AL Notes: Kwan, Bieber, Varsho, Pearson
After a sensational rookie season, Steven Kwan says he’s open to discussing a long-term contract extension with the Guardians, according to Zack Meisel of The Athletic.
Kwan finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting last year, after posting a .298/.373/.400 line with six home runs across 638 plate appearances. A lot of his value was in the defensive side of things, as Kwan amassed 21 Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average for his work in left field, contributing to a 4.4 fWAR rookie year. It was quite the rookie year for a player who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 draft and never featured on any top-100 prospect lists.
In any case, Kwan is now a nailed on starter for the Guardians and he says “it’s mind-blowing” to even be discussing a long-term extension. Kwan picked up a full year of service time for the Guardians last year, which means he has two more seasons of pre-arb control and then three years of arbitration before he likely hits free agency after the 2027 season. While it seems highly unlikely anytime soon, Kwan could technically be optioned to the minors still, in which case his scheduled free agency could be pushed back.
As for what a contract extension might look like, Ronald Acuna Jr.is the most obvious comp that immediately comes to mind after he signed an eight-year, $100MM contract with Atlanta after posting 4.1 fWAR in almost a full year of service time. Acuna was the consensus top prospect in all of baseball going into his rookie year, so there was a fair bit more hype and certainty around his future. On the flip side, that deal was widely considered to be extremely team-friendly at the time, given Acuna’s upside as an elite five-tool player. Regardless, it’s an interesting starting point to begin considering what a potential extension for Kwan may look like.
Here’s some more notes from around the American League:
- Sticking with Cleveland, and one player who seems unlikely to be taking an extension is starting pitcher Shane Bieber. Cleveland’s ace told reporters he’d “love to entertain that, but right now, I’m going to focus on what I can control and that’s my work on the field.” Bieber has two remaining years of club control and is coming off a season in which he tossed 200 1/3 innings of 2.88 ERA ball, finishing seventh in AL Cy Young voting. What that means is that any extension for Bieber is going to be significant, and likely well above the biggest contract Cleveland’s ever given out, Jose Ramirez‘ five-year, $124MM extension.
- Shifting north of the border to Toronto, and headline trade acquisition Daulton Varsho is set to be a big part of the Blue Jays’ plans this season, but it seems he’ll be playing almost exclusively in left field. According to The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath, there are currently no plans for Varsho to catch any spring training games for the Blue Jays. Of course, Varsho could sporadically catch in the case of any emergency, but it’s unlikely he’d approach anything near the 55 games he caught for Arizona over the past two seasons. That’s not a huge surprise, given Toronto traded away Gabriel Moreno to get Varsho and have Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen slated to handle the catching duties this season. Varsho hit .235/.302/.443 with 27 home runs while earning 17 Outs Above Average for his outfield work in Arizona last year.
- McGrath’s report also confirms that former top prospect Nate Pearson is being built up as a reliever this spring. While he won’t be starting, it does seem like he’ll be in more of a bulk role, rather than a one inning relief role, per McGrath. Pearson, once a top-ten prospect in all of baseball, has been restricted to just 33 largely unsuccessful big league innings since his debut in 2020, and didn’t pitch at all in 2022 as a lat strain restricted him to just 15 2/3 minor league innings. McGrath reports that Pearson was sitting at 96-97 mph, with a fastball that topped out at 100 mph.
AL Notes: Chapman, Andrus, Orioles
Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman is entering his second and potentially final season in Toronto, as he looks set to hit free agency at season’s end. The 29-year-old addressed his long term future with the organization with Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star, saying he’s open to an extension but realistic about his future.
“I know the Blue Jays enjoy having me here and want to continue having me here,” Chapman said. “I know I want to continue to be here and be a part of this team. I’m sure conversations will be had along the way but, when I signed that two-year deal, I was anticipating they would have to pay Bo and Vladdy and all these young guys.”
With Manny Machado seemingly headed for the open market next winter, Chapman figures to be the second best third baseman available. Offensively he’s hit 27 home runs in each of the past two seasons, and has hit at least 24 in the last four 162-game seasons, while his glove has been worth 18 Outs Above Average over the past two seasons and 40 over his career. Another quality season should set Chapman up to do very well in free agency, whether that be for the Blue Jays or elsewhere.
