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Astros Promote Alex Bregman

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The Astros have announced the promotion of highly touted infield/outfield prospect Alex Bregman and the designation for assignment of infielder Danny Worth. Bregman will join the surging Astros on Monday for the start of their home series against the Yankees.

[RELATED: Updated Astros Depth Chart]

Bregman, whom Keith Law of ESPN (Insider required and recommended) ranks as the best prospect in baseball, has torn through minor league pitching since the Astros selected him second overall in last year’s draft. The 22-year-old ex-LSU standout has been especially impressive this season, having posted a .297/.415/.559 batting line with 14 home runs in 285 plate appearances in Double-A. The Astros’ decision to promote Bregman to Triple-A in late June didn’t slow down the right-handed hitter, who slashed an astounding .356/.397/.685 with six homers in 78 trips to the plate with Fresno. Between the two levels this season, Bregman has recorded more unintentional walks (47) than strikeouts (37), further demonstrating his offensive prowess. Law likens Bregman’s upside at the dish to that of Red Sox star second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Baseball America rates Bregman as the game’s eighth-best prospect, meanwhile, and praised his “simple, level swing,” bat speed and patience after last season (subscription required and recommended). Moreover, BA lauded his base-running and defensive skills, though there are questions as to where he’ll line up with the Astros. Over the long haul, BA, Law and MLB.com (which has Bregman as the No. 18 overall prospect in the game) see him faring well at short. That would require Houston to move Carlos Correa elsewhere, however (likely third base); notably, MVP candidate Jose Altuve mans second base.

In the near term, the Astros could send Bregman to left field, where they’ve had him spend time in the minors, or third. However, big-money free agent signing Yulieski Gurriel’s forthcoming debut will only complicate things further. That isn’t a negative for the red-hot Astros, though, who have climbed to a season-best 10 games over .500 since a dismal start and are within 2 1/2 games of AL West-leading Texas and a half-game of the second Wild Card spot.

Wherever the Astros play Bregman, it’s fair to assume he’s in the majors for good. With that being the case, he’ll come up short of Super Two status in the likely event he remains with the Astros through the end of the season. Bregman can accrue up to 70 days of service time in the majors this year, meaning he won’t be eligible for arbitration until after 2019 and will stay under club control through the 2022 campaign.

Worth, 30, joined the Astros on a minor league deal over the winter and went on to collect 40 plate appearances with them this year, hitting a meager .179/.200/.231. The longtime member of the Tigers organization owns a .224/.282/.288 line in 332 career PAs.

Diamondbacks To Promote Braden Shipley

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The Diamondbacks are calling up well-regarded pitching prospect Braden Shipley from Triple-A Reno to start Monday against Milwaukee, according to ESPN.com.

Shipley, 24, has been a member of the Arizona organization since it selected him 15th overall in the 2013 amateur draft. Baseball America ranked the right-hander as the 26th-best prospect in baseball after the 2014 campaign, but he fell to 77th following last season. BA noted then (subscription required and recommended) that Shipley struggled with mechanics and consistency issues with his breaking ball in the first half of 2015 with Double-A Mobile. But Shipley still produced quality results last season, especially in the second half, and BA lauded his ability to maintain his arm speed and hit 93 to 96 mph on the radar gun with his fastball. Shipley also possesses a plus, hard-to-identify curveball that sits around 84 mph and a solid changeup that ranges from 83 to 85 mph. Additionally, his athleticism and background as a shortstop – where he played early on at the University of Nevada before turning his focus to pitching – make him a formidable fielder. With all of that considered, at the end of last season, BA regarded Shipley as a potential No. 3 starter in the majors. Given that he has since risen in the outlet’s rankings, the same likely holds true now. MLB.com is also bullish on Shipley, placing him 58th in its prospect rankings and offering a scouting report similar to BA’s.

In the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this season, Shipley has recorded a 3.70 ERA, 5.81 K/9 and 1.66 BB/9 over 119 1/3 innings. He’ll hope to match or better those numbers with last-place Arizona, whose rotation has been among the majors’ worst this year. Two of their starters, ace Zack Greinke and Rubby De La Rosa, have been on the disabled list for extended periods of time. Meanwhile, high-profile offseason pickup Shelby Miller is in Reno after performing horribly during the first few months of the season and might not last much longer with the organization.

