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Brewers Promote Corbin Burnes, Activate Lorenzo Cain, Place Ryan Braun On DL

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The Brewers are set to promote one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, right-hander Corbin Burnes, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. The team has also activated outfielder Lorenzo Cain from the 10-day disabled list; sent fellow outfielder Ryan Braun and catcher Manny Pina to the DL; recalled infielder/outfielder Nate Orf and catcher Jacob Nottingham from Triple-A; and optioned righty Aaron Wilkerson, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.

In yet another move, Milwaukee announced that it has designated lefty Mike Zagurski for assignment. Between Zagurski’s exit and Burnes’ promotion, the Brewers still have an open spot on their 40-man roster.

Now 23, Burnes will get to the majors quickly after joining the Brewers as a fourth-round pick in 2016. After Milwaukee selected him, Burnes proceeded to race through the lower levels of the minors over the previous two seasons, and has spent all of this year at Triple-A. Burnes hasn’t been great at preventing runs in 2018, having recorded a 5.15 ERA in 78 2/3 innings (19 appearances, 13 starts), though the Brewers’ Triple-A home in Colorado Springs is a tough environment for pitchers. And to his credit, Burnes has managed 9.27 K/9 against 3.55 BB/9.

Both MLB.com (No. 56) and Baseball America (No. 58) regard Burnes as a top-60 prospect in baseball and one of the best farmhands in a quality Brewers system. In its free scouting report, MLB.com lauds Burnes’ “lightning-quick arm,” adding that he offers a 92 to 95 mph fastball with “natural cutting action,” two impressive breaking pitches and a solid changeup.

It’s unclear whether Burnes will factor into the Brewers’ rotation in the short term, as Wade Miley is nearing a return from the DL and could join Junior Guerra, Chase Anderson, Jhoulys Chacin and Freddy Peralta to comprise their starting staff. Wilkerson started for the club Saturday, going five innings and allowing two earned runs in a loss to Atlanta. The defeat dropped the Brewers to a still-excellent 53-36, good for a 1 1/2-game lead in the NL Central. With Milwaukee looking like a strong playoff contender, it could further bolster its roster – including its rotation – in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, though the club does have potential pitching reinforcements on the way in Miley, Jimmy Nelson, Brent Suter and Zach Davies (all of whom are on the DL). Although, Nelson may not pitch until September, if at all, general manager David Stearns told Haudricourt and other reporters Sunday.

Cain, meanwhile, will act as a reinforcement for the Brewers’ position player group after missing nearly two weeks with a groin strain. He had gotten off to a tremendous start in the first season of a five-year, $80MM contract. The also-expensive Braun has been uncharacteristically ineffective, on the other hand, with a .235/.283/.427 line in 255 plate appearances. Injuries have been an all-too-common issue of late for Braun, who’s now dealing with a back strain.

Pina, the Brewers’ starting catcher, is heading to the shelf with a left biceps strain. He’s part of a Brewers backstop contingent that hasn’t offered much at the plate this year, as Pina has hit .227/.294/.376 in 214 PAs. Pina has thrown out 36 percent of would-be base stealers, however, and been a middle-of-the-pack pitch framer, per Baseball Prospectus. His absence will leave the Brewers with Erik Kratz and Nottingham as their two catchers.

As for Zagurski, he lasted under two weeks on Milwaukee’s 40-man before it designated him. The well-traveled 35-year-old has seen his first major league action since 2013 this season, though it hasn’t been pretty. In two appearances with the Brewers, Zagurski has combined for one inning and allowed seven earned runs on five hits and two walks.

Astros Promote Kyle Tucker

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The Astros have called up top prospect Kyle Tucker, The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan reports (Twitter link).  Jake Marisnick will be sent down to Triple-A in the corresponding move, as per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter).

Tucker, 21, has been considered one of the game’s better prospects since he was selected fifth overall in the 2015 draft.  Preseason prospect rankings (15th on Baseball America’s list, MLB.com 17th, Baseball Prospectus 20th, ESPN’s Keith Law 21st) tabbed him as being on the verge of Major League readiness, though he hadn’t played in Triple-A prior to this season.  Tucker didn’t miss a beat playing at the top minor league level, batting .306/.371/.520 with 14 home runs over 371 plate appearances for the Fresno Grizzlies, strong statistics even in a hitter-friendly league like the PCL.

This marks Tucker’s second straight year of solid power numbers, as he made slight adjustments to his approach in order to generate more pop, albeit while striking out more often (he has 70 whiffs this season).  Still, he makes overall very strong contact, and his hand-eye coordination has been widely cited as excellent, which helps him deliver such good results at the plate despite a somewhat unusual swing.