Here’s some more bit and pieces from around the American League as full squad workouts begin:
- The White Sox made their signing of infielder Elvis Andrus official today, confirming the one-year, $3MM deal. General manager Rick Hahn addressed the signing with reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com) in Arizona, confirming the expectation is that Andrus will be Chicago’s everyday second baseman. Leury Garcia, Romy Gonzalez, Yolbert Sanchez, Lenyn Sosa and non-roster invite Hanser Alberto were all the previous candidates to man second, but Andrus will bump some combination of those players into bench/utility roles. With Tim Anderson entrenched at shortstop, this will be the first time Andrus has logged time at another defensive position, as all of his career 16,606 innings in the field have come at short. There seems little doubt about Andrus’ ability to handle second of course, given his track record of quality glove work at the more demanding shortstop position.
- Speaking of free agency, Roch Kubatko of MASN reports that the Orioles are still involved in the free agency market, and have their eyes on a few major league players. Jurickson Profar stands out as comfortably the highest-profile player remaining in a very thin free agent field. Profar does make some sense as an upgrade over Austin Hays in left field, although it’s also not an obvious fit. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic did report back in January that the Orioles were involved in Profar, although they didn’t appear particularly confident of getting a deal done. Outside of Profar, there’s no available free agent who’d drastically alter Baltimore’s payroll for the upcoming season, but it is worth noting here CEO John Angelos’ comments about the team’s payroll moving forward.
Injury Notes: Marquez, Kopech, White
German Marquez suffered a left hamstring injury during conditioning drills, though Rockies manager Bud Black told The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that Marquez was able to do some light running on Friday and play catch. The injury seems minor enough that Marquez expressed hope that he could still pitch for his native Venezuela during the second round of the World Baseball Classic, though Marquez will be sidelined for the first round of WBC play.
The right-hander is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2022 campaign that saw him post a 4.95 ERA over 181 2/3 innings and some of the worst hard-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball. Any kind of delay in his spring work won’t help in Marquez’s rebound efforts, and a pitching-thin team like Colorado certainly can’t afford seeing its ace miss any time. However, the injury may have taken place early enough that Marquez’s Opening Day status may not be in question — as Black put it, “we’re fortunate in a lot of ways, and German realizes this, that it’s the middle of February and not the middle of March.”
More on other injury situations around the sport…
- Both Michael Kopech and White Sox manager Pedro Grifol think the right-hander is going to be ready for Opening Day, as they updated reporters (including the Associated Press) about Kopech’s status following an injury-marred end to his season. Kopech spent time on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation and a left knee strain, and his season came to an early end when he underwent surgery to fix a tear in his right meniscus. After an offseason of rehab work, Kopech is now “at a point where the knee’s feeling better, the shoulder’s feeling better. But it’s just kind of smoothing things out and getting back to 100 percent.” With Kopech tossing only 119 1/3 innings in 2022, his first full season as a starting pitcher ended up being somewhat limited, though he overcame some very shaky metrics to post a 3.54 ERA.
- Mitch White told MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson that he had a slight shoulder impingement in January that somewhat delayed his usual offseason routine, but the Blue Jays righty is now feeling “great.” White is close to starting to throw side sessions, and that might provide a clearer picture of whether or not White is fully ready as camp opens. Entering his first full season with Toronto, White struggled to a 7.74 ERA over 43 innings with the Blue Jays after being traded from the Dodgers, but White still enters camp in competition for the Jays’ fifth starter role.
Victor Martinez Joins Blue Jays’ Front Office As Special Assistant
The Blue Jays are hiring five-time All-Star Victor Martinez as a special assistant in their front office, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com. The longtime big league catcher has connections to Toronto president/CEO Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins dating back to their time together in the Cleveland organization during the 2000’s.