If Shipley takes advantage of his opportunity and stays in the majors for the rest of the year, he’ll fall short of Super Two status. The maximum 2016 service time Shipley can accrue at this point is 70 days. He’ll be eligible for arbitration after the 2019 campaign and under team control through 2022 if he remains in Arizona for the remainder of the season.

Nationals To Promote Reynaldo Lopez

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The Nationals are promoting right-handed pitching prospect Reynaldo Lopez to the majors, reports Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (on Twitter). The 22-year-old could take the mound Tuesday for the Nats, who haven’t announced a starter for that evening’s matchup against the Dodgers.

Lopez, a native of the Dominican Republic, has experienced a meteoric rise since signing with the Nationals for a paltry $17K in 2012. Thanks to his work this year, Lopez climbed to a personal-best 48th in Baseball America’s newly updated Top 100 Prospects list. BA ranked him 92nd after last season, a steep drop from his place (49th) following the 2014 campaign, but Lopez has since tossed 87 1/3 effective innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. The bulk of Lopez’s 2016 experience (76 1/3 frames) has come as a member of Double-A Harrisburg, with which he has posted a 3.18 ERA, 11.79 K/9 and 2.95 BB/9.

Lopez complements a mid-90s fastball that can touch triple digits with a powerful, whiff-inducing curveball and a still-developing changeup, per BA (subscription required), which notes that he has dealt with inconsistencies in his delivery and must throw more quality strikes. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, meanwhile, don’t consider Lopez one of the sport’s 100 best prospects. The two rank Lopez fifth in the Nationals’ system and laud his three-pitch repertoire, though they also cite concerns with his delivery and strike-throwing abilities. However, while some scouts view Lopez as a long-term major league reliever, Callis and Mayo believe he’s on track to serve as a starter.

In the near term, it seems the flame-throwing Lopez’s best chance to stick in Washington will be out of the bullpen, as MLBTR’s Jason Martinez alluded to Monday in the latest version of his weekly “Knocking Down The Door” feature. The Nats have been on the hunt for relief help, for one, and they have a more-than-capable group of starters with Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark, Gio Gonzalez and the soon-to-return Joe Ross, who has been on the disabled list since July 3 with shoulder inflammation.

In terms of team control, Lopez will fall short of Super Two status if he remains in the majors for the rest of the season. The most service time he could accumulate in 2016 would be 77 days. Lopez will be eligible for arbitration after the 2019 season and under control through 2022 if he does not return to the minor leagues this year.

White Sox To Promote Carson Fulmer

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The White Sox are promoting right-hander Carson Fulmer to the Majors today to work out of their bullpen, according to Dave Williams of Barstool Sports (links to Twitter). MLBPipeline.com’s Jesse Burkhart first tweeted that Fulmer was likely heading to the Majors. Fulmer will inherit the 40-man roster spot that was vacated by yesterday’s outright of right-hander Scott Carroll.

The Sox selected Fulmer, 22, out of Vanderbilt with the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft. He dominated in 23 innings between Chicago’s Rookie League affiliate and Class-A Advanced affiliate in 2015 following the draft, but the 2016 season hasn’t gone quite as smoothly. Fulmer currently has a 4.76 ERA with 90 strikeouts against 51 walks in 87 innings for Chicago’s Double-A affiliate, though he’s pitched considerably better as of late. Over his past seven starts, Fulmer has a 3.51 ERA with a 54-to-17 K/BB ratio in 41 innings, and he’s yielded just two runs in his past 19 innings.

Fulmer entered the season as a consensus Top 100 prospect, and he’s currently 33rd on MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects list and 73rd on Baseball America’s midseason update of its Top 100 prospects. Some pundits at the time of the draft wrote that Fulmer projected as a future reliever, and that’s still a consideration for a number of scouts, though the Sox will presumably give Fulmer a chance to stick in the rotation down the road. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reference Fulmer’s 93-97 mph fastball in their scouting report (which could play up in a short-relief role) and call his curveball a plus offering as well while noting that his changeup gives him potential for a third plus pitch. Fulmer, however, is slight in frame, as he’s listed at 6’0″ and 195 pounds. ESPN’s Keith Law has written on a number of occasions that Fulmer profiles best at the back of a bullpen due to that lack of size, a high-effort delivery and a lack of command.

