Mariners Acquire Mike Baumann
May 23: Baumann reported to the Mariners’ roster today. The team announced that right-hander Cody Bolton has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma to open a spot on the 26-man roster.
May 22: The Orioles and Mariners announced a trade late Wednesday evening. Seattle acquired reliever Mike Baumann and catcher Michael Pérez in exchange for younger catcher Blake Hunt, whom the O’s have optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore had designated Baumann for assignment over the weekend. Hunt and Baumann will each occupy spots on their new teams’ 40-man rosters. Pérez was on a minor league contract and will not assume a 40-man spot. Seattle’s roster is at capacity, while the O’s count is up to 39.
Baumann changes teams for the first time in his career. Baltimore drafted the right-hander in the third round back in 2017. A starting pitcher for most of his minor league tenure, he kicked to the bullpen in 2022. Baumann has turned in solid results over the past couple seasons. He tossed a career-high 64 2/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball last season and has allowed 3.44 earned runs per nine through 17 appearances this year.
While Baumann’s run prevention marks have been good, his strikeout and walk profile is middling. He had a league average 22.3% strikeout percentage with a lofty 12.1% walk rate in 2023. His strikeout rate is down to 19.5% over 18 1/3 innings this season, while his 11% walk percentage remains higher than average. Baumann’s 9.9% swinging strike rate is a couple points below the league mark for relievers.
That certainly contributed to Baltimore’s decision to DFA him, but the more immediate driver was a lack of roster flexibility. Baumann is out of options, so the O’s couldn’t send him to the minors. He was one of six Baltimore relievers who can’t be optioned, and two who can be sent down (Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin) have been far too valuable to take out of the MLB bullpen.
Seattle has four out-of-options relievers of their own, but they can send down one of Eduard Bazardo or Cody Bolton to plug Baumann into the bullpen. Despite lacking huge swing-and-miss tallies, he should deepen their middle relief group. The Jacksonville product has induced ground-balls at a solid 46.4% clip. He averages north of 96 MPH on his fastball and mixes in a knuckle-curve and slider with regularity. Baumann has between one and two years of major league service. He’s controllable for four seasons beyond the current campaign and won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason.
The Mariners liked Baumann enough to part with Hunt, who is a more intriguing player than teams typically land for someone they’d designated for assignment. A former second-round pick of the Padres, he went to the Rays as part of the Blake Snell blockbuster. Hunt topped out at Triple-A in the Tampa Bay farm system. Despite a .256/.331/.484 showing in 2023, the Rays decided not to add him to their 40-man roster last fall. Rather than watch him depart for nothing in minor league free agency, Tampa Bay flipped him to Seattle for recent draftee Tatem Levins.
Seattle added Hunt to the 40-man to keep him in the organization. The 25-year-old has spent the season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s out to an excellent .293/.372/.533 start in 86 plate appearances. Hunt has already connected on four homers while striking out in only 11.6% of his trips to the plate. He slots in behind Adley Rutschman and James McCann on the organizational depth chart. There’s a chance Hunt makes his MLB debut at some point this year. Even if he spends the rest of the season in Norfolk, he could compete for next year’s backup catching job if the Orioles let McCann depart in free agency.
Pérez is a 31-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal with Baltimore over the offseason. He’s hitting .221/.294/.325 over 21 games in Norfolk. Pérez has appeared in parts of six MLB campaigns and owns a .179/.248/.306 slash at the highest level. Including him in the deal allows Seattle to send an experienced, glove-first veteran to Tacoma after Hunt’s departure. He’s behind Cal Raleigh and Seby Zavala on the organizational depth chart.
Mariners Select Jhonathan Díaz
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Jhonathan Díaz from Triple-A Tacoma, then optioned him to Tacoma. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times relays on X that the lefty had an opt-out in his minor league deal, which is why he got added to the 40-man but not the active roster. They had an open 40-man spot and thus didn’t need to make a corresponding move.
Díaz, 27, signed a minor league deal with the M’s in January. He has since made nine appearances for Tacoma, eight starts, logging 51 innings with a 3.18 earned run average. He has struck out 26.2% of batters faced while giving out walks just 4.3% of the time. He has also kept 56.3% of balls in play on the ground. The fact that all that took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League makes it all the more impressive.