Beyond the bat, Tucker has also stolen 85 bases in 113 chances over his minor league career, including 14 swipes this year.  Tucker has seen significant time at all three outfield positions, though evaluators believe he is best suited for a corner spot — MLB.com’s scouting report touts Tucker’s “solid arm strength” as a good fit for eventually becoming a right fielder.

This defensive versatility gives the Astros another valuable piece to work with in their pursuit of another World Series title.  George Springer is the only true everyday outfielder in the Houston lineup, playing either center field or right field, with Josh Reddick, Marwin Gonzalez, Tony Kemp and (before today) Marisnick all getting action in the other two positions based on matchups.  Gonzalez has recently been deploying his superutility skills at shortstop with Carlos Correa on the DL, and thus the Astros may have felt the time was right to add a stronger bat like Tucker into their outfield mix.  Tucker, Reddick, and Kemp are all left-handed hitters, though Kemp has hit well from both sides of the plate this year, so Houston doesn’t necessarily have an unbalanced outfield picture.  The ’Stros also have two more young outfield options in J.D. Davis and Derek Fisher at Triple-A for further depth.

It’s worth noting that Tucker has been a frequent subject of trade rumors over the last couple of years, with teams like the White Sox, Pirates, and Marlins all showing interest in the outfield prospect.  In regards to the Miami talks, it was reported that Houston was at least open to moving Tucker if it meant getting J.T. Realmuto back in return, though nothing ever came of those negotiations.  There hasn’t been any trade buzz on Tucker in recent months, however, not that Tucker was ever really considered an expendable piece for anything less than a top-tier asset like Realmuto.  It certainly appears as through the Astros consider Tucker to be yet another homegrown building block that can help the big league roster both now and in the future.

Marisnick’s 2017 season was something of an outlier, as he produced above-average numbers at the plate (117 wRC+ in 259 PA) while underachieving defensively.  The rest of his career has been the exact opposite, as Marisnick has generally been an outstanding defender while not generating much offense at the plate.  This season, for instance, Marisnick has a .190/.235/.359 slash line over 163 PA, while posting a +12.1 UZR/150 and +8 Defensive Runs Saved in 410 2/3 innings as a center fielder.

Astros To Promote Cionel Perez

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The Astros will call up young southpaw Cionel Perez, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll take the open roster spot created when Carlos Correa was placed on the 10-day DL.

Perez was already on the 40-man roster, as he needed to be protected from the most recent Rule 5 draft. Accordingly, the move is not necessarily a particularly consequential one.

That said, this will be his first turn at the game’s highest level. And it stands to reason that the ’Stros would not have made the move unless they were interested to see how the highly regarded lefty looks in the MLB bullpen.

Perez, 22, has been a nice addition to the Houston farm since signing in 2016 out of Cuba — a process that had some twists and turns but left him with a $2MM signing bonus. He entered the current season ranked 6th among the organization’s prospects by MLB.com.

Questions remain as to Perez’s long-term outlook as a starter. Per MLB.com, he’s still refining his primary three-pitch mix — sinker/slider/change — and faces concerns about his small stature. There’s also the matter of the elbow concerns that gummed up his original deal with Houston.

That said, Perez has sure looked the part this year. In his 57 1/3 Double-A frames, he carries a 2.20 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He has compiled that stat line over ten starts and four relief appearances, so clearly the Astros aren’t pushing him too hard. Perez tallied 93 2/3 total innings in 2017, his first professional campaign, so he wasn’t quite set up for a full workload this year.

All things considered, it’s certainly possible that Houston could look at Perez as a potential multi-inning relief asset. He’d still be able to return to the rotation in the long run. It’s more likely, though, that this call-up will represent only a first taste of the majors. The Astros’ pen has been rather dominant, after all, though it’d be nice to have another option available if any cracks begin to form.

Marlins To Promote Sandy Alcantara

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The Marlins announced today that right-hander Sandy Alcantara will be recalled from Triple-A New Orleans to start Friday’s game against the Mets. The 22-year-old righty is considered to be among the organization’s top overall prospects and was the centerpiece in the offseason trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis.

Alcantara is off to a solid start to the season, having pitched to a 3.71 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.64 HR/9 and a 50.8 percent ground-ball rate. Alcantara entered the season generally regarded as one of baseball’s top 100 prospects, and he currently ranks 59th at Baseball America, 92nd at MLB.com and 110th at Fangraphs. He’ll instantly rank among the hardest-throwing starters in the game when he joins the Miami rotation, as his fastball receives a 70-grade on most scouting reports, and he averaged 98.3 mph on his heater in a brief cup of coffee with the Cardinals last season (8 1/3 innings).