Via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune, manager Robin Ventura suggested the possibility of utilizing Fulmer in a relief role last week. “You’re trying to see if a kid can do it, and we did it with Carlos (Rodon) a little bit and Chris (Sale) has done it,” Ventura told the Tribune. “You bring ’em up here and you bring ’em through out of the bullpen and see if you can lighten their load a little bit and then see how they handle it.”

Fulmer’s long-term role with the Sox remains undetermined, but if he’s in the Majors to stay he’ll fall well shy of Super Two status, as the most service time he could accrue in 2016 would be 79 days. He’ll be arbitration eligible following the 2019 season and controllable through the 2022 season if he does not return to the minor leagues from this point forth, though obviously a demotion could further delay his path to arbitration and free agency.

Pirates To Promote Josh Bell

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The Pirates will promote top first base prospect Josh Bell to the Majors to make his big league debut tonight, according to multiple reports (Logan Stout first tweeted word of Bell’s promotion).

[Related: Updated Pirates Depth Chart]

Josh Bell

In Bell, the Pirates are promoting a player that ranks 38th on Baseball America’s just-updated Top 100 prospects list (published today). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com currently have Bell rated as the game’s No. 43 prospect. A 23-year-old switch-hitter that was selected 61st overall in the 2011 draft, Bell has had a monster season at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .324/.407/.535 with 13 homers, 19 doubles and four triples in 359 plate appearances. BA notes that Bell’s defense at first base is somewhat questionable — he just transitioned to the position in 2015 after previously playing right field — but both BA and MLB.com write that he could be a difference-maker at the plate and has middle-of-the-order potential. The 2016 season marks the first in which Bell has truly tapped into the power potential that led the Bucs to give him an over-slot bonus of $5MM back in 2011 when he slipped out of the first round due to signability concerns.

Bell’s promotion could mean that incumbent first baseman John Jaso will move into a bench role. Jaso, inked to a two-year, $8MM contract as a free agent this offseason, has provided his typical brand of steady production against right-handed pitching, but he’s limited to a strict platoon and is more good than great against righties (.285/.362/.413 this season). As Bell’s excellent Triple-A production (which recently landed him on Jason Martinez’s “Knocking Down the Door” series) indicates, he carries significantly higher upside at the plate. And, with an OPS north of .900 against both lefties and righties in Triple-A this season, Bell could be a long-term option that doesn’t require a platoon partner.

Bell becomes the latest top prospect to join the Pirates’ ranks, as they’ve promoted Top 100 mainstays Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow this year and also called up highly regarded organizational prospects such as Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault to make their big league debuts. Even if he’s in the Majors to stay, Bell will accrue just 86 days of big league service time in 2016, which would leave him well shy of eventually achieving Super Two designation. If this promotion to the big leagues proves to be permanent, the Bucs will control Bell through the 2022 season and he won’t be arbitration eligible until the completion of the 2019 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates To Promote Tyler Glasnow

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9:25am: Glasnow will actually debut tomorrow against the Cardinals, Olney now tweets. Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets that Glasnow’s promotion was in part driven by uncertainty surrounding Niese’s left knee. Niese’s start has been pushed from Thursday to Sunday, and he’s being examined in Pittsburgh today.

8:39am: The Pirates will promote top prospect Tyler Glasnow to make a start this weekend against the Cubs, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter).

Tyler Glasnow

The 22-year-old Glasnow entered the season rated as a consensus top 15 prospect throughout the game and has worked to a 1.78 ERA through 96 innings at the Triple-A level this season. While he’s averaged 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in that time, he’s also averaged 4.9 walks per nine, so there are certainly some control issues that need to be further smoothed out. That high walk rate notwithstanding, Glasnow has yielded just 13 hits over his past 40 frames.

Entering the season, Baseball America rated Glasnow as the No. 14 prospect in baseball, writing that he featured a fastball that sits 94-96 mph but tops out at 99 mph and appears even faster than that to hitters due to his 6’8″ frame. Glasnow also offers a curve and a changeup, the former of which BA termed “unhittable when he has command of it.” MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis rated Glasnow as the No. 10 prospect and praised his clean delivery but noted that he struggles to consistently repeat it due to his size. ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him fourth on his midseason update of the game’s Top 25 prospects, calling him a future ace. Virtually any scouting report one can find on Glasnow agrees that his ceiling is that of a top-of-the-rotation starter, and the Pirates undoubtedly have visions of Glasnow and fellow top prospect Jameson Taillon joining current ace Gerrit Cole atop their rotation for the next several years in their perfect-world scenario.

