Diamondbacks Release Thomas Hatch
The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Thomas Hatch, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. It’s possible he had an opt-out in his deal, as the start of June is a common time for such contract provisions.
Hatch, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He has been with the Triple-A Reno Aces and performing decently, considering that club plays in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. In 11 starts, he has logged 51 2/3 innings, allowing 4.01 earned runs per nine. Only three qualified pitchers in the PCL have a better ERA than that right now.
His 16% strikeout rate isn’t terribly strong but he has been filling up the strike zone, only giving out walks to just 4.7% of batters faced. He has induced grounders on 46% of balls in play. His four-seamer and sinker are averaging around 93 miles per hour as he also mixes in a cutter, slider and changeup. In his big league career, he has thrown 103 innings over five different seasons with a 5.24 ERA.
The Snakes aren’t exactly overflowing with rotation depth at the moment. They have Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodríguez, Ryne Nelson, Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka in the big league rotation. Corbin Burnes was working his way back from Tommy John surgery but recently suffered a setback and probably won’t be able to rejoin the team until September. Cristian Mena underwent shoulder surgery this month. Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray are on the 40-man roster but both recently landed on the minor league injured list. Kohl Drake is also on the 40-man but has a 7.80 ERA in Triple-A this year. Brandon Pfaadt had been in a bullpen role in the majors but just got optioned to get stretched out. He has an ERA near 6.00 this year, so it’s unclear what the Snakes can expect from him going forward.
Put that all together and it suggests Hatch probably opted out of his deal, since the Snakes probably wouldn’t have given up the depth for no reason, though they don’t really have a spot in the big league rotation. Perhaps they will look to re-sign Hatch to a new minor league deal, one with fresh opt-outs, to preserve that depth. But Hatch will have a chance to survey the market to see if there are other opportunities out there. Teams like the Twins, Royals and Blue Jays, who have employed Hatch before, have big injury concerns in their starting pitching ranks and could be interested in a reunion.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
Elias Díaz Elects Free Agency
Veteran catcher Elias Díaz rejected an outright assignment from the Royals in favor of free agency, as reflected on the transaction log at MiLB.com. Players with more than three years of service (or a prior outright in their career) can reject outrights and instead elect free agency. Díaz has more than nine years of major league service.
The 35-year-old Díaz appeared in 10 games with the Royals and popped a pair of home runs in just 23 trips to the plate. He hit .227/.261/.591 overall in that tiny sample before being designated for assignment. It was a nice burst of power, but Díaz swung at nearly 58% of the pitches he saw and his numbers from recent seasons don’t support the idea of him continuing to show that kind of home run power. From 2022-25, he picked up 1541 plate appearances between the Rockies and Padres but turned in a tepid .246/.298/.380 slash (77 wRC+).
It’s a modest track record at the plate, but Díaz has above-average power relative to other catchers and has turned in greatly improved defensive grades in recent seasons. He’s always been adept at controlling the running game, evidenced by a career 27% caught-stealing rate, and he continued to show off that arm in his short time with Kansas City when he nabbed two of five potential thieves on the bases. Díaz graded as a poor framer for the first several seasons of his career but has been above-average in that regard by virtually every publicly available metric dating back to 2024. Statcast credits him as roughly average when it comes to blocking pitches in the dirt.
Díaz has never walked much and isn’t likely to hit for a high average. Be that as it may, teams with notable catching injuries (e.g. Braves, Mariners, White Sox, Mets, Twins) could feasibly take a low-cost look at plugging him into a backup role while waiting on their injured starters to mend — or they could simply add him on a minor league deal as insurance against further injuries to their already-depleted catching corps.
Rangers Re-Sign Josh Sborz To Minor League Deal
The Rangers are re-signing reliever Josh Sborz to a minor league contract, reports Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. He’d been granted his release earlier in the week.
