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Genesis Cabrera Elects Free Agency

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Lefty reliever Génesis Cabrera elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’d been designated for assignment by the Mets on Saturday. Outfielder José Azocar, who was taken off the 40-man roster at the same time as Cabrera was, remains in DFA limbo.

The 28-year-old Cabrera returns to the open market after signing an offseason minor league contract with New York. The Mets called him up at the start of this month after losing A.J. Minter and Danny Young to injury. Cabrera was briefly the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s bullpen. New York acquired José Castillo in a minor trade with Arizona and seemingly prefer him. They also brought up Brandon Waddell as a long man over the weekend.

Cabrera managed decent results during his few weeks on the MLB roster. He worked 7 2/3 frames of three-run ball, striking out seven while issuing three walks. He averages around 96 MPH on his sinker and four-seam fastball, better than average velocity from the left side. That has resulted in decent swing-and-miss rates over his career, but it hasn’t been enough to offset spotty command. Cabrera had walked at least 10% of opposing hitters in every big league season before this year’s small sample. He’d dished out five free passes in eight Triple-A innings before being called up.

That Cabrera went unclaimed on waivers suggests he’ll likely need to take another minor league contract. He shouldn’t have any issue finding interest as a Triple-A depth option. The Mets could try to bring him back themselves. Colin Poche and Anthony Gose are working as left-handed bullpen pieces for their top farm team in Syracuse.

Rockies Release Scott Alexander

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Left-hander Scott Alexander has been released by the Rockies, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by Colorado last week. He’ll head to the open market once he’s cleared released waivers, unless he has already.

This was the expected outcome once Alexander was DFA’d. He joined the Rockies on a $2MM deal this offseason. He went on to post a 6.06 earned run average over his first 19 appearances with the club. Given that performance, no club would want to take on his salary. If he had cleared outright waivers, he would have had the right to elect free agency and keep that money, as a veteran with well beyond five years of major league service time.

The Rockies are skipping that formality and sending him more directly to the open market, which could potentially lead to him garnering more interest. The Rockies remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Rockies pay.

While Alexander is currently sitting on a rough ERA for this year, it’s worth considering the Coors Field effect. He has a 7.20 ERA in Denver this year but a more reasonable 4.26 ERA on the road. Those are small samples of 10 innings and 6 1/3 innings respectively but Alexander also has a 48.7% ground ball rate in Denver compared to 63.2% elsewhere.

Getting those grounders has been the key to his major league career, which spans almost a decade at this point. He debuted back in 2015 and has since posted a 66.6% ground ball rate in 325 2/3 innings. Zack Britton is the only pitcher in baseball with a better grounder rate in that time, among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched. That has helped Alexander post a 3.34 ERA in his big league time. Considering that track record and the low price tag, it’s possible the southpaw field some calls in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Tigers Place Matt Vierling On Injured List

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The Tigers are placing third baseman/outfielder Matt Vierling back on the injured list. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Vierling is going on the 10-day IL due to right shoulder inflammation. Outfielder Wenceel Pérez has been reinstated from the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. The Tigers’ 40-man count climbs from 38 to 39.

There aren’t many details about Vierling’s current status but it’s an ominous development nonetheless. His shoulder issues first popped up three months ago. In late February, the club announced that he had been diagnosed with a right rotator cuff strain. He spent several weeks trying to get healthy and was reinstated from the IL on Friday. Now just a few days later, he’s back on the IL due to that same shoulder.

There will surely be more updates on Vierling’s status in the coming days, but it feels like a bad sign that he has apparently aggravated the shoulder that has already been an issue for basically the entire year. “We put him on the injured list which should tell you we don’t think he can play,” manager A.J. Hinch said, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. “We’ll have more information as we get more tests, and more doctors need to weigh in.”

Over 2023 and 2024, Vierling hit a combined .259/.320/.406 for the Tigers, producing a 104 wRC+. He did that while primarily playing third base and the outfield. Third base has been a bit of a hole for Detroit this year, as they have a collective .202/.279/.285 line from that position. Jace Jung got optioned to the minors a couple of weeks ago after he couldn’t do much at the plate. Utility players like Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibáñez and Javier Báez have seen time at the hot corner and will have to continue to do so.