Pittsburgh currently has Cole, Taillon and Ryan Vogelsong on the Major League disabled list, so the need for some rotation help is understandable. Those injuries, combined with struggles from veterans such as Francisco Liriano and Jon Niese, have led to season-long rotation problems. As such, the Bucs have had to dip into their farm system on multiple occasions to help patch things up; Pittsburgh received four good innings from left-hander Steven Brault in his big league debut yesterday and, and rookie right-hander Chad Kuhl has also made a pair of starts in the past week. The overall results for the starting staff haven’t been pretty, as Pirates starters rank 20th in the Majors with a 4.67 ERA and 21st with 464 innings thrown. Glasnow will become the 11th player to make a start for the team in 2016.

Innings don’t figure to be as significant of an issue with Glasnow as they are with Taillon, who didn’t pitch in 2014-15 due to injuries. However, Glasnow did total a fairly limited 109 1/3 innings last season between Double-A and Triple-A (an ankle injury cost him about a month of the season), and his career-high for innings pitched came back in 2014, when he totaled 143 2/3 frames between Class-A Advanced and the Arizona Fall League. As such, the Bucs will probably keep an eye on his workload moving forward.

Exactly how he factors into the rotation plans moving forward is yet unclear — this could be a spot start, or Glasnow could make regular starts with innings/pitch limits moving forward — but given the team’s injuries and the presence of Brault and Kuhl in the current rotation picture, it certainly seems possible that there’s a permanent spot to be won. If Glasnow is indeed in the Majors to stay, he’d be controllable through the 2022 season and would not be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 season. He won’t sniff Super Two eligibility as it stands right now, as he’d finish the year with 87 days of Major League service time if he’s promoted on Friday and sticks through season’s end.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nationals To Promote Lucas Giolito

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The Nationals will promote right-hander Lucas Giolito to make tomorrow’s start against the division-rival Mets, manager Dusty Baker told reporters, including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link). The promotion of the 21-year-old Giolito, who entered the season rated as the game’s No. 5 overall prospect according to Baseball America and currently rates as the No. 1 prospect in baseball according to updated prospect lists from MLB.com and ESPN, means that injured ace Stephen Strasburg will be replaced, for the time being, by arguably the most interesting arm in all of minor league baseball.

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MASNsports.com’s Pete Kerzel wrote about the possibility of a Giolito promotion earlier today, noting that it was likely to be either him or Triple-A righty Austin Voth replacing Strasburg for now. Giolito, who had Tommy John surgery the year he was drafted, is on an innings limit after throwing just 117 innings last year as his workload is slowly ramped up. Per Kerzel in his morning piece on Giolito and Voth, the Nats typically try to keep year-to-year innings increases to 20, so Giolito may not be allowed to go more than 140 or so innings this season. He’s already pitched 71 frames this year, working to a 3.17 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9. And, as the Nats have demonstrated in the past with Strasburg, they’re not afraid to adhere to strict innings limits even in amid the spotlight of a postseason race.

As for how Giolito currently fits into the Nationals’ plans, the organization itself remains a bit unclear on that front. MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman tweets that Baker told the media it’s “impossible” to know how long Giolito will remain in the rotation, and the decision will be handled on a start-by-start basis. Certainly, one would imagine that the health of Strasburg plays into the decision. That piece of information remains an unknown, though, as Baker informed reporters that Strasburg underwent an MRI today, and the team is awaiting the results of the examination. Even if it proves to be a short-term absence for Strasburg, it’s plausible that a strong performance from Giolito could unseat the struggling Gio Gonzalez in the starting five.

Washington selected Giolito with the 16th overall pick in the 2012 draft. He’d previously been considered one of the favorites to go with the No. 1 overall pick that year, but an elbow injury caused his stock to drop. The injury concerns proved valid when Giolito underwent Tommy John surgery, but he’s made a strong recovery and blossomed into the top-shelf prospect that most scouts expected him to become even after that injury.

Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com write in their free scouting report on the 6’6″. 255-pound Giolito that he has the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the minors thanks to an elite fastball, a power 12-to-6 curveball and a changeup that has steadily improved over his minor league career. ESPN’s Keith Law noted that some delivery tweaks in Spring Training actually set Giolito back a ways, but he appears to be back on track at this juncture. BA rated him only behind Corey Seager, Byron Buxton, Yoan Moncada and Julio Urias entering the season, noting that he had some room to improve the command of his secondary pitches as well as other facets of his game like holding runners and fielding his position. Across the board, Giolito is regarded as an elite talent and a player with ace upside if everything clicks at the big league level.

The timing of Giolito’s promotion means that even if he’s in the Majors to stay, he’ll avoid Super Two designation. The most service time he could accrue through season’s end would be 97 days, which would leave him well shy of a fourth trip through the arbitration process. If he is indeed a big leaguer from this point forth, Giolito won’t be eligible for free agency until following the 2022 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Astros To Promote A.J. Reed

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The Astros are set to promote highly-regarded first base prospect A.J. Reed, according to 1250 Sports Talk Radio. Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle confirmed the move via Twitter.

Reed, 23, is one of the game’s best-regarded first base prospects. A second round pick out of the University of Kentucky, he has steadily increased his stock with consistently excellent results as he’s climbed the ranks. He has reached base at a steady clip by combining a solid walk rate with a high-average bat that also delivers plenty of pop.

Things started slowly this year for Reed, who reached the Triple-A level for the first time. But he has turned it up of late and now owns a .261/.343/.495 batting line with ten long balls over 248 plate appearances. Reed doesn’t add value on the basepaths or with the glove, but MLB.com’s prospect team notes that his athleticism and big arm should help make him a sturdy option at first.

Entering the year, MLB.com rated Reed the 35th-best prospect in the game, while ESPN.com’s Keith Law placed him 44th. Baseball America, though, was even more optimistic, ranking him just outside the top ten. BA graded his hit tool at 60 and his power at 65, both well above average on the 20-80 scouting chart.

As Jason Martinez of MLBTR and MLBDepthCharts.com recently wrote in his “Knocking Down The Door” series, Reed could provide a boost to a streaking Astros club that has been trotting out utility infielder Marwin Gonzalez at first base. As useful as Gonzalez is, he doesn’t carry the kind of offensive upside that resides in Reed’s bat.

Cubs To Promote Willson Contreras

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The Cubs will promote top catching prospect Willson Contreras before tomorrow’s game, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The team’s plan is to carry three catchers for the time being, he adds, though the team was already doing so with Miguel Montero, David Ross and Tim Federowicz on board.

[Related: Since the news of Contreras’ promotion, it has been reported that Federowicz will be designated for assignment. The new roster alignment is reflected at Roster Resource’s updated Cubs depth chart.]

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The 24-year-old Contreras entered the season rated as one of the game’s top prospects in the eyes of ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 27), Baseball America (No. 67), MLB.com (No. 50) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 57). He’s shown full well why those outlets were so high on his skills this season with an incredible showing at Triple-A Iowa, where he’s batted .350/.439/.591 with nine homers and 16 doubles in 239 plate appearances this season.

Law called Contreras a “legitimate two-way threat behind the plate” in his scouting report, praising his 70-grade arm (on the 20-80 scale) and noting that Contreras had an unexpected but meteoric rise through the team’s farm rankings. Contreras, a converted third baseman, has taken to catching well and while he may be an offensive-minded backstop, per MLB.com’s scouting report, he does figure to stick behind the plate. His experience playing infield could make him a multi-position reserve while Montero is still in the fold, BA noted in their report, adding that his bat may yield more gap power than home run power.

From a defensive standpoint, Contreras has halted 31 percent of attempted stolen bases against him this season. Baseball Prospectus graded his pitch-framing efforts as below average in both 2015 and 2016, although considering the fact that catching is still relatively new to Contreras, it’s perhaps not surprising that there’s still some room for refinement in the intricacies of working behind the dish. Certainly, sharing a dugout with Montero and Ross — two of the game’s better framing catchers — could prove beneficial to Contreras in the long run.