Sborz pitched parts of four MLB seasons with Texas between 2021-24. While he had a mostly nondescript 4.86 earned run average across 150 regular season innings, he carved out a place in team history in October ’23. Sborz worked 12 frames of one-run ball over 10 appearances during the Rangers title run. He was one of Bruce Bochy’s top setup arms and fired 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the save in the World Series clinching Game 5 at Chase Field.
Shoulder problems have mostly hampered him since that triumphant moment. Sborz was limited to 16 2/3 innings in 2024. He missed all of last season working back from a debridement procedure, as he encountered a setback during a brief minor league rehab attempt. Texas opted not to tender him an arbitration contract but was able to retain him via minor league deal.
The 32-year-old has been healthy this year but hasn’t pitched well enough to earn a roster spot. Sborz allowed 13 runs across 14 1/3 innings at Triple-A Round Rock. He fanned 17 of 65 opponents (26.1%) but issued nine walks and gave up six home runs. He spent a month working on his mechanics outside of game action before being reassigned to Double-A a couple weeks ago. Texas bumped him back to Round Rock on May 27. He allowed hits to five of 10 batters faced in two innings before briefly testing the market.
It’s not uncommon for players to re-sign on a minor league deal after triggering an opt-out. They get a couple days to gauge whether there are better paths to an MLB opportunity elsewhere. The new deal could have a slightly higher minor league salary and include new upward mobility/opt-out chances that weren’t in the previous agreement.
Twins Sign Austin Voth To Minor League Deal
The Twins signed right-hander Austin Voth to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, as he’ll start tonight’s game for the Saints.
Voth elected free agency on Tuesday after being outrighted by the Blue Jays. The 33-year-old had two very brief stops on Toronto’s big league roster. He made two long relief appearances, giving up six runs in as many innings. Voth surrendered eight hits, walked five batters, and threw three wild pitches while recording one strikeout.
The big league work wasn’t impressive, but Voth pitched well out of the Triple-A rotation. He made eight starts there and turned in a 2.90 earned run average, albeit while averaging less than four innings per appearance. Voth had a below-average 17% strikeout rate compared to a tidy 6.8% walk percentage. He doesn’t have big stuff but has mixed five pitches and been around the strike zone.
Minnesota pulled the plug on Simeon Woods Richardson with last week’s DFA. They traded him to Toronto for cash yesterday. Bailey Ober recently went down with a mild flexor strain that’ll shut him down completely for 10-14 days. He’ll be on the injured list for most or all of June. Kendry Rojas also recently suffered a triceps strain and Mick Abel has been out since the middle of April.
They’re currently operating with a four-man rotation of Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Zebby Matthews and Connor Prielipp. Rookie Mike Paredes is with the big league club in long relief but could draw into the rotation. John Klein is the only depth starter on optional assignment. Voth is the only other starter on the Triple-A team with MLB experience and will probably get a look as a long man at some point this summer.
Red Sox Acquire Joe La Sorsa
6:41pm: Boston announced the trade but has yet to reveal the corresponding move.
5:20pm: The Pirates are going to trade left-hander Joe La Sorsa to the Red Sox, reports Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. The Bucs will get cash in return, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. It was reported a few days ago that the southpaw was triggering an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal. Alexander says that La Sorsa will be with the Sox in New York tomorrow as they kick off a series against the Yankees. Boston will need to open a 40-man roster spot for La Sorsa.
La Sorsa, 28, will be appearing in his fourth straight major league season once he gets into a game with the Sox. From 2023 to 2025, he pitched for the Rays, Nationals and Reds, posting a 5.21 earned run average in 57 innings.
He signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in the offseason and has been pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis. He has thrown 26 innings with a 3.46 ERA. His 21.2% strikeout rate is around average while his 5.8% walk rate and 47.9% ground ball rate a few ticks better than par.
The lefty triggered an upward mobility clause in his deal at the end of spring training. The way such clauses work is that the player must be offered to the 29 others teams in the league. If any of them want to give the player a roster spot, the signing team has to either trade him or give him a roster spot themselves. If they all pass, he will stay with the signing team. La Sorsa stayed with the Bucs in late March, suggesting all clubs passed on him at that time. In this case, the Sox have signed up.