Martinez, a native of Venezuela, debuted with the Indians late in the 2002 season. He started with a nondescript year and a half before a breakout in 2004 at age 25. Martinez hit .283/.359/.492 that year, earning his first All-Star nod and Silver Slugger award. Martinez would remain one of the sport’s top catchers throughout his time in Cleveland, which ended at the 2009 trade deadline when he was dealt to the Red Sox. He spent a year and a half in Boston before signing a four-year deal with the Tigers in free agency.
That deal worked out beautifully for Detroit. Even as Martinez saw decreasing action behind the dish, he continued to mash into his mid-30’s. He led the American League with a .409 on-base percentage in 2014. A .335/.409/.565 showing earned Martinez a runner-up finish behind Mike Trout in that year’s MVP balloting. Martinez would re-sign with Detroit on another four-year contract the following winter, though his production tailed off throughout that contract.
After the 2018 season, Martinez announced his retirement. He concluded a 16-season big league career with a .295/.360/.455 line, 246 home runs and 1178 runs batted in over just fewer than 2000 MLB games. He’ll bring that wealth of experience to the Toronto baseball operations group.
Eric Thames Announces Retirement
Veteran first baseman and outfielder Eric Thames took to Instagram yesterday to announce his retirement. “The day has finally come,” he says in the post. “In the year of our lord, twenty, twenty-three…HE GONE! I’ve been so blessed over these last 14 years to call baseball my job. The friendships that will last a lifetime, the memories that I’ll never shut up about (and those that I’m sworn to secrecy to take to my grave ).”
This announcement officially ends one of the more unique baseball careers, as Thames has spent the past few decades crisscrossing the globe. His professional baseball life began when the Blue Jays drafted him in 2008 out of Pepperdine University. He made his major league debut with the Jays in 2011 and performed well, hitting 12 home runs in 95 games. His batting line on the year was .262/.313/.456 for a wRC+ of 107, indicating he was 7% better than the league average hitter.
Things didn’t go as well the following year, as Thames hit .243/.288/.365 for the Jays and was optioned to the minors for a time. He was then traded to the Mariners in July for Steve Delabar, getting into 40 games with Seattle after that deal. In 2013, the Mariners kept Thames in the minors and eventually designated him for assignment. He was traded to the Orioles and then went to the Astros on a waiver claim, though neither team called him up to the big leagues.
Thames signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization for 2014, which transformed his career. After years of being on roster bubbles in North America, he emerged as a star in Korea. He hit 37 home runs for the Dinos that year and followed that up by hitting 47 and 40 in the next two seasons. His 2015 season stands out as being exceptionally impressive, as he also stole 40 bases and walked in 17.3% of his trips to the plate. His .381/.497/.790 batting line amounted to a 216 wRC+. He was crowned as the Most Valuable Player in the league that year.
After that strong three-year stretch with the Dinos, Thames returned to Major League Baseball, signing a three-year, $16MM deal with the Brewers. He was able to transfer a decent amount of his success from Korea to North America, as he hit 31 homers in 2017 while walking in 13.6% of his trips to the plate. His .247/.359/.518 batting line led to a 125 wRC+. Thumb surgery kept him out of action for a while in the following year, but he was still able to add another 16 home runs in 96 games, then hit another 25 in 2019. His three-year stretch in Milwaukee resulted in 72 long balls and a .241/.343/.504 batting line for a 118 wRC+. That last year saw the Brewers qualify for the Wild Card game against the Nationals. Thames went 2-4 in that game, including hitting a solo home run off Max Scherzer. But the Brewers ultimately lost 4-3 to the Nats, who would go on to win the World Series later that year, and that now goes down as the only MLB playoff game in which Thames played.
Despite that solid stretch, the Brewers surprisingly turned down a $7.5MM option on Thames for 2020 and went for the $1MM buyout instead. The Nationals scooped him up on a $4MM guarantee but he struggled in the pandemic-shortened season, hitting .203/.300/.317 with just three homers in 41 games. He signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for 2021 but suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon after just one game with the club. He tried another return to the majors in 2022 by signing a minor league deal with the A’s, but struck out in 38% of his plate appearances in Triple-A and got released after 22 games.