[Related: Miami Marlins depth chart]

The organizational hope is that Alcantara will be able to serve as an anchor in the rotation for years to come. He’ll step into the starting five in place of lefty Caleb Smith, who looked to be establishing himself as a viable long-term option for the Fish prior to suffering a Grade 3 lat strain that will put an unfortunate end to his season. For the time being, then, Alcantara will join Dan Straily, Wei-Yin Chen, Trevor Richards and Rule 5 pick Elieser Hernandez in the rotation.

Alcantara did accrue 31 days of Major League service time in 2017, but even if he sticks in the rotation and isn’t optioned back to New Orleans, he’ll still finish the season shy of the 172 days needed to qualify for a full year of service time. As such, he’s controllable through at least the 2023 season for Miami, though the timing of his promotion will likely put him on the cusp of Super Two stats a couple of years from now is his ascension to the Majors does indeed prove to be permanent.

Indians Promote Francisco Mejia

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The Indians have promoted top prospect Francisco Mejia, per a club announcement. Right-hander Evan Marshall was optioned to create active roster space.

Mejia, who’s known most for his bat, was announced as a catcher/outfielder. It’s still unknown just how the team will deploy him in the mid and long-term, but he’ll fill in for backup catcher Roberto Perez for the meantime. Though the team says Perez is not going on the DL — at least, not yet — he is expected to miss some time after being struck by a pitch in the hand yesterday.

Mejia, who made a brief MLB cameo last year, entered the season as a consensus top-twenty prospect leaguewide, with many assuming he would hit his way into the MLB mix sooner than later. Defensively, though, there are far greater questions. Thus far in 2018, he has split his time about evenly behind the plate and in the grass.

While he has worked to find a defensive home, Mejia hasn’t produced to his typical levels at the plate. In 214 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors, he owns a .214/.271/.33 slash. That said, as the team notes in its release, the switch-hitting Mejia has been on a hot streak of late. And he came into the season with a track record and reputation as a polished hitter from both sides of the plate.

While the Cleveland organization gets a sense for what kind of contribution it can expect from Mejia now and in the future, the 22-year-old will accrue MLB service time. He already had 31 days from 2017, and can earn as many as 112 from this point through the end of the current season, so he could profile as a future Super Two qualifier if he stays up for good.

Mejia made the news earlier this season when he brought a lawsuit seeking to abrogate his contractual relationship with an entity called Big League Advance. The litigation will determine whether Mejia is forced to pay a portion of his ongoing MLB earnings.

Rays To Promote Jake Bauers

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The Rays are set to promote top prospect Jake Bauers from Triple-A Durham, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The first baseman/outfielder will join the team for his MLB debut on Thursday.

Jake Bauers | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Bauers, 22, entered the season to quite a bit of Top 100 prospect fanfare, ranking 43rd at Fangraphs, 45th at Baseball America and 68th at MLB.com. (He’s since risen to 42 at BA and 55 at MLB.com.)

Bauers is not yet hitting for a great deal of power but is off to a fine start in Durham, slashing .279/.357/.426 with five homers, 14 doubles and 10 steals (in 16 attempts). He’s drawn a walk in 10.4 percent of his 222 trips to the dish and has whiffed at a 21.2 percent clip. Defensively, Bauers has spent the bulk of his time in the field at first base, his primary position in the minors, but has logged 47 innings in the outfield corners as well (35 in left field and a dozen in right field).

Originally a seventh-round pick of the Padres back in 2013, Bauers went from San Diego to Tampa Bay in the three-team blockbuster that saw Wil Myers land with the Padres, sent Trea Turner to the Nationals and landed the since-traded Steven Souza Jr. in a Rays uniform. While that three-team deal features plenty of name value now, the Nats look to have come out quite a bit ahead thanks to the success of Turner (and righty Joe Ross, who’s currently mending from Tommy John surgery). Bauers, though, will now look to help the Rays recoup some value in his first taste of the Major Leagues.

C.J. Cron has hit quite well as the Rays’ primary first baseman, but Tampa Bay has received modest production from its outfield. With Kevin Kiermaier on the shelf and Denard Span traded to the Mariners, the Rays have been utilizing Mallex Smith, Carlos Gomez, Johnny Field and Rob Refsnyder in the outfield of late.

It stands to reason that the left-handed hitting Bauers could join that mix. Scouting reports on him indicate that while he’s a better defensive first baseman than outfielder, he’s slimmed down in recent years and can handle the outfield grass (or turf, as it were) adequately while chipping in with an above-average hit tool and average or better power at the plate.