The lefty also has 35 1/3 innings of major league experience, which came with the Angels from 2021 to 2023. He had a 4.48 ERA in that time, though with his strikeout and walk rates matching at an unimpressive 14.4% level. He tossed 210 1/3 minor league innings over that same period of time with a 4.45 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.
The Mariners are clearly intrigued by the recent form Díaz has shown and didn’t want him to get away. He still has options and they had an open spot on the 40-man, they were able to simply add him there and keep him in Tacoma, preventing him from returning to the open market.
The M’s have a strong rotation right now composed of Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller. On optional assignment, they have Emerson Hancock and Levi Stoudt as depth options, with Díaz now joining them as guys who could be recalled for a spot start or as an injury replacement.
Mariners Notes: Crawford, Raley, Emerson
Before tonight’s matchup with the Yankees, the Mariners reinstated J.P. Crawford from the 10-day injured list. Seattle optioned Leo Rivas to Triple-A Tacoma to open a roster spot. Dylan Moore is starting at shortstop tonight, but Crawford will be available off the bench and could return to the lineup tomorrow.
Crawford appeared in 22 games before suffering an oblique strain in late April. He was off to a slow start, hitting .198/.296/.302 with two homers over 98 plate appearances. The left-handed hitting infielder had the best season of his career in 2023, when he popped a personal-high 19 homers with a .266/.380/.438 slash over 145 games. Crawford walked at a near-15% clip while striking out less than 20% of the time.
Moore has played shortstop in Crawford’s absence. The right-handed hitter has performed admirably, hitting .239/.316/.507 with 11 extra-base hits in 22 games. Moore has played well enough that he should stay in the lineup in a multi-positional role with Crawford’s return. In the short term, that could come at second base, where Jorge Polanco remains day to day as he battles hamstring soreness. Luis Urías has drawn in the lineup at third base in recent days, pushing Josh Rojas to the keystone.
Seattle could also mix and match more frequently at first base, although that’s not on account of injury. Luke Raley got the start there against Corbin Burnes in yesterday’s series finale in Baltimore. That pushed Ty France to the bench and allowed Dominic Canzone to draw into left field. It was Raley’s fourth start of the season at first base, in addition to his 24 starts in the outfield.
Adam Jude of the Seattle Times writes that manager Scott Servais could more frequently pencil Raley in at first base against right-handed starters. That’d allow the M’s to get the lefty bats of Raley and Canzone into the lineup while cutting into France’s playing time. France, a 2022 All-Star, slumped to a roughly league average .250/.337/.366 line last season. He’s off to an even slower start in 2024, hitting .235/.285/.359 through his first 165 plate appearances.
Raley (.297/.327/.444) and Canzone (.220/.289/.488) have made more of an offensive impact, particularly from a power perspective. The Mariners aren’t planning to utilize a strict first base platoon that’d keep France out of action against right-handed pitching entirely. To that end, he’s in tonight’s lineup against Yankees righty Marcus Stroman. Raley and Canzone are starting in the corner outfield, pushing Mitch Haniger to DH and Mitch Garver to the bench. With each of Garver, Haniger and France underperforming, Servais could trim into the playing time for any of that group to keep Raley and Canzone in the lineup.
Beyond the major league shuffling, the M’s provided an update on one of their top minor league infield talents. Colt Emerson, whom Seattle took with the 22nd pick in last year’s draft, will miss some time for Low-A Modesto. MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer tweets that Emerson recently suffered a fracture after fouling a ball off his foot and is expected to be out of action for 4-6 weeks. The 18-year-old is a consensus top 100 minor league talent. He was out to an excellent .271/.441/.414 start with more walks than strikeouts over 19 games before the injury.
Mariners’ Sam Haggerty Suffers Torn Achilles
Mariners utilityman Sam Haggerty suffered a torn Achilles tendon while trying to run down a deep fly-ball with the team’s Triple-A affiliate over the weekend, general manager Justin Hollander announced to reporters Monday (X link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The injury will cost him the remainder of the 2024 season.
