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Ryan McBroom Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

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The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed former big league outfielder Ryan McBroom, as noted by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO. McBroom is set to make $75K while he serves as an injury replacement for outfielder Guillermo Heredia. Heredia is sidelined by an infection that’s expected to keep him out of action for at least the next six weeks. Typically, KBO teams can roster only three foreign players, but the league has an exception to that rule for players tasked with temporarily replacing a foreign player who suffered an injury that will keep them out of action for six weeks or longer. McBroom is joining SSG under this exception, and once Heredia is healthy and ready to return he’ll either need to be removed from the roster and placed on waivers or permanently replace one of the club’s other foreign players.

McBroom, 33, was a 15th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2015 who made it to the majors with the Royals during the 2019 season. He ultimately played just 66 games in the majors across parts of three seasons, though he did feature prominently on Kansas City’s bench during the shortened 2020 season. That was the best campaign of his career in some ways; while he hit just .247 with a .282 on-base percentage, he slugged six homers and three doubles in just 85 trips to the plate while backing up Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier in left field and at first base.

Overall, McBroom hit a roughly league average .268/.322/.427 in 177 trips to the plate in the majors before being released by the Royals in November of 2021 to pursue a career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. McBroom signed on with NPB’s Hiroshima Carp for the 2022 season and ultimately spent two seasons with the club. While he hit an impressive .272/.352/.442 in 128 games during his first year of NPB play, 2023 did not go nearly as well. He scuffled to a subpar .221/.305/.354 line across 70 games before returning to the United States for the 2024 season to play in the independent Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks. McBroom excelled in indy ball across 88 games, hitting .268/.376/.497 with 19 homers and 15 doubles in just 375 plate appearances.

That strong work with the Ducks seems to have caught the attention of SSG, and now McBroom will get the opportunity to prove himself in the KBO for at least the next six weeks. If he hits well enough, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the outfielder stick around in Korea, whether that ends up being with the Landers or a different KBO club that’s willing to part with one of its current foreign players in order to roster McBroom.

Astros Activate Forrest Whitley From Injured List

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The Astros announced earlier today that they’ve activated right-hander Forrest Whitley from the injured list. Righty Nick Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

The move sets up what could be the first extended shot in the majors of Whitley’s career. Selected 17th overall by the Astros all the way back in 2016, Whitley was a consensus top-10 prospect in the entire sport in the late 2010s and considered by many to be the best up-and-coming young pitcher in the minor leagues. Unfortunately, things came off the rails somewhat for the righty from there. He was suspended for 50 games for violating MiLB’s drug policy prior to the 2018 season, and that suspension, shoulder issues, the canceled minor league season in 2020, and Tommy John surgery led to Whitley throwing just 66 innings in minor league games over a four-year period.

When he finally made his way back onto the mound in 2022, the results were not good. Whitley struggled to a 6.53 ERA in 40 innings spread across three levels of the minors, including a 7.09 ERA at Triple-A. He struggled again the following year with a 5.70 ERA in 30 innings before being sidelined by a lat strain but stuck around to make his big league debut last year. He threw just three innings in the majors last year but did not surrender a run and also posted an excellent 1.89 ERA with a 31.9% strikeout rate in 32 appearances at Triple-A last year after moving to the bullpen.

A bone bruise in Whitley’s left knee prevented him from making the Astros’ roster out of camp this year, but the issue didn’t keep him sidelined for long. Since Whitley is out of options, he had to either be designated for assignment or added to the Astros’ big league roster once he was ready to be activated from the injured list. Houston chose to bring him back up to the majors, and he’s now set to join a bullpen that has virtually no certainty outside of closer Josh Hader and top setup man Bryan Abreu. Bryan King has looked good as another potential high leverage arm from the left side to complement Hader, but there’s little in Whitley’s way to stop him from becoming the club’s second high leverage arm from the right side after this offseason’s Ryan Pressly trade vacated the role.

With that being said, the righty will need to show better control than he did during his latest stint at Triple-A. While Whitley struck out a solid 26.3% of his opponents during his latest rehab assignment, he walked an unplayable 21.1% of batters as well. Fortunately, that was across a sample of just four appearances. It’s not at all difficult to imagine a player with Whitley’s talent and prospect pedigree finally being able to put things together in the majors this year, particularly now that he’s moved to the bullpen full-time in a move that should help to minimize injury risk.