In the outfield, the Tigers have been without Vierling, Pérez and Parker Meadows for much of the season. They’ve managed to get good production from the grass regardless, thanks largely to Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, while McKinstry, Báez and others have chipped in as well. That group will again have to hold things down in the outfield without Vierling, though as least the return of Pérez gives them another option.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images

Red Sox Reinstate, Option Zach Penrod

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The Red Sox have reinstated left-hander Zach Penrod from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Worcester, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The move doesn’t impact Boston’s active roster but their 40-man is now full. They had opened a spot on the weekend by designating lefty Sean Newcomb for assignment.

Penrod, 28 next month, got to make a brief major league debut last year. He tossed four innings over seven appearances for Boston, posting a 2.25 earned run average in that small sample. He struck out three opponents and walked four.

He’s been held back by a lack of health this year. He had some elbow soreness during the spring and went for an MRI. While that imaging only found inflammation, manager Alex Cora nonetheless relayed that Penrod was going to miss significant time. He was placed on the 60-day IL on Opening Day, with his injury listed as an elbow sprain.

He now seems to be healthy enough to take the mound, as he started a rehab assignment on the weekend. He’ll likely need a few more outings before he’s a realistic candidate to get called up, but he’ll soon provide the Sox with a lefty depth arm. In 2024, he logged 62 2/3 innings on the farm with a 4.16 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Rays Acquire Matt Thaiss

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The White Sox have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Rays for minor league outfielder Dru Baker, according to announcements from both clubs. Since Baker wasn’t on the 40-man, the Rays transferred outfielder Jonny DeLuca to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot for Thaiss. They will need to open an active roster spot once Thaiss reports to the club. Chicago’s 40-man count drops to 39. In terms of their active roster, catcher Korey Lee has been reinstated from the IL to take the vacated spot.

Thaiss, 30, was just acquired by the Sox in the offseason. They sent cash to the Cubs, bringing Thaiss to the South Side. He has appeared in 35 games and stepped to the plate 110 times, with some positive results. He has just one home run but has walked more than he has been struck out, drawing a free pass in 20.9% of his appearances compared to a 19.1% strikeout rate.

That’s better than his previous work on offense. With the Angels in 2023 and 2024, he made 493 trips to the plate. He had a strong 13% walk rate over those seasons but also struck out at a high clip of 28.6%. He was flipped to the Cubs and then the White Sox in offseason trades.

His work behind the plate has been more of a question mark, as he has never received excellent marks back there. Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered his blocking and throwing to be adequate but with subpar framing. FanGraphs agrees that Thaiss hasn’t been a great framer in his career but has him above average so far in 2025.

Though his work for the Sox has been adequate on the whole, he never seemed likely to spend a long time on the roster. Thaiss started the year sharing the catching time with Lee, but the Sox had two top prospects waiting in the wings: Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel.

Lee went to the IL fairly early in the season, landing there due to a left ankle sprain on April 10th. That got Omar Narváez to the big leagues briefly but Quero was up in the majors a week later. Now that Lee is healthy again, he and Quero will share the catching work. Teel is playing great in Triple-A and could be up in the majors soon as well. Those factors have all pushed the out-of-options Thaiss off the roster.

For the Rays, they’ve been deploying a tandem of Danny Jansen and Ben Rortvedt behind the plate this year. Jansen started slow but has been heating up lately, getting his line to .200/.333/.336 for the year, which leads to a 103 wRC+. Rortvedt, on the other hand, has a dreary .100/.194/.117 line. That’s only 67 plate appearances but he now has a .187/.277/.266 line and 61 wRC+ over 572 plate appearances in his big league career.

Rortvedt is out of options, so it’s possible he’ll be designated for assignment once Thaiss is able to join the team. If the switch works, the Rays could keep Thaiss beyond 2025. He came into this year with his service clock at three years and 38 days, meaning this is his first of three arbitration seasons. With Jansen on a one-year deal, Thaiss has a chance to stick with the Rays for 2026 if he holds his spot through the end of this season.

In order to make that potential upgrade behind the plate, they are parting with Baker. Now 25 years old, he was selected by the Rays in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. He is considered a capable outfielder but his bat has stalled out at the upper minor league levels. Since getting promoted to Double-A in August of 2023, he has a .280/.345/.338 batting line and 101 wRC+. That includes a .245/.344/.302 line at the Triple-A level.

Even if he doesn’t hit much, Baker at least has wheels. He stole 49 bags in 2023 and 42 last year. For the Sox, they were probably going to cut Thaiss soon anyway, so they have traded him in for a flier on Baker. Baker could perhaps serve as a speedy bench outfielder, with any offensive developments on top of that being a bonus.