Haggerty opened the season on the injured list, was optioned to Triple-A in mid-April, recalled in late April, and then optioned back to Tacoma just last week after a cold spell at the plate. Playing center field for Tacoma, he was tracking a hard-hit fly ball that dropped just beyond his reach. Haggerty, running hard toward the gap, climbed/ran up the outfield wall to slow himself down and crumbled to the warning track upon landing (video link via MiLB Mariners on X). He was in clear agony while being checked on by teammates and the training staff.
The 29-year-old Haggerty has played in just eight big league games this season and went 1-for-15 in that time, but he’s been an oft-used bench/utility player for manager Scott Servais when healthy in recent years. A shoulder injury, a groin strain and a concussion have limited his time on the field even before this gruesome Achilles tear, but Haggerty hit .255/.342/.382 in 135 games from 2022-23, appearing at all three outfield spots and every infield position other than shortstop.
In parts of six big league seasons, Haggerty is a .232/.312/.351 hitter with nine homers and 33 steals (in 36 attempts) through 477 plate appearances. His right-handed bat has been overmatched by fellow righties (.209/.278/.272), but he’s pounded left-handed opponents at a .263/.355/.452 pace in his big league career.
That the injury occurred in the minor leagues is particularly unfortunate for Haggerty, as he’ll be placed on the minor league injured list rather than the MLB injured list for the time being. If the Mariners want to free up a 40-man roster spot at any point, they can recall Haggerty to the majors and place him on the 60-day IL, where he’d accrue big league service time. Haggerty entered the year with 3.044 years of service and agreed to a $900K salary to avoid arbitration this offseason. He’s under club control through the 2026 season and would be arb-eligible again this winter. Coming off a season-ending injury after only 16 plate appearances, he’d very likely command that exact same salary again for the 2025 campaign.
Cubs To Acquire Tyson Miller
The Cubs are acquiring reliever Tyson Miller from the Mariners for minor league infielder Jake Slaughter, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). Seattle had designated Miller for assignment last week.
Miller returns to the organization that selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The Cal Baptist product reached the majors for a very brief stint during the 2020 season. The Cubs lost him on waivers to the Rangers the following year. That kicked off a nomadic stretch of his career that has seen Miller suit up for five teams without reaching even 15 innings for any of them.
The right-hander played for three teams last year. He bounced via waivers between the Brewers, Mets and Dodgers. Miller combined for 15 1/3 innings of eight-run ball and cleared waivers in September. He hit minor league free agency and inked a non-roster deal with Seattle going into 2024. The M’s called him up two weeks into the regular season.
Miller had a productive month in the Pacific Northwest. He threw 11 2/3 frames over nine appearances, allowing four earned runs. Miller punched out 12 against one walk with a solid 12.6% swinging strike percentage. It was a little surprising that Seattle nevertheless took him off the roster, although he’d been in a low-leverage role in a solid bullpen.
The Cubs have a shakier relief corps than the Mariners do. Chicago’s bullpen entered play Monday ranked 24th in the majors with a 4.58 earned run average. Their 23.4% strikeout rate is fine, but they’ve issued walks at a huge 11% clip. Chicago also has five relievers on the injured list at present. Yency Almonte landed on the shelf over the weekend, while Adbert Alzolay just went down with a forearm strain this evening.
Miller is out of options, so he’ll step right into the major league bullpen. The Cubs need to create a 40-man roster spot to finalize his acquisition and will need to make an active roster move once he reports to the team.
In return for a middle reliever who had been squeezed off the depth chart, Seattle adds an upper minors infielder who is out to a strong start. Slaughter, 27, has a .297/.392/.486 slash line over 130 plate appearances for Chicago’s top affiliate in Iowa. He has connected on five homers, stolen 10 bases in 11 tries, and drawn walks at a strong 11.5% clip. His 24.6% strikeout rate is slightly higher than average but around three percentage points lower than last year’s 27.5% mark.
Slaughter was an 18th-round pick out of LSU back in 2018. He has never drawn much prospect fanfare and has gone unselected in the Rule 5 draft twice. His numbers this season are strong enough that he has a chance to reach the majors in a reserve capacity this year, though. He would qualify for minor league free agency at the start of next offseason if Seattle doesn’t add him to the 40-man roster before then.