Making room for Whitley on the Astros’ active roster is the departure of Hernandez, who will head to Triple-A Sugar Land and wait for his next opportunity. Hernandez departs the roster without having made an appearance this year, though he has a 9.00 ERA in seven appearances with the Astros and Padres in his career since debuting with San Diego back in 2023. The 28-year-old’s career 3.34 ERA at Triple-A suggests there’s reason for optimism he could be effective in the majors if offered the opportunity, but he doesn’t appear ticketed for an extended look in the majors any time soon given the current construction of Houston’s bullpen.

Padres Place Jason Heyward On Injured List, Recall Tirso Ornelas

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The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve placed Jason Heyward on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his left knee. They’ve recalled outfielder Tirso Ornelas to the major league roster to replace Heyward. Ornelas’s first game will be his MLB debut, and his expected call-up was first reported by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this afternoon.

Ornelas, 25, was signed by the Padres out of Tijuana, Mexico and made his pro debut in 2017. He’s slowly but surely climbed up the minor league ladder since then. After a brief call-up to Triple-A in 2022, he arrived at the level permanently in 2023 and has been playing there ever since with a strong career .291/.367/.462 slash line across 203 games for the club’s El Paso affiliate. Defensively, Ornelas has logged time in all three outfield spots and made occasional cameos at first base throughout his career, though he’s mostly been confined to the outfield corners.

The youngster’s big league debut comes during a rash of injuries for the Padres, who had already lost Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, and Brandon Lockridge to the injured list before Heyward joined them today. It’s been a major test of the club’s depth, particularly in center field where they’ve resorted to using Tyler Wade and Connor Joe at the position due to a lack of viable alternatives. Ornelas will be tasked with replacing Heyward in the lineup once he joins the club. The 35-year-old veteran has gotten off to a slow start this year, hitting just .190/.255/.286 in 17 games with the club even while being heavily platoon protected by San Diego.

Acee goes on to suggest that an expanded role for Oscar Gonzalez also can’t necessarily be ruled out, suggesting that a “silver lining” in Heyward’s absence has been an opportunity to get a better look at the 27-year-old. He’s done fairly well for himself in the early going this year, posting six hits in 18 plate appearances with strong batted ball data despite no extra-base hits in that microscopic sample size. Gonzalez actually hits better against right-handed hitters than lefties historically, so it’s at least plausible that Gonzalez could slip into something of a regular role with the club in left field while Ornelas is up if the youngster is tabbed to handle center field instead of left.

Of course, much of that will depend on how the club plans to use Ornelas now that he’s set to join the roster. It’s unclear if Ornelas will be in the mix for time in center field for the club; while he’s logged just 50 games at the position in the minors over the years, neither Wade nor Joe is particularly experienced at the position either. It’s also unclear if Ornelas will be in as strict of a platoon as Heyward has been while he’s with the club, though even if Gonzalez takes up an everyday job for the time being the presence of Joe (who has a career 105 wRC+ against left-handed hitters) makes a platoon a viable option for the Padres.

Giants Select David Villar, Place Casey Schmitt On Injured List

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of infielder David Villar. Infielder Casey Schmitt was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, which clears a spot for Villar on the active roster, and a 40-man roster spot for Villar was created by transferring slugger Jerar Encarnacion to the 60-day injured list.

Villar, 28, has been a generally passable but unspectacular utility infielder for the Giants since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 109 big league games since then, he’s hit a slightly below league average .200/.288/.400 with a massive 32.4% strikeout rate that he somewhat makes up for with substantial power that could translate to 25-to-30 homers if given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. He pairs that power with the ability to play capable defense at first, second, or third base as necessary despite the majority of his working having come at the hot corner.

