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Taylor Trammell

Astros Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment

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The Astros have designated catcher/infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment and placed righty J.P. France on the 60-day injured list as he recovers from last summer’s shoulder surgery. That pair of moves opens two additional spots on a 40-man roster that already had two vacancies. The four openings will go to righty Rafael Montero, lefty Steven Okert, second baseman Brendan Rodgers and top prospect Cam Smith, all of whom have been selected to the 40-man roster and are on the Opening Day club.

Houston also placed outfielders Pedro Leon and Taylor Trammell on the 10-day injured list due to a knee strain and calf strain, respectively. Right-handers Shawn Dubin, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Kaleb Ort and Forrest Whitley have all been placed on the 15-day IL.

The Astros had telegraphed all these moves. They’d already announced that Montero, Okert, Smith and Rodgers were making the team. Houston had previously informed Hummel that he would not break camp. Since he’s out of options, that made a DFA or waiver placement inevitable. France, who’ll be out into at least July rehabbing last year’s shoulder procedure, was an obvious 60-day IL candidate to open the final roster spot.

Houston claimed Hummel off waivers from the Giants last spring. They outrighted him off the 40-man roster a couple weeks later but reselected his contract in June when they released José Abreu. He spent most of the season in Triple-A, exhausting his final option season in the process. Hummel went 0-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his big league work. He had a solid year in Triple-A, hitting .277/.419/.454 with a massive 17.9% walk rate through 442 plate appearances.

The Astros will have five days to trade Hummel or place him on waivers. He’s not viewed as a regular behind the plate, but he can catch on occasion while playing first base or the corner outfield. His patient plate approach has translated to a .285/.419/.480 career slash in Triple-A. He owns just a .159/.255/.275 line with a 31.9% strikeout rate over 82 major league games.

Trammell, Whitley, Ort and Dubin are all out of options themselves. Their Spring Training injuries delay the Astros’ need to make a decision on any of them, as they’ll begin the year on the major league IL. Ort has the best chance of holding a roster spot once he returns after pitching to a 2.55 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate last season.

Astros Notes: Dubin, Leon, Ort, Trammell

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The Astros are dealing with a handful of injuries to depth players in camp. Manager Joe Espada told reporters this morning that reliever Shawn Dubin is battling shoulder inflammation. Meanwhile, young outfielder Pedro León sustained a strained MCL in his left knee (relayed by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

While there’s no suggestion of surgery for either player, it seems they’ll each be in for notable absences. Both injuries figure to force them to begin the season on the injured list. Houston also took hits to their bullpen and outfield depth late last week. Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote on Friday that righty reliever Kaleb Ort was battling a left oblique issue. Meanwhile, outfielder Taylor Trammell suffered what appears to be a significant right calf strain (per the MLB.com injury tracker).

In isolation, none of those injuries represents a huge blow. León has appeared in seven major league games. He’s likely to start the season with Triple-A Sugar Land once he’s healthy. The former highly-regarded prospect hit 24 homers and stole 29 bases in the minors last season. That came with an elevated 27% strikeout rate. As he enters his age-27 season, he’s unlikely to take a big step forward with his plate discipline. Baseball America ranked him the #18 prospect in a weak Houston farm system. BA writes that León projects as a depth outfielder whose power and speed are undercut by the swing-and-miss issues and fringe outfield defense.

This is a big camp for each of Dubin, Ort and Trammell. All three have exhausted their minor league options. They need to stick on the major league roster (or injured list) or be exposed to waivers. Dubin tossed 45 1/3 frames in a multi-inning relief role last year. He pitched to a 4.17 ERA with solid strikeout (23.7%) and ground-ball (46.5%) rates, but he walked almost 13% of batters faced. The Astros used him mostly in low-leverage relief.

Ort, 33, was a waiver claim from Baltimore last May. He pitched well in 22 big league appearances, working to a 2.55 ERA behind a 28% strikeout rate across 24 2/3 frames. Ort had entered the season with a career earned run average north of 6.00, but he probably showed enough in his relatively small sample with Houston to stick in middle relief. He’s a power arm who can miss bats but had inconsistent control in the minors.