The timing of Bauers’ promotion is such that he won’t be eligible for free agency until at least the end of the 2024 season, though his early-June debut figures to leave him on the bubble for Super Two arbitration status down the line.

There’s no exact cutoff date for that nebulous distinction, as it’s dependent on the service time of the other players in Bauers’ service class, but it seems likely that he’ll fall just shy of qualifying. There are only 116 days remaining in the season from the point at which Bauers will be formally promoted, and the lowest that the Super Two cutoff has fallen in recent seasons has been two years, 122 days of MLB service time.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Indians Promote Shane Bieber

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MAY 31: The move is official. Righty Ben Taylor was optioned to open an active roster spot, while fellow righty Nick Goody was moved from the 10-day to the 60-day DL for a 40-man opening.

MAY 28: The Indians are set to promote top pitching prospect Shane Bieber for his first MLB action, skipper Terry Francona announced (via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal, on Twitter). Bieber is slated to receive a start on Thursday, which is also his 23rd birthday.For the time being, it’s expected only to be a spot start.

Since he was taken in the fourth-round of the 2016 draft out of UCSB, Bieber has zipped up the ladder in the Cleveland farm system.In 2017, his first full season as a pro, Bieber threw 173 1/3 innings of 2.86 ERA ball with a shiny 162:10 K/BB ratio.

The results have been even better thus far in 2018. In ten starts — five apiece between Double-A and Triple-A — he has allowed just eight earned runs on 43 hits over 65 1/3 innings, while racking up a ridiculous mix of 61 strikeouts against just three free passes.

Prospect evaluators have increasingly taken notice of Bieber’s sustained output. MLB.com just bumped him onto its top-100 list, crediting him with four useful pitches that he (obviously) commands with aplomb. Clearly, there’s some question whether Bieber’s pure stuff is all that compelling, but it seems his off-the-charts ability to spot the ball will likely make him a useful major-league hurler.

The Indians obviously believe that Bieber is ready now to begin contributing at the game’s highest level. Though he’s only scheduled to get the ball once before being demoted, the move will put Bieber on the 40-man roster. He could well be the top available arm if a future need arises, whether that’s in the rotation or a bullpen unit that has struggled mightily thus far.

Rays To Promote Willy Adames

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The Rays are slated to promote infield prospect Willy Adames, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com (Twitter link). He’ll make his MLB debut at 22 years of age.

Adames has long been billed as a high-end prospect, though he was relatively unknown when he was shipped to Tampa Bay as a key piece in the 2014 David Price swap. At the time, he was an intriguing 18-year-old. Since, his profile has risen steadily.

Entering each of the past two campaigns, Adames was generally ranked by prospect hounds among the twenty-five or so best pre-MLB players leaguewide. In response, he has delivered an impressive forty-game stretch at the highest level of the minors. Thus far in 2018, Adames has compiled a .311/.387/.466 slash line with four home runs in 173 plate appearances for Durham.

Of course, Adames had already shown that he could produce at Triple-A. And that output falls in line with what Adames has done in prior seasons. He has long been a consistently quality producer at the plate, with good average, a solid walk rate, and manageable strikeout numbers. While he has yet to break out in the power department, evaluators generally expect there could be some added pop in the tank.

There’s good reason, then, to think that Adames is ready to contribute right out of the gates. He’s considered a polished defender at shortstop with quality makeup, so the expectation will surely be that he’ll be able to step into the everyday lineup if that’s what’s asked.

The Rays’ plans, though, aren’t yet clear. With Adeiny Hechavarria on the 10-day DL, Adames could receive regular time at shortstop, with the team reassessing its options once Hechavarria returns. On the other hand, the youngster may also just be up for a brief visit; after all, his active roster spot is coming from the placement of Joey Wendle on the paternity list, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets and the team has since confirmed.

Nationals Promote Juan Soto

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SUNDAY: Soto’s promotion is now official. To make room for him on its roster, Washington designated Sierra for assignment and optioned righty Jefry Rodriguez to Double-A. Sierra, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Nationals during the offseason. He went on to amass 60 PAs with the Nats and bat .167/.217/.204 prior to his designation.

SATURDAY: The Nationals will promote outfield prospect Juan Soto, Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com tweets. Soto will join the Nats on Sunday, Kerr adds. Given that Washington’s 40-man roster is at capacity, it’ll need to make a corresponding move to create a spot for Soto.