He’s always raked against Triple-A pitching, as evidenced by his .273/.381/.507 career line across parts of four seasons at the level. Unfortunately for Villar, however, he’s yet to prove himself in the majors and is currently out of options. That led the Giants to prefer carrying optionable bench pieces like Schmitt and Brett Wisely to open the year, leaving them to designate him for assignment just prior to Opening Day. He ultimately went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants, where he resumed hitting extremely well over 15 games before today’s call-up. The right-handed hitting Villar figures to back up Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald at second and third base, but most of his playing time could come in a platoon with struggling lefty LaMonte Wade Jr. after his previous platoon partner Schmitt hit the injured list.

Speaking of Schmitt, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that he was likely to head to the shelf after he suffered an oblique strain while hitting in the cages just before yesterday’s game. A timetable for Schmitt’s return is unlikely to be available until after he’s undergone testing to determine the severity of the strain, but he’ll be out for the next ten days at least even if the strain turns out to be extremely mild. It’s been a tough start to the year for Schmitt so far, as he’s hit just .174/.208/.261 in his current part-time role with the club. Of course, those numbers came in just eight games and 24 plate appearances. A look at Schmitt’s work in 40 games last year, where he hit .252/.283/.477, is far more encouraging and comes in a more robust (though still fairly small) sample of 113 plate appearances.

As for Encarnacion, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. The slugger was ticketed for a regular DH job with the Giants but suffered a hand fracture just before Opening Day and is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to the issue. That means he could be transferred without it impacting his potential timeline for return at all, as his minimum stay on the IL will expire in late May, right away the most optimistic date for his expected return to action. The 27-year-old was a league average hitter for the Giants in 35 games last year and got the club’s attention after raking for the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca and the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

Pirates Place Tim Mayza On 15-Day IL, Recall David Bednar

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The Pirates have placed left-hander Tim Mayza on the 15-day injured list due to a lat muscle strain in Mayza’s throwing shoulder.  Former closer David Bednar has been called up to take Mayza’s spot on the active roster.

The biggest news here is the return of Bednar, who served as the Pirates’ closer for the majority of the 2022-24 seasons. An All-Star in both 2022 and ’23, Bednar posted a 2.27 ERA and 2.49 FIP with a 30.6% strikeout rate in those two years. Things took a turn for the worse last year, though, as Bednar struggled to a 5.77 ERA with a 4.80 FIP in 57 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate dipped to just 22.1%, and his walk rate ballooned up to 10.7%. The Pirates stuck with their man for the majority of last year despite his struggles, but eventually pulled him from the closer role in late August of last year.

That led to plenty of questions about if he would be a trade or even non-tender candidate this winter, but Bednar ended up not only remaining in the organization but also in the mix for saves entering 2025. Unfortunately for both the Pirates and the right-hander, he surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits (including one homer) and two walks while striking out just one over his first three appearances, only one of which saw him record an out before being pulled. He was optioned to the minors on April 1 as a result of this poor performance after months of attempts to try to get the 30-year-old right. There’s no obvious injury or decline in velocity to point to as an explanation for his struggles, and perhaps that’s why it’s not a surprise that he dominated Triple-A hitters with five scoreless frames and seven strikeouts against zero walks.

Bednar’s return to the majors was seemingly at least partially spurred on by how dominant he looked during his brief stay in the minors, but it’s unclear what role he’ll fill for the Pirates now that he’s back in Pittsburgh. Manager Derek Shelton discussed Bednar’s return with reporters (including those with the Associated Press) earlier this afternoon, but did not offer any concrete plans for the righty.

“We’re kind of pitching to what we think the leverage is and what we feel the matchup is, but excited to have him back,” Shelton said, as relayed by the AP. “He went down, he pitched really well. He handled himself really well. I think we’ve said all along we’re a better bullpen with David Bednar in it. It’s nice to have him back.”

Shelton went on to suggest there’s some fluidity to the Pirates’ plans regarding Bednar, which makes sense given their uncertain bullpen situation. Pittsburgh’s relief corps is a roughly average group by ERA and FIP when compared to the rest of the league, but more advanced metrics like SIERA and xFIP consider the Pirates to have a bottom-ten bullpen in the sport. The late innings are particularly uncertain for the club, with Dennis Santana currently serving as the club’s closer despite a 14.7% strikeout rate after a knee issue sent the scuffling Colin Holderman to the injured list earlier this month.