Houston acquired Trammell in a minor league trade with the Yankees at the start of the offseason. The Astros added him to their 40-man roster to keep him from qualifying for minor league free agency. A former top prospect, Trammell has only hit .167/.270/.363 over 126 major league games. He had an impressive .256/.381/.488 line in Triple-A with the Yankees last year. As with León, that came with an alarming number of strikeouts (a 26.8% rate). Houston spent most of the offseason looking for lefty-hitting outfield help after the Kyle Tucker trade. Their only move was to bring back Ben Gamel on a non-guaranteed contract. Trammell and Gamel might battle for one roster spot, espeically with Jose Altuve seeing time in left field.

Astros To Acquire Taylor Trammell From Yankees

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The Astros are acquiring outfielder Taylor Trammell from the Yankees, according to a report from Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The return headed to the Bronx is not yet known.

Trammell, 27, was selected 35th overall in the 2016 draft by the Reds and was regarded as a top-100 caliber prospect as recently as 2021. By that point, he had been a part of multiple trades, heading from the Reds to the Padres in the three-team deal that sent Yasiel Puig to Cleveland before eventually being shipped from San Diego to Seattle as part of the seven-player deal that brought Austin Nola to the Padres. Though he was traded multiple times before reaching the Triple-A level, Trammell hit fairly well in his first taste of the level with the Mariners’ affiliate in Tacoma and earned a call up to the big leagues during the 2021 season.

Unfortunately, that call-up did not go well. Trammell hit just .160/.256/.359 with a 73 wRC+ in 178 trips to the plate across 51 games during his first season in the majors. While he flashed considerable power with eight home runs during that time, he struck out at a completely untenable 42.1% clip that left him as a lackluster option in the outfield, where he was capable of playing center but not a particularly strong defender. The results would improve somewhat over the next two years as Trammell rode the shuttle between Tacoma and Seattle. In 173 plate appearances at the big league level over those two seasons, he hit an improved .176/.285/.378 that was just 6% worse than average by measure of wRC+ thanks to an excellent 12.7% walk rate in conjunction with his impressive power.

That said, Trammell was still striking out more than 30% of the time in the majors, even as he tore up the Triple-A level to the tune of a .268/.381/.500 slash line throughout his time at the level. Trammell also gradually became less of a viable option in center with just two innings of work at the position in 2023, further putting pressure on his bat to perform. This led the Mariners to designate him for assignment back in March rather than keep him on the Opening Day roster. Trammell was promptly plucked off waivers by the Dodgers while veteran outfielder Jason Heyward dealt with a back injury, but appeared in just five games before being designated for assignment in mid-April.

That move led the Yankees to claim Trammell from the Dodgers, though he similarly lasted just five games on New York’s big league roster before being DFA’d for the third time in just over a month. This time, the move stuck and Trammell cleared waivers, allowing the Yankees to outright him to the minors. Once at Triple-A, Trammell hit fairly well with a .256/.381/.488 slash line in 106 games. Now, Trammell is on the move once again and will begin the 2024-25 offseason with the Astros. For Houston, the 27-year-old should provide additional outfield depth behind the right-handed Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers and could compete for a job on the club’s bench during Spring Training next year.

Yankees Outright Taylor Trammell

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Taylor Trammell has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on the weekend.

Trammell, now 26, was once a highly-touted prospect. He was selected 35th overall by the Reds in 2016 and cracked Baseball America’s top 100 list in three straight years from 2018 to 2020. He was traded to the Padres in the 2019 deal that sent Trevor Bauer to the Reds and Yasiel Puig to Cleveland, then was flipped to the Mariners in the 2020 deal that also sent Ty France and Andrés Muñoz to Seattle.

Along the way, Trammell has continued to perform well in the minors but has struggled whenever given opportunities in the big leagues. He has 359 major league plate appearances over the four most recent seasons, but has hit just .167/.270/.363 in that time. His 11.1% walk rate in that stretch is quite strong, but he’s also been punched out at a huge 37% clip.

Since the start of 2021, he stepped to the plate 812 times at the Triple-A level, with a 14% walk rate and 24% strikeout rate. He hit 38 home runs and produced a combined batting line of .274/.381/.506 for a wRC+ of 116.

He exhausted his three option years from 2021 to 2023 as he struggled in the majors, continually getting sent back down to the minors. That left him out of options here in 2024, but the past prospect pedigree and strong minor league numbers still led to interest from other clubs.