In the end, it makes for quite a journey, with Thames having played for baseball teams all over the world. His major league career resulted in 96 home runs, 18 stolen bases, 451 hits, 286 runs scored and 235 driven in. But he’ll perhaps be best remembered by some fans for that magical three-year run in the KBO wherein he hit 124 home runs, stole 64 bases, scored 343 runs and drove in 382.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Thames on a fascinating and distinctive career, and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
Read The Transcript Of Our Live Chat Hosted By Former MLB Pitcher Deck McGuire
Deck McGuire was drafted 11th overall in 2010 by the Blue Jays as a starting pitcher out of Georgia Tech, signing for $2MM. Baseball America ranked him 95th among all prospects shortly after that. At the time, BA felt that McGuire’s “good stuff and polish” and college resume would result in a quick path to Toronto’s rotation.
Things went off track for McGuire in 2012 at Double-A, however. Eventually, the Blue Jays traded McGuire to the A’s for cash considerations in July 2014. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in 2015, and another one with the Cardinals after that season. McGuire continued finding Triple-A jobs, signing with the Reds prior to the 2017 campaign.
After a strong 2017 season as a starter at the Double-A level, the Reds rewarded the tenacious McGuire with a September call-up. He made his MLB debut at the age of 28, entering a bases loaded situation against the Cardinals and inducing a double play off the bat of Harrison Bader. McGuire even got to finish that season with a start at Wrigley Field, tossing five scoreless with only two hits allowed and a strikeout of Kris Bryant.
Following the ’17 season, McGuire moved back to the Jays on a minor league deal. By May, he was working out of the bullpen for the team that had drafted him eight years prior. In June of that year, the Rangers claimed McGuire off waivers, trading him to the Angels shortly thereafter. He made it back to the bigs for a few spot starts, also working out of the Halos’ bullpen that year.
After being part of three MLB organizations in 2018, McGuire signed a deal with KBO’s Samsung Lions. He made 21 starts for that club, including the 14th no-hitter in KBO history. McGuire landed with the Rays on a minor league deal in February 2020. That minor league season was lost to the pandemic, and McGuire moved to the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League for ’21.
McGuire started the ’22 season in the Atlantic League, which he parlayed into another minor league deal with the Reds. McGuire wrapped up his pitching career last December, writing on Twitter, “For 12 years I got to live out my dream of being a professional baseball player.”
McGuire’s journeyman career was not what anyone expected when the Blue Jays drafted him 11th overall, but his perseverance got him to the Majors for 51 2/3 innings with the Reds, Blue Jays, and Angels. Even in that brief time he struck out Bryant, Jose Altuve, Rafael Devers, and Ryan Braun, among many others. McGuire pitched for seven different MLB organizations while also spending multiple seasons overseas.
Asked about his post-retirement plans, Deck wrote in an email, “As of right now my plans are to stay in the game somehow. I’m currently working with some guys and youth teams in my area of Colorado. I’m gonna head back to Georgia Tech in the fall to graduate and be around the program.” You can follow Deck on Twitter @deckmcguire.
Today, Deck chatted for over an hour with MLBTR readers, talking about the differences between KBO and MLB, the pressure of being a high draft pick, dealing with hecklers, and much more. Read the transcript here.
Astros Claim Matt Gage From Blue Jays
The Astros announced that they have claimed reliever Matt Gage off waivers from the Blue Jays. The lefty was designated for assignment recently when the Jays signed Chad Green. Houston’s 40-man roster is now full.
Gage, 30, is coming off a strong season, one in which he made his major league debut. Signed by the Blue Jays to a minor league deal, he was selected to the club’s roster in June and spent the rest of the year as an up-and-down reliever who was frequently optioned and recalled. He posted a 1.38 ERA in 13 MLB innings, striking out 24% of batters faced and getting grounders at a 50% clip. His 12% walk rate was certainly concerning, but it was a solid debut nonetheless. He also tossed 42 1/3 innings in Triple-A with a 2.34 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 47% ground ball rate.