Mariners Notes: Crawford, Canzone, Saucedo, Santos, Woo
The Mariners’ 8-1 win over the Athletics on Friday marked Seattle’s fourth-highest run total of the season, in a positive sign for the club’s search for lineup consistency. With offense generally down around the league, the Mariners’ 98 wRC+ still puts them ahead of 11 other teams, but naturally there’s still plenty of room for improvement. The Mariners’ 28.7% strikeout total is the highest in MLB, and they also rank 24th of 30 clubs in both batting average (.225) and runs (147).
Some lineup reinforcements could be on the way, as shortstop J.P. Crawford is close to beginning a minor league rehab assignment. Mariners GM Justin Hollander told reporters (including Adam Jude of the Seattle Times) that Crawford could possibly start the assignment this very weekend, as Crawford completed batting practice and a full fielding drill prior to yesterday’s game. Crawford hasn’t played since April 23 due to an oblique strain, and given how oblique problems often have a wide range of recovery times, it’s a good sign that Crawford appears better after such a relatively short period.
Crawford wasn’t exactly off to a roaring start prior to his injury, as he had only a .198/.296/.302 slash line in his first 98 plate appearances. A .227 BABIP could be largely responsible for those numbers, though Crawford’s Isolated Power metric was down to .105 — much more akin to his career norms before last season’s big spike up to 172. The shortstop enjoyed the best offensive season of his career in 2023, hitting .266/.380/.438 with 19 homers and a league-best 94 walks over 638 PA, translating to an excellent 134 wRC+.
Albeit in a much smaller sample size, Dominic Canzone had a comparable 133 wRC+ in 35 PA this season before hitting the injured list himself with a left AC joint sprain. Canzone suffered the injury crashing into the outfield wall while making a catch in the Mariners’ 3-2 loss to the Cubs on April 14, so it looks like he’ll miss just over a month since the outfielder is starting a Triple-A rehab assignment today. Hollander said the plan is for Canzone to play four minor league games before being evaluated for a possible activation from the 10-day IL.
Tayler Saucedo was placed on the 15-day IL last Wednesday due to a hyper-extended right knee, but Hollander said Saucedo’s MRI results suggested that the left-hander might only miss the minimum 15 days. The news isn’t as good for another pitcher on Seattle’s injured list, as Gregory Santos‘ recovery timeline has now been stretched into July. Santos has yet to pitch this season due to a lat strain and was already on the 60-day IL, so he wouldn’t have been able to pitch until late May at the earliest.
The initial expectation was that Santos would be able to return either immediately once that 60-day window was up, or perhaps a few days or a week afterwards. However, Hollander said that Santos’ throwing program was recently shut down, and the reliever has only recently started throwing again in the 60-90 foot range.
Bryan Woo was another pitcher who hadn’t yet taken the hill in 2024, as a bout of elbow inflammation in Spring Training forced Woo onto the 15-day IL to begin the season. Woo made his return yesterday against Oakland and looked very sharp in allowing only one hit and one walk over 4 1/3 shutout innings, but he had to make an early exit due to right forearm tightness.
Despite the ominous-sounding nature of a forearm issue, Woo and M’s manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other media that the removal was precautionary, and that Woo is expected to make his next start. Woo suggested that “it was just sitting for a long time” during an extended bottom of the fourth inning, when the Mariners scored five runs.
“It was a long inning. You sit for that long, especially coming back from injuries, like it gets kind of cold and it’s kind of hard to get it going again. So it’s kind of been like a theme throughout the rehab process,” Woo said.
Matt Brash Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Mariners right-hander Matt Brash underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times on X, relaying word from general manager Justin Hollander. The righty had his ligament repaired and a brace installed, with the club expecting a return in June of next year, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com on X.
It’s obviously an unfortunate blow for both the Mariners and Brash, as the righty had been so impressive over the past two years. He was a highly-touted starting prospect while climbing through the minors, but a lack of control seemed to be pushing him towards a relief role, which is how things have played out in the majors thus far.