The Mariners designated him for assignment on Opening Day, with the Dodgers claiming him off waivers. He received only six plate appearances in two weeks with the Dodgers before getting designated for assignment again. The Yankees put in a claim but didn’t give him playing time either. He got into five games but mostly as a late-game substitute, getting just two plate appearances in over two weeks in pinstripes before his third DFA of the year.

Now that Trammell has finally cleared waivers, he will reported to the RailRiders and look to work his way back to the majors. This is his first career outright and he doesn’t have three years of service time, meaning he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.

Yankees Designate Taylor Trammell For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Taylor Trammell has been designated for assignment.  The move opens up a 26-man roster spot for utilityman Jon Berti, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list after missing the last three weeks due to a groin strain.

In a little more than five weeks’ time, Trammell has been DFA’ed by three different organizations.  The Mariners designated Trammell just prior to Opening Day, and the Dodgers claimed the outfielder off waivers a few days later.  Los Angeles then returned Trammell to DFA limbo in mid-April, and Trammell found himself quickly on the move once more when the Yankees placed a claim.

Trammell is out of minor league options, hence the whirlwind of transactions as teams have had to try and sneak him through waivers in order to officially outright him off the 40-man roster.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trammell claimed again if yet another club has need for some outfield depth, so he could soon add a fourth team to his 2024 resume.

Over five games apiece with the Dodgers and Yankees, Trammell has only eight plate appearances.  (He had a walk and a hit in his two PA with New York, giving him one of the few perfect batting lines in Yankees franchise history.)  Trammell has hit only .167/.270/.363 over 359 career MLB plate appearances, which has dimmed his star after several years as a top-100 ranked prospect during his time in the minors.

The dreaded “Quad-A” label could apply here since Trammell has continued to rake at Triple-A, but between his speed and ability to play all three outfield positions, Trammell has still managed to attract attention for roster spots.  His past blue-chip prospect status has also undoubtedly helped, as some teams might think Trammell could still have a post-hype breakout in him at age 26.

Yankees Claim Taylor Trammell, Designate Kevin Smith

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed outfielder Taylor Trammell off waivers from the Dodgers, the latter club having designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a roster spot for Trammell, the Yankees designated infielder Kevin Smith for assignment.

Trammell, 26, was only with the Dodgers for a couple of weeks. They claimed him off waivers from the Mariners in early April and he only got six hitless plate appearances, striking out three times, before getting bumped off the roster and put right back on waivers.

The Yankees are likely interested based on Trammell’s past status as one of the top prospects in the game. Selected 35th overall by the Reds in 2016, he was on Baseball America’s top 100 lists in three straight years starting in 2018.

But his results started to dip as he began to be passed around the league a bit. He was flipped to the Padres in the 2019 deal that sent Trevor Bauer to the Reds and Yasiel Puig to Cleveland, then was traded again, going to the Mariners in the 2020 deal that also sent Ty France and Andrés Muñoz to Seattle.

The Mariners gave him sporadic playing time in the majors over the past few years but he didn’t live up to his previous prospect hype. He currently has a line of .165/.266/.361 in 357 plate appearances, having struck out in 37.3% of those. His 10.9% walk rate is strong but the overall output has obviously not been good. He is now out of options, which is why the Mariners and Dodgers have each had to designate him for assignment in recent weeks.

Reasons for optimism can be found on Trammell’s Triple-A performance. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has 812 plate appearances at the top minor league level. He struck out in 24% of those but also drew walks at a 14% rate and hit 38 home runs. That’s to be taken with a grain of salt since those homers were all in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but his .274/.381/.506 batting line nonetheless translated to a 116 wRC+, indicating he was 16% above league average. He also stole 33 bases in 40 tries in that time.

The Yanks will give Trammell a roster spot to see if he can finally have his long-awaited breakout in pinstripes. While that’s a sensible decision in a vacuum, it seems less than ideal in terms of roster construction.

The Yankees already have a pretty loaded group in terms of outfielders, with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo getting the regular playing time. Giancarlo Stanton is in the designated hitter slot most days while Trent Grisham is on hand as a glove-first backup.

Smith was added to the roster on the weekend with the club’s infield injuries mounting. Oswald Peraza and DJ LeMahieu both started the season on the injured list, which prompted the Yanks to trade for Jon Berti. But then Berti himself landed on the IL a few days ago, which is what led the club to select Smith’s contract.