The uncertainty in the bullpen just got worse for Pittsburgh, as the loss of Mayza is a fairly significant one. The 33-year-old signed an MLB deal with the organization back in February and has looked like one of the club’s best relievers in the early going with a 2.89 ERA and 3.35 FIP in seven appearances. A disastrous first half in Toronto tanked Mayza’s 2024 numbers, but he’s generally be a very reliable middle relief arm over the years with a 3.43 ERA and a 3.48 FIP since the start of the 2021 season. While losing the southpaw certainly hurts, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Borucki both remain available as left-handed relief options for the Pirates in addition to long relief arm Joey Wentz.

Rockies Place Ezequiel Tovar On 10-Day Injured List

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2:14PM: Gomber provided an update on his situation to Just Baseball’s Patrick Lyons, saying that he hasn’t thrown since March 28 and that he received a PRP injection two weeks ago.  “It’s definitely going to be more of a buildup than it was in Spring Training,” Gomber said, though he noted that the range of motion in his left arm has returned in the aftermath of the injection.

12:16PM: The Rockies announced a collection of roster moves, including the news that shortstop Ezequiel Tovar has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 16) due to a left hip contusion.  Outfielder Brenton Doyle was also placed on the bereavement list (retroactive to April 17), and Colorado filled the two roster spots by calling up outfielder Jordan Beck from Triple-A and selecting Aaron Schunk’s contract from Triple-A.  Left-hander Austin Gomber was moved to the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot for Schunk.

Tovar’s injury adds to what has been a lackluster start to the shortstop’s third full MLB season.  While far from the only Rockies hitter who is struggling at the plate, Tovar is hitting only .212/.257/.303 through 70 plate appearances, after he delivered a .269/.295/.469 slash line (plus 26 homers and a league-leading 45 doubles) in 2024.  Colorado’s road-heavy early schedule might have something to do with Tovar’s slow start and the team’s lack of hitting in general to date, yet naturally the Rox were hopeful that Tovar’s continued development would include more consistency outside of Coors Field.

Beck is a former top prospect that will get another chance to show what he can do after a lackluster 207 MLB plate appearances over the last two seasons.  He’ll be joined on the active roster by Schunk, who also made his big league debut in 2024 in the form of 39 games and 98 PA (with a .234/.265/.330 slash line) for Colorado.  Schunk has spent most of his minor league career at third base but he has plenty of experience at the middle infield spots, so he can act as a utility infielder to add depth with Tovar out.  Kyle Farmer seems likeliest to move into an everyday shortstop role in Tovar’s absence, and Farmer has already been a fixture in the Rockies’ lineup given his hot bat.

Gomber started the season on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, and his move to the 60-day now puts him on the sidelines until at least the last week of May.  Gomber was seemingly on track for a relatively quick return to action in early April but his second minor league rehab start was scratched due to more shoulder inflammation, and that setback has now considerably lengthened the southpaw’s time away from Colorado’s rotation.

Dodgers Activate Evan Phillips, Place Blake Treinen On 15-Day IL

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The Dodgers will be activating right-hander Evan Phillips from the 15-day injured list prior to today’s game with the Rangers.  In the corresponding move, righty Blake Treinen will be placed on the 15-day IL due to forearm tightness, as initially reported by The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya.

As manager Dave Roberts told Ardaya and other media members, Treinen has been feeling forearm discomfort for the last few days, and the discomfort increased yesterday during a bullpen session.  The decision was then made to put Treinen on the injured list, and the reliever will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the problem.

Any forearm injury naturally seems a little ominous, and it would be another blow for a veteran reliever who has already spent a lot of time on the IL in recent years.  Los Angeles also signed Treinen to a two-year, $22MM contract last winter, and as logical as that investment seemed based on Treinen’s on-field results, today’s news underlines the risk of committing bigger money to a veteran reliever (Treinen turns 37 in June) with a checkered injury history.

Shoulder problems kept Treinen out for most of the 2022 season and the entirety of the 2023 season, as he eventually required labrum and rotator cuff surgeries to fully correct the problem.  His planned return for the start of the 2024 campaign was delayed by a bruised lung in Spring Training, and Treinen also had a brief IL stint during last season due to a hip issue.