Because of the timing of his promotion, the most Major League service time that Contreras could accrue in 2016 would be 108 days. Even if he’s in the Majors to stay, that will leave him well shy of Super Two designation, so he should only qualify for arbitration the standard three times. As it stands, the earliest that Contreras could become eligible for free agency would be upon completion of the 2022 season.

The exact manner in which skipper Joe Maddon will work Contreras into the lineup remains to be seen. Montero has gotten base at a reasonable clip this season but his overall .210/.333/.343 batting line hasn’t lived up to expectations. Ross, on the other hand, has exceeded expectations, batting a healthy .237/.339/.409 after turning in a combined .599 OPS from 2013-15 with the Red Sox and Cubs. However, at 39 years of age, the Cubs probably weren’t planning on giving Ross a near-equal share of the playing time behind the plate, but Ross has actually logged more games than Montero this season and tallied just 11 fewer plate appearances and six fewer innings behind the dish. Adding Contreras to the mix will allow Chicago to lessen the load for the aging Ross and perhaps deliver an offensive upgrade over Montero on days in which Contreras dons the tools of ignorance.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

White Sox Promote Tim Anderson, Release Jimmy Rollins

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JUNE 15: Chicago has placed Rollins on release waivers, Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune reports on Twitter.

JUNE 10: The White Sox announced today that they have promoted top shortstop prospect Tim Anderson to the Majors and designated struggling veteran Jimmy Rollins for assignment in order to clear space on the roster. Anderson entered the season rated as the game’s No. 42 prospect in the eyes of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, and he rated 45th on the Top 100 prospect lists penned by Baseball America and Keith Law of ESPN.com.

Tim Anderson

Anderson, a first-round pick of the White Sox in 2013 (No. 17 overall), is batting .304/.325/.409 with four homers and 11 steals through his first 55 games at the Triple-A level this season. He’ll presumably get a chance to replace Rollins as the team’s everyday shortstop, with defensive standout Tyler Saladino representing a fallback option in the event that Anderson is overmatched by Major League pitching.

The scouting reports on Anderson offer mixed reviews on his work at shortstop, with MLB.com noting that he has plenty of arm strength but lacks soft hands and has erratic footwork. His tools profile in center field if he can’t handle short, per MLB.com, though BA and Law are a bit more optimistic on his chances to stick at short. BA notes that he has a penchant for highlight-reel plays but sometimes doesn’t play the right hop and doesn’t consistently make good throws from the hole. Law notes that he made improvements in his actions at shortstop in 2015 as well. What all of the reports do agree on is that Anderson is a plus-plus runner with the contact skills to hit between .280 and .300 in the Majors even if it comes with a pedestrian on-base percentage. However, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago points out (on Twitter), Anderson has cut his strikeout rate dramatically as his first Triple-A season has worn on; the 23-year-old whiffed 29 times in his first 103 PAs with Charlotte (28.1 percent), but it took him another 158 PAs to punch out another 29 times (18.8 percent).

By delaying his promotion until June 10, the White Sox have almost certainly prevented Anderson from reaching Super Two designation, which would allow him to be arbitration eligible four times instead of three. The largest amount of service time he could accrue at this stage of the season would be 114 days, and the lowest Super Two cutoff in recent years has been two years, 122 days (in both 2013 and 2010). If he’s in the Majors for good, Anderson would project to be eligible for free agency following the 2022 season and would not be eligible for arbitration until the completion of the 2019 campaign.

Jimmy Rollins

Rollins, 37, is of course a Phillies icon due to his storied and excellent career with Philadelphia, where he batted .267/.327/.424 across parts of 15 Major League seasons. With the Phils, Rollins was a three-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glover and the 2007 National League MVP in a season that saw him bat .296/.344/.531 with 30 homers and 41 stolen bases. (He won a Silver Slugger that season as well.) However, since being traded to the Dodgers prior to the 2015 campaign (Philadelphia picked up right-hander Zach Eflin and lefty Tom Windle in the swap), Rollins’ offensive numbers have flatlined. He batted a mere .224/.285/.358 in his lone season wearing Dodger Blue, and his production with the South Siders hasn’t been any better. He’s produced a sub-par .221/.295/.329 slash in 166 trips to the plate this season.

Dave Williams of Barstool Sports first reported the Anderson promotion (via Twitter).

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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