Swapping in Trammell for Smith will seemingly give the club a surplus of outfielders but leave them a bit shorthanded on the dirt. Oswaldo Cabrera has taken over as the regular third baseman amid all those injuries, taking a spot next to Anthony Volpe, Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo. The Yankees have Jahmai Jones on hand as a depth infielder but he’s been given just one plate appearance so far this year and only has major league experience at second base and in left field.

LeMahieu is starting a rehab assignment this week but a bench of catcher Jose Trevino, Jones, Grisham and Trammell will leave the club a bit thin on the infield until LeMahieu is ready to rejoin the big league club. Someone will have to lose their roster spot when LeMahieu gets back and time will tell who that is. If Trammell hangs onto his spot, he can be retained well into the future. He has less than two years of service time, meaning he has four years of club control beyond the current campaign.

As for Smith, the Yankees will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He got into one game as a pinch runner during his time on the roster but didn’t get sent to the plate. He has hit .173/.215/.301 in his 333 career plate appearances at the major league level.

He seemed to have a Triple-A breakout in 2021 when he hit .285/.370/.561 for the top minor league affiliate of the Blue Jays. But since then, his Triple-A performance has been an average-ish .280/.340/.497, which translates to a 101 wRC+. He also struck out in  29.9% of his plate appearances in that time. Like Trammell, he’s out of options but comes with years of potential club control. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Yankees as depth but without occupying a roster spot.

Dodgers Designate Taylor Trammell For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves in advance of tonight’s matchup with the Nationals. Los Angeles confirmed their previously reported selection of reliever Eduardo Salazar and recalls of righty Kyle Hurt and outfielder Andy Pages. To create spots on the roster, the Dodgers optioned relievers Ricky Vanasco and Nick Ramirez and designated outfielder Taylor Trammell for assignment. The latter move clears the necessary 40-man roster spot for Salazar.

Trammell only spent two weeks on the L.A. roster. The Dodgers claimed him off waivers from the Mariners on April 2. He barely played, going hitless with three strikeouts in six plate appearances. Trammell appeared in five games but only got one start. As an out-of-options player who was clearly relegated to a depth role, his spot in the organization was tenuous. Pages, one of the organization’s top prospects, will step into the vacated outfield spot.

The 26-year-old Trammell was once a top minor league talent himself. The 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Reds, he was twice involved in significant trades. He went to the Padres in a 2019 deadline deal and was flipped to the Mariners the following season. Trammell debuted with the M’s in 2021 and spent parts of three years in Seattle, but he never hit at the level the Mariners had envisioned.

In 351 plate appearances, the lefty hitter turned in a .168/.270/.368 slash. He drew a decent number of walks and hit 15 homers in 121 games, but he hasn’t made consistent contact. Trammell has gone down on strikes at an untenable 37.3% clip against big league pitching. That has now squeezed him off a pair of rosters.

The Dodgers have a week to trade Trammell or put him on waivers. Los Angeles was near the bottom of the waiver priority when they successfully claimed him a couple weeks ago, so they may be able to get him through the wire unclaimed. If another team does take a flier on Trammell, they’d have to keep him on the MLB team or designate him for assignment themselves.

Dodgers Re-Sign Matt Gage

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TODAY: The Dodgers have re-signed Gage to a minor league contract, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports (X link).

APRIL 2, 2:31pm: In an updated announcement, the Dodgers stated that Gage has actually been released — not designated for assignment as the team initially indicated.

2:20pm: The Dodgers announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-handed reliever Matt Gage for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Taylor Trammell, whom the Dodgers have claimed off waivers from the Mariners (as was previously reported).

It’s been an eventful few months for Gage, who was designated for assignment by the Astros in late January and claimed off waivers by the Yankees. New York wound up including Gage alongside minor league righty Christian Zazueta in the trade sending lefty Caleb Ferguson from Los Angeles to the Bronx. He had a decent spring with the Dodgers, tossing four innings and allowing a pair of runs on three hits and no walks with four strikeouts.

Gage, 31, pitched in the majors with the 2022 Blue Jays and 2023 Astros, though he combined for only 19 2/3 innings between those two clubs. He’s posted a sparkling 1.83 ERA in that time but benefited from a tiny .222 average on balls in play. Gage doesn’t throw especially hard (93.2 mph average fastball) but misses bats nonetheless (26% strikeout rate, 13.7% swinging-strike rate). Command has been a major issue for him recently. He’s issued a walk to nine of his 77 MLB opponents (11.7%) and plunked another. Gage also walked 12% of his opponents in Triple-A last year.