Through it all, of course, Treinen has been good to great when he has been able to pitch.  The righty’s five seasons in L.A. have resulted in a 2.34 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate across 157 2/3 relief innings.  Treinen also has a 3.24 ERA in 33 1/3 postseason frames during his time with the Dodgers, earning championship rings in both 2020 and 2024.

Just as Treinen goes down, however, the Dodgers’ remarkable depth chart allows the club to immediately replace him with another high-leverage reliever just back from his own IL stint.  Phillips was left off the World Series roster due to multiple injuries, most prominently a tear in a rotator cuff tendon that then delayed his usual offseason preparations.  As a result, L.A. placed Phillips on the 15-day IL to begin the season in order to give the reliever more time to properly ramp up, and he’ll now be ready to make his 2025 debut as early as today.

Phillips’ exact role will be interesting to monitor, as he was the Dodgers’ primary closer in the previous two seasons yet Tanner Scott has now assumed that role in 2025.  The club’s four-year, $72MM deal with Scott underlines the team’s commitment to giving Scott plenty of looks in late-game situations, though in February, Roberts said Scott would only receive the “brunt” of save chances, not all of them.  As circumstances, matchups, injuries, and performance will dictate over the course of the season and into the playoffs, the Dodgers figure to give multiple pitchers the chance to earn saves.  The left-handed Scott, for instance, could be brought into a game prior to the ninth inning should a rival team have an imposing set of left-handed hitters coming to the plate.

It makes for a pretty nice “problem” to have when a team can pick and choose between its many elite relievers, and Phillips has moved into that category over the last three seasons.  Claimed off waivers from the Rays in an under-the-radar move in August 2021, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate over 179 innings from 2022-24.  He has 45 career saves out of 54 chances, all with the Dodgers except for one save recorded with Tampa Bay in 2021.

White Sox Place Martin Perez On 15-Day IL

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TODAY: The White Sox placed Perez on the 15-day injured list due to what was described as inflammation in his throwing elbow.  Jared Shuster was called up from Triple-A to take Perez’s spot on the active roster.

APRIL 18: Martín Pérez departed tonight’s loss in Boston after three innings. The White Sox announced that the lefty experienced forearm soreness that prompted his departure. Pérez said postgame that he’ll go for imaging on Saturday (link via LaMond Pope of The Chicago Tribune).

“I feel sore. I was just trying to be smart and tell them to get me out of the game and see what I got. We have to wait for the MRI tomorrow,” he told reporters. “In the third inning, I started feeling kind of fatigued a little bit. But I feel bad because I don’t want to be in this situation. I want to keep pitching and competing but it is what it is. Wait and see what it’s going to be and the decision and move on.”

Pérez signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal to serve as a veteran presence in an otherwise young rotation. Tonight’s start was his worst of the season, as he gave up four runs on five hits and a couple walks without recording a strikeout. Pérez had managed quality starts in two of his first three outings. He carries a 3.15 ERA across 20 innings. His 21.7% strikeout percentage is around league average, but he has walked more than 13% of batters faced.

Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon and rookies Sean Burke and Shane Smith have joined Pérez in the season-opening rotation. That quintet has made all 19 starts. Pérez and Smith, a Rule 5 pick out of the Milwaukee system, are the only two who have managed decent results. Owen White, Nick Nastrini, Jairo Iriarte, Justin Dunn and Chris Rodriguez make up the rotation at Triple-A Charlotte.

All five have some major league experience. White, Nastrini and Iriarte are on the 40-man roster (as is lefty Jared Shuster, who has moved to multi-inning relief in the minors). Dunn easily leads the Charlotte rotation with 27 strikeouts, but he has also given up a team-high four home runs and has allowed nearly five earned runs per nine. Someone from that group would probably get the call to step into the rotation if Pérez requires an injured list stint. The Sox could also consider building Rule 5 pick Mike Vasil, who is working 2-3 inning stints in mop-up relief, for rotation work.