Boston has three lefties in the bullpen, though Aroldis Chapman is the closer. That leaves Jovani Morán and Danny Coulombe as the lefty options for situations before the ninth inning. Coulombe spent about three weeks on the injured list due to cervical spasms and has a 6.55 ERA around that IL stint. Morán has a much better 3.19 ERA but has gotten some help from a fortunate .197 batting average on balls in play and 85.2% strand rate. La Sorsa will give the Sox another option in the southpaw relief corps.
The Sox don’t have a lot of flexibility in their current bullpen mix. Of their eight relief arms, only Justin Slaten and Greg Weissert are optionable, but those are two of their two setup arms. La Sorsa himself is optionable but, as mentioned, he is expected to be with the big league club in the Bronx tomorrow. Perhaps Coulombe will be designated for assignment, as that would open up a spot on both the active and 40-man rosters for La Sorsa. Other options for that kind of move would be Tyron Guerrero and Ryan Watson, who both have ERAs north of 5.00 at the moment.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images
Astros Designate César Salazar, Rhylan Thomas For Assignment
The Astros announced a series of moves prior to tonight’s game. They signed first baseman/outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. to a major league deal, selected catcher Collin Price to the major league roster and reinstated outfielder Joey Loperfido from the 10-day injured list. Loperfido has been optioned to Triple-A. In corresponding moves, outfielder Zach Cole has been optioned to Triple-A while catcher César Salazar and outfielder Rhylan Thomas have been designated for assignment. The Wade signing was reported earlier today.
Salazar, 30, has been a depth catcher with the Astros for many years. His defense is well regarded but he doesn’t hit much, with a career .189/.295/.216 line. He burned his final option year in 2025, which led to him being bumped off the roster in March of this year. He cleared waivers and stuck around as a non-roster depth option.
He was added back to the roster in early May when Yainer Diaz suffered an oblique strain. Salazar and Christian Vázquez have been the catching duo for the past month but Salazar has hit .056/.227/.056 in that time.
Salazar will be bumped out for Price, who was a sixth-round pick in 2022. Price reached Triple-A last year and showed some promise. He hit 18 home runs and drew walks at a solid 10% clip, but he also struck out in 30.3% of his plate appearances. He has been better this year, with ten home runs already, a 13.5% walk rate and 25.5% strikeout rate. Even in the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, his .235/.360/.476 line translates to a 118 wRC+, indicating he has been 18% better than league average. Defensively, Baseball Prospectus ranks him as a strong framer but subpar blocker.
Since this is the first big league call for Price, he has a full slate of options. Whenever Diaz is able to return from the IL, Price could be easily sent back to the minors. Vázquez is an impending free agent, so perhaps Price could be in line for more playing time next year if he continues putting up good numbers here in 2026.
Thomas, 26, was just claimed off waivers from the Mariners last month. He was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land and hasn’t appeared with the Astros in the big leagues. According to his transactions tracker at MLB.com, he landed on the minor league IL last week. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers so Thomas will most likely be released.
His major league track record consists of three games with the Mariners last year, with Thomas hitting .125/.200/.250 in those. In Triple-A, he had a big .325/.380/.411 line last year, while stealing 35 bases, but has just a .253/.304/.307 line this year.
As for Salazar, he will likely be on waivers in the coming days. Since he already has one outright under his belt, he would have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through outright waivers again.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Phillies Release Bryse Wilson
The Phillies have released veteran right-hander Bryse Wilson, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been working out of the rotation with Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley.
