clear an active roster spot.

Toronto acquired Collins just before Opening Day, swapping backstops with the White Sox in a deal that sent Reese McGuire to Chicago. One of the big appeals for the Jays at the time was that Collins could be optioned to Triple-A, while the out-of-options McGuire had to stick on the MLB active roster. In a Jays organization that also includes Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and top prospect Gabriel Moreno, Collins has had a tough time getting on a big league diamond. He’s appeared in 26 MLB games this season, hitting only .194/.266/.417 with an untenable 39.2% strikeout rate over 79 trips to the plate.

The lefty-hitting backstop has had more success — albeit in an entirely unconventional way — in Buffalo. He owns a .195/.361/.398 line through 155 plate appearances with the Bisons. It’s obviously an unimpressive batting average, but a massive 20.6% walk rate has allowed Collins to get on base at a strong clip in the minors. He’s also connected on five homers, seven doubles and a triple in 36 Triple-A games.

Plate discipline and power have long been Collins’ calling cards, and that combination was enough to inspire the White Sox to take him with the #10 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He has an excellent 13% walk rate over 430 MLB plate appearances, but that hasn’t been enough to compensate for a 33.5% strikeout percentage that has led to a sub-.200 career batting average.

Collins will now find himself on waivers. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the Jays either have to release him or try to run him through outright waivers. He’s in his final minor league option year, so an acquiring club could stash him in Triple-A for the rest of this season but would have to carry him on the Opening Day roster in 2023 or make him available to other teams.

Merryweather, meanwhile, is in position to make his first MLB appearance in a bit less than three months. He’s been out since June 14 with an abdominal strain, an unfortunate continuation of injury issues that have bothered him throughout his career. Merryweather has also missed time with elbow and oblique issues as a big leaguer, in addition to numerous IL stints as a prospect. The 30-year-old has only 41 MLB appearances as a result, but he’s flashed a power arsenal when healthy.

The right-hander has averaged 97.3 MPH on his fastball this season. That hasn’t translated to as many whiffs as one might expect, with his 10.7% swinging strike rate through 18 1/3 innings checking in a bit below league average. Merryweather has induced ground-balls at a lofty 52.5% clip, however, and he’ll offer interim manager John Schneider a power arm to call upon in relief.

Blue Jays Promote Gabriel Moreno, Option Zack Collins

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As expected, the Blue Jays have promoted top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno today to make his big league debut. As a corresponding roster move, catcher Zack Collins was optioned to Triple-A, per the Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath (via Twitter). The inevitability of Moreno’s arrival in the bigs first broke a couple of days ago. Today should be the day we get to see him on the diamond as the Jays take on the Tigers in Detroit later this afternoon.

This is not likely to be the last time that Collins sees time in the bigs, as he has largely performed as expected, providing some left-handed pop from behind the plate. The 27-year-old has slashed .212/.288/.455 with four round-trippers in 73 plate appearances. Collins was acquired from the White Sox in a straight swap for Reese McGuire.

Moreno was the 7th-ranked prospect in all of baseball at the start of the season per both MLB.com and Baseball America. He now gets his first taste of the bigs after slashing .324/.380/.404 across 150 plate appearances in Triple-A so far this season. Whether or not Moreno is here to stay could depend on a number of factors, but with the Blue Jays fairly well-stocked behind the plate, Moreno will likely have to hit the ground running to make himself into a fixture in Toronto. With Alejandro Kirk behind the plate and Danny Jansen set to return from the injured list at some point, the Blue Jays may not be able to find regular at-bats for Moreno unless he’s back in Triple-A.

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