Though he got squeezed off Toronto’s roster, he’ll now join the World Series champions, where left-handed relief is one of the few weak spots on the roster. Leaving aside Framber Valdez, who will be in the rotation, the only other southpaws on the roster are Blake Taylor and Parker Mushinski. All three of those players have options, making it possible that they will take turns swapping in and out of the active roster as the season goes along.
Blue Jays Sign Luke Bard To Minor League Contract
The Blue Jays announced that Luke Bard has been signed to a minor league deal. The right-hander receives an invitation to the Jays’ big league spring camp.
Bard will continue his time in the AL East after pitching with both the Rays and Yankees in 2022. After signing a minors contract with Tampa in March, Bard pitched in eight games with the Rays at the MLB level before being designated for assignment in August. The Yankees claimed Bard off waivers, with the righty making only a single appearance in the pinstripes. Bard had a 1.80 ERA over his 15 total Major League innings last season, though with only eight strikeouts and seven walks.
At the Triple-A level, Bard had a 4.29 ERA, 25.85% strikeout rate, and 6.8% walk rate over 35 2/3 combined innings with the Rays’ and Yankees’ top affiliates. All in all, it was a respectable return season for Bard, who missed all of 2021 recovering from hip surgery.
Debuting in the majors with the Angels in 2018, Bard had a 5.05 ERA over 66 innings (as a reliever and an opener) with Anaheim from 2018-20. While Bard has yet to deliver much in the way of bottom-line results, he did have a 6.5% walk rate over those three Angels seasons, and he has consistently displayed an elite spin rate on his fastball. This particular stat could be why Bard has been of particular interest to such contenders as the Rays, Yankees, and now the Blue Jays, as Bard might still be something of an untapped resource if he can translate that spin rate into greater on-field success.
For the no-risk cost of a minor league deal, Toronto will get a chance to observe the 32-year-old in Spring Training and see if Bard can be a candidate for a bullpen job. Erik Swanson (obtained in the Teoscar Hernandez trade) was the Jays’ highest-profile relief addition this winter, while Paul Fry, Julian Fernández, Junior Fernandez, and Jay Jackson are also in camp on minor league deals. Chad Green signed a two-year Major League contract with the Blue Jays, but Green isn’t expected to be a factor until midseason as he continues to recover from Tommy John surgery.
Blue Jays Sign Bo Bichette To Three-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration
FEBRUARY 10: The Associated Press reports the specific financial breakdown. Bichette receives a $3.25MM signing bonus and a $2.85MM salary for the upcoming season, bringing his 2023 payout to $6.1MM. He’ll make $11MM in 2024 and $16.5MM in ’25. If Bichette wins an MVP in either of the first two seasons, his salary would escalate by $2.25MM for any future seasons. Future salaries would escalate by $1.25MM for a second or third place finish and by $250K for a fourth or fifth place tally.
FEBRUARY 9: The Blue Jays announced Thursday evening that star shortstop Bo Bichette has signed a three-year contract to buy out his remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility. The deal will not affect the team’s window of club control by delaying his path to free agency. Bichette, a Vayner Sports client, will reportedly be guaranteed $33.6MM over the three seasons with escalators that could eventually bring the total to $40.65MM.
Bichette debuted in the second half of the 2019 campaign and has spent the past three years as Toronto’s everyday shortstop. He has produced against big league pitching from day one, breaking into the majors with a .311/.358/.571 showing through 46 games as a rookie. Bichette hasn’t quite maintained that kind of pace over a full season but has posted well above-average offensive marks in every year of his career.
He reached arbitration for the first time this winter after surpassing the three-year service threshold during the summer. Bichette was slated to carry a career .297/.340/.491 line with 69 home runs, 239 runs batted in and 46 stolen bases through 393 MLB games into that process. The 2022 campaign was right in line with his career marks, as he hit .290/.333/.469 with 24 longballs, 93 RBI and 13 steals (albeit in 21 attempts). He has led the American League in hits in each of the past two seasons and finished in the top 15 in AL MVP balloting in both years.