Wilson, 28, signed a minor league deal back in December. He’s made 10 appearances, nine of them starts, with the IronPigs in 2026. He’s been dinged for a grisly 7.44 earned run average, but his performance hasn’t been as rough as that bloated number would seem. Wilson has average or better rates of strikeouts (22.1%), walks (8.1%) and ground-balls (52.7%). He’s been dogged by a sky-high .393 average on balls in play despite lower-than-average exit velocity and hard-hit numbers from his opponents. Metrics like xFIP (4.13) and FIP (4.30) feel he’s pitched well enough to have an ERA multiple runs lower than its current mark.
Wilson has pitched in parts of eight major league seasons but hasn’t found much big league success outside of a 2023-24 run with the Brewers. He gave Milwaukee 181 1/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball with a 19% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate across those two seasons, but Wilson has a collective 5.73 ERA in his other six MLB seasons between the Braves, Pirates and White Sox. He’s worked as a starter, a short reliever and a swingman to this point in his big league career and is fully stretched out, so he could latch on with any club that’s looking for some experienced depth.
Blue Jays Select Chad Dallas
The Blue Jays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Chad Dallas. Fellow righty Hayden Juenger has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Tanner Andrews has been designated for assignment.
Dallas, 26 later this month, was a fourth-round pick of the Jays in 2021. He put himself on the prospect map with a strong 2023, making 23 starts between High-A and Double-A. He logged 123 1/3 innings, allowing 3.65 earned runs per nine. He struck out 27.9% of batters faced, walked 9.5% of opponents and induced grounders on 44.3% of balls in play.
Going into 2024, Baseball America ranked him the #14 prospect in the system. FanGraphs put him 16th. He could have been in line to make his major league debut that year but his health intervened. He struggled at Triple-A around a few stints on the injured list and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in September. He missed the entire 2025 season. Here in 2026, he has been back on the mound and has logged 36 innings for Triple-A Buffalo with a 4.50 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 41.7% ground ball rate.
In the long term, Dallas might end up as a reliever. His best pitch is his slider while he doesn’t have a great weapon against lefties. For now, he’s still stretched out and the Jays need the innings, as their rotation has been decimated by injuries this year. José Berríos, Cody Ponce and Bowden Francis are done for the season. Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber and Lazaro Estrada are also on the IL. Jake Bloss is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Prospect Ricky Tiedemann is still in the injury wilderness.
Due to all those absences, the Jays have been rolling with a hollowed-out rotation. Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage and Patrick Corbin are the three traditional starters. The Jays have also been deploying frequent bullpen games with Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles working as a bulk guy in those. Until recently, they had Cease in the mix as well but his hamstring strain further cut into the group and has necessitated even more depth arms getting into the mix. Austin Voth was called up for an emergency bulk outing last week but was quickly bumped off the roster after.
Left-hander Mason Fluharty is technically starting tonight’s game but Dallas will probably be working bulk innings behind him. Since this is the first time Dallas has been called up to the majors, he has a full slate of options. He will likely be sent back to Buffalo after this. The Jays acquired Simeon Woods Richardson yesterday. He has not yet joined the active roster but could perhaps link up with the team in Toronto tomorrow. The Jays also might get Cease back soon. He is expected to make a rehab start tonight and might only need that one game before being activated next week. They also have Scherzer, Bieber, Estrada and Bloss out on rehab assignments at the moment.
Andrews is a 30-year-old minor league journeyman. He spent time in the farm systems of the Marlins, Giants and Twins before signing a minor league deal with the Jays coming into this year. The Jays added him to the roster when Cease hit the IL. He made two scoreless appearances before being optioned back down to Triple-A Buffalo.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on waivers sooner than that. He posted a 6.02 ERA in the minors from 2023 to 2025 but has a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings this year. That’s thanks to a fortunate .220 batting average on balls in play and 94% strand rate. His 4.26 FIP suggests his results would be less impressive with more neutral luck.
Photo courtesy of Mike Watters, Imagn Images
Royals Select Josh Rojas
The Royals have selected the contract of veteran infielder Josh Rojas from Triple-A Omaha, they announced Wednesday. Fellow infielder Jonathan India, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery back in April, moves to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Righty Stephen Kolek was placed on the family medical emergency list to open a spot on the active roster.