The 19-year-old Soto is one of the game’s most exciting prospects and will immediately become the majors’ youngest player, though his promotion comes under unfortunate circumstances for the Nationals. The club has been dealing with a spate of injuries in the outfield, where Adam Eaton, Brian Goodwin and high-end prospect Victor Robles have missed most of this season, and Howie Kendrick will sit out the rest of it after suffering a ruptured Achilles on Saturday. Moreover, the Nats lost minor leaguer/40-man option Rafael Bautista to a season-ending knee injury earlier this week.

Now, thanks in part to the hits the Nats’ depth has taken, Soto is set to join a Bryce Harper-fronted outfield alignment whose other 25-man choices at the moment include Michael A. Taylor, Matt Adams, Moises Sierra and Andrew Stevenson. It has been a meteoric rise for the Dominican-born Soto, who signed with the Nationals as a 16-year-old in 2015. Soto was among the most highly regarded players available in that year’s international class, and the $1.5MM he received represented the biggest bonus the Nats had given to a Latin American teenager at the time.

Since immigrating to the United States, the lefty-swinging Soto has paid back the Nats by running roughshod over minor league pitching. Dating back to his minors debut in 2016, he owns a tremendous .361/.433/.608 batting line across 508 plate appearances. Soto has racked up 178 of those trips this year among the Single-A, High-A and Double-A levels, though only 31 came with the latter affiliate prior to his promotion. He was hardly overmatched during that small sample of work, however, evidenced by his .296/.387/.556 slash.

Judging by his history, Soto will emerge as an offensive centerpiece in Washington either this season or down the line. He’s also a capable corner outfielder, notes MLB.com, which ranks him as the game’s 15th-best prospect. While Soto has spent the majority of his pro career in right field, Harper figures to man that spot in D.C. at least through this season. As such, Soto seems likely to line up in left for the Nats, who have gotten off to a respectable start (24-20) but could use a boost if they’re going to overcome the Braves and Phillies en route to a third straight NL East crown.

Pirates Promote Austin Meadows, Place Starling Marte On DL

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May 18: The Pirates have announced Meadows’ promotion and Marte’s placement on the DL.

May 17: The Pirates announced tonight that they’re planning to promote top outfield prospect Austin Meadows tomorrow. Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic first reported that the Bucs were planning to call up the long time top prospect. Biertempfel adds that he’ll be stepping into the roster spot of Starling Marte, who’ll land on the disabled list with a right oblique strain.

Austin Meadows | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Meadows, 23, has long rated as one of the game’s most promising outfield prospects. The ninth overall pick in 2013, Meadows entered the season ranked among the game’s top 50 prospects, per Baseball America (44), MLB.com (45), Fangraphs (47), Baseball Prospectus (34). After a down season at the Triple-A level in 2017, Meadows is hitting .281/.326/.380 with a homer and eight steals (in nine attempts). He’s struck out in just 20 of his 131 plate appearances but also drawn just seven walks.

The promotion will give the Pirates their first regular-season look at Meadows against Major League pitching. Hamstring injuries throughout his minor league tenure likely delayed Meadows’ timeline, and while he still has yet to truly overpower Triple-A pitching as he did at the Double-A level, there’s plenty of reason for optimism regarding his bat. Scouting reports on Meadows credit him for having an above-average to plus hit tool with average power and plus speed. Those wheels serve him well defensively, also, as he’s capable of playing center field, though more recent scouting reports on him forecast a potential move to left field when all is said and done.

It’s possible that this is merely a short-term promotion for Meadows, but oblique injuries tend to keep players on the disabled list for around a month, so he may also get a reasonably prolonged look in the outfield with Marte on the shelf. With Andrew McCutchen now in San Francisco and Corey Dickerson only controlled through 2019, Meadows will be fighting to show the Pirates that he deserves the long-term spot in the outfield that the organization has long hoped he’d eventually claim. For the time being, it seems likely that Meadows will man center field, with Dickerson and Gregory Polanco flanking him in the outfield corners.

As for Marte, his loss shouldn’t be undersold. Though the 29-year-old disappointed fans and the organization alike in 2017 when he was slapped with an 80-game suspension following a failed PED test, he’s bounced back extraordinarily well in 2018, hitting at a career-best .308/.366/.503 pace with six homers, five doubles and an NL-best four triples — all while racking up 10 steals in 13 tries and walking at a career-high 8.6 percent clip. That’s quite a lot of production to subtract from the lineup and leaves Meadows with some sizable shoes to fill, though if he can simply hold his own at the plate in his first exposure to MLB pitching and play capable defense in center field, the Pirates will surely be pleased with that outcome.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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