Mike Clevinger also seems set to join the Charlotte rotation. The Sox outrighted the veteran righty off their 40-man roster this afternoon. Clevinger has the service time to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports that the Sox intend for Clevinger to build back up as a starter in Triple-A, so it appears he’ll accept the outright and remain in the system. The 34-year-old moved to the bullpen to begin this year. He gave up five runs with eight walks and three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings before being designated for assignment.

Diamondbacks Place A.J. Puk On 15-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks announced several transactions in a shake-up of the club’s bullpen mix today.  The headline news is that closer A.J. Puk has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to April 18) due to inflammation in his left elbow.  Righty Bryce Jarvis and left-hander Joe Mantiply were optioned to Triple-A, and Arizona filled those three bullpen spots by calling up right-hander Drey Jameson, and selecting the contracts of right-handers Juan Morillo and J.P. Feyereisen.  To create roster space, the D’Backs also designated infielder Grae Kessinger for assignment.

Puk excelled after the Diamondbacks acquired him from the Marlins at last year’s trade deadline, and the southpaw has kept going this year by posting a 3.38 ERA in eight innings this season.  Even with the benefit of an absurd 97.6% strand rate, Puk has backed up his work with an excellent 34.3% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate.  In addition to all the swings and misses, Puk isn’t allowing much hard contact when his offerings do find a bat, and he has closed out all four of his save chances this season.

Unfortunately, his strong start has now been interrupted by a trip to the IL.  Puk’s lengthy injury history (which includes a Tommy John surgery) puts some extra focus on any elbow-related ailment, though there isn’t any indication at this point that his current issue is anything more than just inflammation.  Assuming no structural damage, Puk might be able to return after just a 15-day minimum, though it is just a matter of how long his elbow discomfort continues to linger.

Justin Martinez is now the likeliest candidate to step up as the new closer, with Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks continuing in high-leverage setup roles.  Beeks is also the only southpaw in Arizona’s bullpen now that Mantiply has been sent to Reno.

Arizona’s 13-11 slugfest loss to the Cubs yesterday saw both Jarvis and Mantiply charged with three earned runs apiece, with each reliever throwing two-thirds of an inning.  The demotions to Triple-A can allow both pitchers to gather themselves after a difficult start to their seasons, while the D’Backs can get a few fresher arms into the bullpen.  This means Jameson is now in line to make his first MLB appearance since the 2023 season, Feyereisen will make his D’Backs debut after signing a minor league deal with the team in March, and Morillo is set to make his Major League debut after eight pro seasons.

Jameson last pitched in a big league game on July 6, 2023, as he underwent a Tommy John surgery that September that cost him the entirety of the 2024 campaign.  The 34th overall pick of the 2019 draft had posted a 2.63 ERA over 65 innings during the 2022-23 seasons, starting seven of 19 games but pitching mostly in a relief role as the 2023 season developed prior to his UCL injury.  The righty has worked exclusively out of the pen at Triple-A this season, and he has a 2.70 ERA over 6 2/3 innings in Reno while recording 11 strikeouts against zero walks.

Now that he’s back in good health, Jameson can resume his career and perhaps carve out a firm place for himself within Arizona’s bullpen.  He showed quite a bit of promise as a multi-inning reliever, as his past history as a starter gave him some extra durability coming out of the pen.  The D’Backs could look to deploy Jameson as a long man or a swingman, at least letting him get some innings under his belt before perhaps trying him for higher-leverage work.

The 26-year-old Morillo spent his entire career in the Dodgers organization before joining the D’Backs as a minor league free agent back in November.  Making his Triple-A debut this season, Morillo has thrown 6 1/3 innings of 1.42 ERA ball in Reno, with a 29.6% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a huge 68.8% grounder rate to boot.  The latter number stands out even amidst Morillo’s history as a groundball pitcher, and the solid walk rate is also noteworthy given his control problems earlier in his minor league career.

Between his high velocity, strikeout potential, and ability to keep the ball on the ground, there’s plenty to like about Morillo if he can find the consistency that has eluded him for a good chunk of his minors career.  He’ll get a chance to show what he can do against MLB hitters during what might be a cup of coffee in the big leagues, depending on how Arizona chooses to align its bullpen beyond just this weekend.