He debuted in 2022 with five starts but had a 7.65 earned run average in those, walking 17.9% of batters faced. He was sent back down to the minors and moved to a bullpen role. He re-emerged with the big league club in July and posted a 2.35 ERA in 30 2/3 innings the rest of the way. His 12.6% walk rate was still on the high side but he was able to punch out 33.9% of opponents.
2023 saw him continue to establish himself as a bonafide big league reliever and even move into a leverage role for the Mariners. He put up a 3.06 ERA last year across 78 appearances. He dropped his walk rate to 9.4% while still getting punchouts 34.7% of the time. He recorded four saves and 24 holds in the process.
Here in 2024, it’s been mostly ominous. It was reported at the end of February that Brash was potentially looking at a lengthy absence, but he was cleared to resume throwing just a few days later. The bad news returned at the end of April when his progress was shut down. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list earlier this week and now the worries of a lengthy absence have come to fruition.
He will now spend the rest of this year and a chunk of 2025 rehabbing from the surgery, forcing the club to proceed without him. Andrés Muñoz is in the closer’s role while pitchers like Ryne Stanek and Gabe Speier lead the setup crew.
Brash came into 2024 with one year and 121 days of service time. That will give him a borderline chance at qualifying for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player. Looking at recent history, that amount of service would have been sufficient three times since 2009, though all three of those occured in the five most recent seasons.
Mariners Designate Tyson Miller For Assignment
The Mariners announced that Bryan Woo has been reinstated from the injured list, with fellow righty Tyson Miller designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Miller, 28, signed a minor league deal with the M’s in the offseason and was selected to the big club early in April. He has since thrown 11 2/3 innings over nine appearances with a 3.09 earned run average. He has a 26.7% strikeout rate and 2.2% walk rate. He’s been helped a bit by a .207 batting average on balls in play but his 3.85 FIP and 2.98 SIERA still suggest he’s been pretty good.
That’s a small sample size but it’s still a bit surprising that he’s been bumped off the roster, especially when the Mariners could have optioned someone like Cody Bolton or Eduard Bazardo. For whatever reason, Miller has been bumped off instead. Since he’s out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man entirely.
The M’s will now have a week to trade Miller or pass him through waivers. The fact that he’s out of options will tamp down interest somewhat, but his decent numbers will be appealing. His 5.91 ERA in his career isn’t especially impressive but that’s in just 42 2/3 innings scattered over a five-year period. Since the start of 2021, he has a 3.85 ERA in 198 2/3 Triple-A innings, striking out 27.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 9.7% rate.
Miller has a previous career outright and will therefore have the right to elect free agency if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed.
Mariners Select Kirby Snead
The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of left-hander Kirby Snead and reinstated right-hander Eduard Bazardo from the injured list. In corresponding moves, left-hander Tayler Saucedo was placed on the 15-day IL due to right knee hyperextension and right-hander Emerson Hancock was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. To open a 40-man spot for Snead, righty Matt Brash was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Snead, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in the winter. He reported to Triple-A and has made 12 appearances at that level so far this year with a 2.92 earned run average. That’s supported by a 27.7% strikeout rate, 4.3% walk rate and a huge 63.3% ground ball rate.
The southpaw has had some encouraging results in the minors before, but has struggled in the majors. He currently has a career ERA of 5.20 in the big leagues, tossing 64 innings over the previous three seasons between the Blue Jays and Athletics. He was outrighted by Oakland in October, which led to his deal with the Mariners.
With Saucedo going on the IL, Snead will step in as the club’s second lefty reliever alongside Gabe Speier. Snead is out of options and can’t be easily sent back down to the minors down the line. However, he has less than two years of service time and could therefore be cheaply retained into the future if he holds onto his roster spot all year.
Hancock, 25 this month, came into the year as the club’s sixth starter behind Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo. But Woo began the year on the injured list due to right medial elbow inflammation, which opened a rotation spot for Hancock.
Through seven starts, Hancock has a 5.24 ERA with a tepid 15.4% strikeout rate. Woo has been on a rehab assignment of late, having already made three starts with the most recent one being a five-inning outing on Saturday. Hancock’s option appears to pave the way for Woo to be reinstated at some point in the near future.