Gage posted lower walk rates but also lower strikeout rates earlier in his minor league career as a starting pitcher. He’s begun to miss more bats but also miss the strike zone more frequently in recent seasons. The Dodgers will have a week to trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He hasn’t been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of MLB service, so if Gage clears waivers he can be outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City and stashed as depth.

Dodgers Place Jason Heyward On Injured List Due To Back Injury

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The Dodgers announced that outfielder Jason Heyward has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to lower back tightness. His roster spot goes to outfielder Taylor Trammell, who was claimed off waivers from the Mariners yesterday.

Heyward, 34, hasn’t played in any of the club’s past three games due to a stiff back. He was sent for some imaging and manager Dave Roberts relayed yesterday that the scans came back negative, but it seems the Dodgers will give him some time to rest up. IL placements can be backdated as much as three days if the player hasn’t been playing. Assuming the Dodgers backdated Heyward’s transaction, he could be back in a week if he heals up quickly.

After years of struggles with the Cubs, Heyward had a bounceback year with the Dodgers in 2023. He hit .269/.340/.473 for a wRC+ of 121, though largely in a platoon capacity. The left-handed hitter stepped to the plate 349 times against righties but just 28 times against southpaws. The Dodgers were impressed enough to re-sign him on a one-year, $9MM deal over the winter.

The Dodgers started out this year using Heyward in right field against righties, with Teoscar Hernández in left field. With a left-handed starter on the mound, Hernández would take right with Chris Taylor in left.

Trammell hits from the left side and could perhaps take over the role Heyward was in previously. He has struggled in the big leagues but has actually been decent with the platoon advantage, hitting 14 home runs in 261 plate appearances while walking at an 11.1% rate. He has struck out at a 36.4% clip and his batting average isn’t pretty but his .193/.292/.434 line against righties does translate to a 106 wRC+. At Triple-A last year, Trammell slashed .256/.396/.540 against righties compared to .239/.331/.425 against lefties.

The Dodgers could also opt for the more experienced Taylor to take over Heyward’s playing time, despite him hitting right-handed, as he has fairly even platoon splits in his career. He’s hit .256/.331/.424 against righties for a 106 wRC+ and .247/.332/.444 versus lefties for a 110 wRC+. But having Trammell will give them another option and perhaps allow the club to move Taylor around to other positions. Trammell is out of options and may end up designated for assignment again when Heyward gets back. If Trammell manages to stick around, he has under two years of service time and can be controlled for another four seasons beyond the current campaign.

Dodgers Claim Taylor Trammell

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The Dodgers have claimed outfielder Taylor Trammell off waivers from the Mariners, who’d designated him for assignment last week, Robert Murray of FanSided reports. Trammell is out of minor league options, so he’ll go right onto the Dodgers’ active roster.

Now 26 years old, Trammell was the No. 35 overall pick by the Reds back in 2016. He ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects each season from 2018-21 and has participated in a pair of Futures Games but hasn’t yet found success in the majors. He had multiple auditions with the Mariners — who acquired him alongside Andres Munoz and Ty France in exchange for Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla — but has produced only a .168/.270/.368 batting line with a huge 37% strikeout rate in 351 MLB plate appearances.

That said, Trammell has been vastly better in Triple-A. He’s spent parts of three seasons there as well, turning in a stout .274/.381/.506 batting line with a 24% strikeout rate that’s worlds better than his MLB clip. Trammell has shown off his eye at the plate both in the majors (11.1% walk rate) and in Triple-A (14%).

Trammell’s once better-than-average speed has declined, as Statcast ranked him in just the 43rd percentile of MLB players in average sprint speed last year.  His defensive grades from metrics like Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved haven’t lined up with scouting reports that pegged him as a potentially plus defender in the outfield, either. Trammell has probably hit for more power than was expected early in his prospect days. His .368 slugging isn’t much to look at, but when considering his low batting average, he’s sitting on a .200 ISO in his big league career. He’s also popped 38 homers in his 812 Triple-A plate appearances.

His role with the Dodgers is yet to be determined, though fellow lefty-swinging outfielder Jason Heyward has been dealing with a back issue. If Heyward needs to miss any time, Trammell could step into his role as a stopgap until the veteran is able to return.

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