Financial terms of the contract remain unreported. Bichette’s camp had filed for a $7.5MM salary last month, with the Jays countering at $5MM. The $2.5MM gap tied that between the Astros and outfielder Kyle Tucker — who are themselves discussing a potential multi-year deal — for the largest discrepancy between a team and player this offseason. That’s a moot point now, as the three-year pact overrides that and ensures the Jays and Bichette won’t go to an arbitration hearing at any time.
Bichette turns 25 next month and is still slated to hit free agency after the 2025 season — when he’ll be entering his age-28 campaign. It’s unclear whether the sides plan to engage in discussions on a more significant long-term pact that would alter the Jays’ window of club control this spring. Toronto brass has predictably spoken of a desire to explore such arrangements with their top young players (generally assumed to be Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alek Manoah) but isn’t facing pressing urgency to do so. Guerrero is also arbitration-eligible through 2025, while Manoah won’t reach arbitration until next offseason as a likely Super Two qualifier and isn’t going to hit free agency until after the 2027 campaign.
The Jays have now completed their arbitration work for the offseason. Bichette was the only of their 12 eligible players who didn’t agree to a deal prior to last month’s deadline for exchanging figures.
Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet first reported the Jays and Bichette had agreed to a multi-year deal to avoid arbitration and that a three-year pact had been under consideration. Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed the sides were in agreement on a three-year deal. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported the guarantee and potential maximum value.
Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters
The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.
Without further ado…
Angels
- Glenn Albanese Jr.
- Jaime Barria
- Gustavo Campero
- Alan Carter
- Jhonathan Diaz
- Carlos Estevez
- David Fletcher
- Jake Kalish
- D’Shawn Knowles
- Shohei Ohtani
- Jose Quijada
- Luis Rengifo
- Gerardo Reyes
- Patrick Sandoval
- Mike Trout
- Gio Urshela
- Cesar Valdez
- Zack Weiss
- Aaron Whitefield
Astros
- Bryan Abreu
- Jose Altuve
- Ronel Blanco
- Luis Garcia
- Colton Gordon
- Cristian Javier
- Martin Maldonado
- Rafael Montero
- Hector Neris
- Jeremy Pena
- Ryan Pressly
- Andre Scrubb
- Kyle Tucker
- Jose Urquidy
- Derek West
Athletics
Blue Jays
- Jose Berrios
- Jiorgeny Casimiri
- Yimi Garcia
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Spencer Horwitz
- Alejandro Kirk
- Otto Lopez
- Damiano Palmegiani
Braves
Brewers
- Willy Adames
- Sal Frelick
- Alex Hall
- Matt Hardy
- Joel Payamps
- Rowdy Tellez
- Abraham Toro
- Luis Urias
- Michele Vassalotti
- Devin Williams
Cardinals
- Nolan Arenado
- Genesis Cabrera
- Tommy Edman
- Giovanny Gallegos
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Ivan Herrera
- Matt Koperniak
- Noah Mendlinger
- Oscar Mercado
- Miles Mikolas
- Lars Nootbaar
- Tyler O’Neill
- JoJo Romero
- Adam Wainwright
- Guillermo Zuniga
Cubs
- Javier Assad
- Owen Caissie
- Danis Correa
- Ben DeLuzio
- Roenis Elias
- Miles Mastrobuoni
- Matt Mervis
- B.J. Murray Jr.