As for Brash, he’s been on the 15-day IL all year due to right elbow inflammation. This transfer is backdated to his initial IL placement, meaning he can’t be reinstated until late May. That doesn’t seem to be a possibility anyway, as he was shut down at the end of April and there haven’t been any substantive updates on his condition since then.
AL West Notes: Kirby, Rojas, Langford, Astros
Mariners right-hander George Kirby underwent an MRI exam on his right knee yesterday, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Adam Jude of the Seattle Times) prior to last night’s game against Houston. Servais didn’t provide details on the results of Kirby’s MRI but made clear that the imaging was precautionary and expressed optimism that Kirby will make be ready to make his next start. The righty was pulled from his start on Friday after just 88 pitches due to the issue, though following that game Kirby noted that his knee had been “bugging” him for the “past couple of weeks.” He’s pitched through it to this point, however, and like Servais suggested that he wasn’t concerned about the problem.
That’s surely a relief for the Mariners, Kirby has gotten off to a strong start this year. While his 3.76 ERA is actually just below league average by measure of ERA+, he currently sports a career-best 26.3% strikeout rate to go along with a 2.6% walk rate, while his 65.4% strand rate is much lower than is sustainable through seven starts. Given that, it’s no surprise that Kirby has some of the best peripheral numbers in the league with a 2.08 FIP, a 2.84 xERA, a 3.03 SIERA and a 3.10 xFIP.
That type of production is extremely hard to replace, and Mariners fans are surely hoping that Kirby’s knee issue is as minor as he and the team believe it to be. Should Kirby require a trip to the IL, the Mariners could turn to struggling Triple-A starter Levi Stoudt or perhaps non-roster veteran Dallas Keuchel to fill out the rotation while youngster Bryan Woo finishes up a rehab assignment at the Triple-A level.
More from around the AL West…
- Sticking with the Mariners, Servais indicated to reporters (including Jude) yesterday that the club is hoping to get infielder Josh Rojas additional at-bats going forward. Rojas has gotten off to a hot start this year as part of a platoon with Luis Urias at third base, slashing .338/.420/.535 in 82 trips to the plate. Per Servais, the solution to that could be moving Rojas to left field on days that Urias is playing the hot corner. With Dominic Canzone on the injured list, Seattle has primarily relied on Luke Raley and Dylan Moore in left this season but neither has taken hold of the position with particularly strong offensive numbers, so affording more playing time to Rojas and Urias could be a way to bolster an offense that ranks 22nd in the majors with a 96 wRC+, including a 58 wRC+ in left field.
- Rangers youngster Wyatt Langford entered the season as a widely-speculated AL Rookie of the Year candidate after he fought his way onto the Opening Day roster with an incredible Spring Training, but he’s scuffled somewhat in the early going this season with a wRC+ of just 68 and an ISO of just .069 that puts him in the bottom five among all qualified outfielders this year in terms of power production. Now, however, Langford may be dealing with an injury on top of his struggles at the plate after he exited last night’s game with tightness in his right hamstring, as noted Jeff Wilson of Rangers Today. Should Langford require a trip to the IL, the club would likely turn to veteran outfielder Travis Jankowski to fill out the lineup in his absence.
- Astros outfielder Chas McCormick has only been on the injured list for a few days, but manager Joe Espada told reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) that he is already making good progress in his rehab from a right hamstring issue. Per Espada, McCormick has begun running and is nearing the point where he’ll be able to begin batting practice, adding that the club hopes to get the 29-year-old out for a minor league rehab assignment “pretty soon.” McCormick scuffled at the plate to open the season this year but was one of the club’s strongest contributors in 2023, when he slashed .273/.353/.489 in 115 games.
- Sticking with the Astros, Espada also provided an update to reporters (including McTaggart) about injured right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers last pitched in the majors in late 2022 but has now progressed to throwing off a mound in his rehab process. It’s a major step for McCullers, who has made just eight starts since the end of the 2021 postseason due to flexor tendon issues. When healthy enough to take the mound, McCullers has been an impact starter for the Astros with a 2.96 ERA and 3.51 FIP in 36 starts from 2021-22. The right-hander isn’t expecting to return to action until later this summer, though yesterday’s news appears to indicate he remains on track to pitch for the club this season.