Feyereisen has a 2.95 ERA over his 100 2/3 career innings in the majors, which covers parts of four seasons with the Brewers, Rays, and Dodgers from 2020-24.  Feyereisen had solid numbers in 2021 and looked to be breaking out as a high-leverage reliever in Tampa’s bullpen in 2022 before a shoulder injury resulted in surgery that cost him the entire 2023 season.

Resurfacing in L.A. last year, he had an 8.18 ERA in 11 innings at the big league level, as Feyereisen clearly still had some rust from his long layoff.  His 0.96 ERA in 9 1/3 innings in Reno this season is much more promising, and it was enough to give Feyereisen a shot with another NL West team as he looks to finally establish himself for steady bullpen work.

Kessinger played all over the infield in a backup capacity with the Astros during the 2023-24 seasons, appearing in 48 total games and hitting .131/.243/.213 in 70 plate appearances.  His career Triple-A slash line of .268/.370/.401 is much more impressive on paper, if undermined by the fact that those seemingly solid numbers are barely average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

The Diamondbacks acquired Kessinger in a trade in January but he hadn’t yet seen any action on Arizona’s big league roster, and his tenure with the organization might already be over if he is claimed on waivers or traded.  Kessinger’s trade to Arizona in fact came after the Astros designated him for assignment previously, so history could repeat itself if another infield-needy team comes calling.  If Kessinger clears waivers and is outrighted off the 40-man roster, he must accept the assignment since he doesn’t have the MLB service time or a past outright that would allow him to opt into free agency.

Tigers Place John Brebbia On 15-Day Injured List

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The Tigers announced that right-hander John Brebbia has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right triceps strain.  Left-hander Bailey Horn was called up from Triple-A to take Brebbia’s spot on the active roster.

Brebbia signed a one-year free agent deal with Detroit in February that will pay him $2.75MM in guaranteed money, plus the Tigers hold a $4MM club option on his services for 2026.  The first few weeks of Brebbia’s tenure in Motown were smooth sailing in terms of pure results, even if Brebbia’s 1.00 ERA over nine innings and eight appearances was undermined by some glaring peripheral statistics.  Brebbia’s BABIP is a measly .143 and he has a 13.2% walk rate, so clearly some good luck was on his side in the early going.

Then again, it could be argued that Brebbia was due a change in fortune following a 2024 season that saw his 3.29 SIERA overshadowed by a 5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 combined innings with the White Sox and Braves.  Brebbia struggled to a 6.29 ERA in 48 2/3 innings with Chicago before catching on with Atlanta late in the season, and posting a 2.70 ERA in 6 2/3 frames after the change of scenery.

Brebbia just pitched in yesterday’s game (a 7-3 Tigers win over the Royals), so his injury must’ve arisen in fairly quick fashion.  In a microcosm of his season to date, Brebbia allowed two walks and a hit over 31 pitches yesterday but escaped his inning without allowing any runs.  The scoreless inning might represent Brebbia’s last bit of action for a while, as even a minor strain likely means more than just a 15-day minimum on the injured list, and a more severe strain could cost Brebbia multiple months.  The right-hander is unfortunately no stranger to long injury absences, as a Tommy John surgery cost him all of the 2020 season and most of the 2021 season, plus he had a stint on the Giants’ 60-day IL in 2023 due to a lat strain.

Beau Brieske was just placed on the Tigers’ 15-day IL yesterday due to ankle inflammation, so Detroit is suddenly down two members of its bullpen in as many days.  This season’s version of “pitching chaos” has seen the Tigers unexpectedly send presumptive closer Jason Foley (who is now injured) to Triple-A to begin the season, and elevate newly-signed veteran Tommy Kahnle into the closer’s role.  The results have still been there since Detroit’s 3.36 bullpen ERA is the tenth-best in the majors, though the relief corps ranks closer to the bottom of league in terms of strikeouts.

The injuries have led to Horn getting his first taste of the Show this season, and he is now lined up to make his official debut in a Tigers uniform.  Horn made his overall MLB debut when he posted a 6.50 ERA across 18 innings with the Red Sox last season, and he bounced from the Sox to the Tigers to the Cardinals on waiver claims this offseason, only for Detroit to acquire him back in a trade with St. Louis last month.

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