- Vinny Nittoli
- Fabian Pertuz
- Liam Spence
- Seiya Suzuki
- Marcus Stroman
- Pedro Strop
- Nelson Velazquez
- Jared Young
Diamondbacks
- Dominic Fletcher
- Jakob Goldfarb
- Gunnar Groen
- Merrill Kelly
- Ketel Marte
- Eric Mendez
- Dominic Miroglio
- Emmanuel Rivera
- Jacob Steinmetz
- Mitchell Stumpo
- Alek Thomas
Dodgers
- Austin Barnes
- Mookie Betts
- Freddie Freeman
- Clayton Kershaw
- Adam Kolarek
- Miguel Rojas
- Will Smith
- Trayce Thompson
- Julio Urias
Giants
Guardians
- Enyel De Los Santos
- Dayan Frias
- Andres Gimenez
- Bo Naylor
- Richie Palacios
- Cal Quantrill
- Cade Smith
- Meibrys Viloria
- Josh Wolf
Marlins
Mariners
- Matt Brash
- Diego Castillo
- Matt Festa
- Harry Ford
- Teoscar Hernandez
- Milkar Perez
- Julio Rodriguez
- Eugenio Suarez
- Blake Townsend
Mets
- Pete Alonso
- Jonathan Arauz
- Edwin Diaz
- Eduardo Escobar
- Dominic Hamel
- Elieser Hernandez
- Francisco Lindor
- Jeff McNeil
- Omar Narvaez
- Cam Opp
- Adam Ottavino
- Jose Quintana
- Brooks Raley
- Claudio Scotti
Nationals
Orioles
Padres
- Xander Bogaerts
- Nabil Crismatt
- Nelson Cruz
- Jarryd Dale
- Yu Darvish
- Jose Espada
- Ruben Galindo
- Luis Garcia
- Ha-Seong Kim
- Manny Machado
- Nick Martinez
- Evan Mendoza
- Juan Soto
- Brett Sullivan
- Julio Teheran
Phillies
- Jose Alvarado
- Erubiel Armenta
- Malik Binns
- Jaydenn Estanista
- Vito Friscia
- Brian Marconi
- J.T. Realmuto
- Kyle Schwarber
- Noah Skirrow
- Gregory Soto
- Garrett Stubbs
- Ranger Suarez
- Trea Turner
- Taijuan Walker
- Rixon Wingrove
Pirates
- David Bednar
- Tsung-Che Cheng
- Roansy Contreras
- Alessandro Ercolani
- Santiago Florez
- Jarlin Garcia
- Antwone Kelly
- Josh Palacios
- Jeffrey Passantino
- Tahnaj Thomas
- Duane Underwood Jr.
- Chavez Young
- Rob Zastryzny
Rangers
Rays
- Jason Adam
- Jonathan Aranda
- Randy Arozarena
- Christian Bethancourt
- Trevor Brigden
- Wander Franco
- Andrew Gross
- Joe LaSorsa
- Francisco Mejia
- Isaac Paredes
- Harold Ramirez
- Graham Spraker
Red Sox
- Jorge Alfaro
- Richard Bleier
- Rafael Devers
- Jarren Duran
- Ian Gibaut
- Rio Gomez
- Norwith Gudino
- Enrique Hernandez
- Nick Pivetta
- Henry Ramos
- Alex Verdugo
- Masataka Yoshida
Reds
- Donovan Benoit
- Silvino Bracho
- Luis Cessa
- Fernando Cruz
- Alexis Diaz
- Arij Fransen
- Kyle Glogoski
- Tayron Guerrero
- Evan Kravetz
- Nicolo Pinazzi
- Reiver Sanmartin
- Vin Timpanelli
Rockies
- Daniel Bard
- Jake Bird
- Yonathan Daza
- Elias Diaz
- Kyle Freeland
- Justin Lawrence
- German Marquez
- Michael Petersen
- Alan Trejo
Royals
- Max Castillo
- Robbie Glendinning
- Carlos Hernandez
- Nicky Lopez
- MJ Melendez
- Vinnie Pasquantino
- Salvador Perez
- Brady Singer
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Angel Zerpa
Tigers
- Javier Baez
- Miguel Cabrera
- Chavez Fernander
- Andy Ibanez
- Jack O’Loughlin
- Jacob Robson
- Eduardo Rodriguez
- Jonathan Schoop
- John Valente
Twins
- Jose De Leon
- Edouard Julien
- Jorge Lopez
- Pablo Lopez
- Carlos Luna
- Jose Miranda
- Jovani Moran
- Emilio Pagan
- Christian Vazquez
White Sox
- Tim Anderson
- Kendall Graveman
- Eloy Jimenez
- Lance Lynn
- Yoan Moncada
- Nicholas Padilla
- Luis Robert
- Jose Ruiz
Yankees