Rojas, 31, has experience in parts of seven big league seasons. He’s picked up more than five years of major league service between the D-backs, Mariners and White Sox. The second baseman/third baseman is a career .241/.317/.353 hitter, but his past few seasons haven’t gone well. Rojas was a productive infielder for Arizona in 2021-22 and had a decent run in Seattle after being traded there in 2023, but he hit just .211/.288/.313 in nearly 700 plate appearances between the M’s and ChiSox from ’24-’25.
Rojas has spent the 2026 season with Kansas City’s top minor league affiliate in Omaha. He’s posted a .246/.309/.433 line in 189 plate appearances — about 13% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. However, he’s been swinging a hot bat over the past month: .303/.357/.553 with just a 12.9% strikeout rate. Five of Rojas’ six home runs this season have come in his past 20 games.
While Rojas can play second and third base, Kansas City is largely set at the hot corner with Maikel Garcia signed long term. Second base is far less certain. Royals second basemen have been among the worst in baseball this season, combining for a .201/.271/.363 slash. Michael Massey has taken the majority of playing time there, with India and Nick Loftin chipping in a combined 106 plate appearances. Isaac Collins and Tyler Tolbert both have one lone plate appearance as a second baseman for Kansas City.
Rojas, Massey and Loftin will probably share second base work for the time being. Rojas can also spell Garcia if the Royals want to get him a breather. Since Rojas is only about two months shy of reaching six years of service time, he’ll be a free agent at season’s end if he sticks with the Royals the rest of the way.
Lyon Richardson Elects Free Agency
The Reds have successfully sent right-hander Lyon Richardson and left-hander Brandon Leibrandt through waivers unclaimed, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Both pitchers were designated for assignment earlier this week. Leibrandt has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Louisville while Richardson has elected free agency.
Richardson, 26, becomes a free agent for the first time. The Reds took him in the second round of the 2018 draft. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2022, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He spent the next three seasons getting frequently shuttled between Triple-A and the majors, exhausting his three option years in the process.
The Reds sent him through waivers in January. Since that was his first career outright and he had less than three years of service, he had to accept an assignment to the minors. He was added back to the roster last week as the club was dealing with a number of pitching injuries. He made two appearances before getting bumped back off the roster. Now that he has been outrighted a second time, he has the right to elect free agency and has done so.
As a free agent, he should be limited to minor league offers. He is out of options and all 29 clubs just passed a chance to grab him off waivers. But teams will presumably be interested in adding him as non-roster depth.
As mentioned, he is a former second-round pick. He has shown some intriguing stuff on the farm. A former starter, he has been in a primary relief role since last year. Dating back to the start of 2025, he has logged 62 1/3 Triple-A innings. His 4.48 earned run average isn’t too impressive but his 24.7% strikeout rate is strong and he has induced ground balls on almost half the balls in play he has allowed. His four-seamer and sinker average in the upper-90s and he also features a slider and changeup.
He hasn’t yet been able to translate that into major league results, as he has a 6.67 ERA in 56 2/3 big league innings, but there’s no real risk on a minor league deal. It’s also possible that Richardson simply reunites with the Reds on a new deal, if he doesn’t find anything too enticing elsewhere.
While Richardson has only been a part of one professional organization in his career, Leibrandt is more towards the journeyman end of the spectrum. The 33-year-old has been with the Phillies, Marlins, Cubs, Reds and Yankees over the years, mostly in the minors. He has also spent time with the High Point Rockers in the independent Atlantic League and the CTBC Brothers in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.
He started this year with the Reds on a minor league deal. He posted a 5.23 ERA over 11 Triple-A starts. He was called up earlier this week to provide a fresh arm during Cincinnati’s aforementioned injury situation. He tossed six innings in an emergency bullpen game when Chase Burns was sick, allowing five earned runs in the process. He was promptly bumped off the roster after that and will now return to his role as a Triple-A depth arm.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images