As for DeLuca, he suffered a shoulder strain in early April. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement on June 6th. He just started a rehab assignment on the weekend, so he could perhaps be ready to return to the big leagues once that date rolls around.

Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images

Athletics Acquire Sean Newcomb

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The Athletics announced today that they have acquired left-hander Sean Newcomb from the Red Sox. The latter club, who designated the lefty for assignment a few days ago, receive cash considerations. The A’s also announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Drew Avans. First baseman Nick Kurtz has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hip flexor. Left-hander Matt Krook and right-hander Ryan Cusick have been designated for assignment to open 40-man spots for Newcomb and Avans. In terms of the active roster, Avans takes the spot of Kurtz, while the club will need to open a spot for Newcomb once he reports to the team.

Newcomb, 32 next month, returns to the A’s. He spent parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Oakland, though knee problems limited his workload. He only tossed 25 innings for the A’s over those two seasons, spending a lot of time on the IL due to issues in both knees. He was released in July of 2024 and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox coming into 2025.

This year has actually been going fairly well for the lefty. He made Boston’s Opening Day roster and went on to toss 41 innings in a swing role, posting a 3.95 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate this year have all been fairly close to league average.

Unfortunately, he got squeezed off the roster, perhaps due to circumstances beyond his control. The Sox and Orioles were rained out on Thursday. Then on Friday, started Brayan Bello only lasted four innings. The club had to use five relievers to get through the rest of that game, though one of them was position player Abraham Toro. For Saturday’s double-header, Hunter Dobbins started the first game and also only lasted four innings. Six relievers, including Newcomb, picked up the rest of the slack in a game that eventually went to ten innings. With the staff fairly taxed, Newcomb was designated for assignment, making room for a fresh arm for the second game of the doubleheader.

For the A’s, they’ve been on a rough slide lately, going 3-15 in their last 18 games. Most of their pitchers have very little experience and are still getting acclimated to the big leagues. Newcomb will give them an experienced lefty arm who could take on various roles, perhaps as a long reliever or spot starter.

On the position player side of things, it’s unclear how long Kurtz will be out of action. He had been serving as the club’s regular first baseman lately. Prior to his promotion, Tyler Soderstrom had that spot, but he moved to left field so that both could be in the lineup. Now that Kurtz is away, it’s possible Soderstrom could move back to first, or perhaps the A’s will keep him in left so he can continue getting accustomed to playing the outfield. Logan Davidson started at first yesterday.

Avans gets his first big league call just before his 29th birthday, which is next month. A 33rd-round pick of the Dodgers back in 2018, he first played at the Triple-A level in 2021. At the end of the 2024 season, he still hadn’t been selected to the 40-man roster and was able to elect minor league free agency, which led him to sign with the A’s.

His offensive production has generally been close to average, in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. From 2021 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 2,004 times at the Triple-A level. He had a 13% walk rate, 23.8% strikeout rate, .270/.369/.404 line and 101 wRC+. This year, he has had better results, thanks to big drop in punchouts. He’s still walking at a 13.5% clip but has only struck out in 14% of his 222 plate appearances this year. That’s helped him produce a .328/.414/.444 line and 117 wRC+.

Avans is capable of playing all three outfield spots and is good for about 20 to 40 steals per year. That means he could be a serviceable depth outfielder even without elite offensive production, supporting Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler and Denzel Clarke.

To add Newcomb and Avans, the A’s are risking losing two depth arms. Krook, 30, signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster just over a week ago, making three appearances before getting optioned back down to the minors.

He now has 8 1/3 innings of major league experience, having also pitched for the 2023 Yankees and 2024 Orioles. He’s had interesting minor league numbers since moving to the bullpen. Previously a starter, he’s been working in relief for the past two-plus years. Since the start of 2023, he has thrown 91 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.85 ERA and 33.3% strikeout rate, though his 16.7% walk rate has been awfully high. For what it’s worth, he’s been getting better in that department. He had an 18.4% walk rate in the minors in 2023 but dropped that to 16.7% last year and 12.7% this year.

Cusick, 25, still hasn’t made his major league debut. Atlanta selected him with the 24th overall pick in 2021 but flipped him to the A’s as part of the Matt Olson deal in March of 2022. The A’s added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2024 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

He hasn’t been able to do much with his minor league opportunities. He had logged 178 1/3 innings on the farm from 2023 to the present with an ERA of 5.00. His 21.3% strikeout rate is close to par but he has walked 15.1% of batters faced. He’s been working exclusively in relief this year with awful returns so far. He has a 6.75 ERA, 16.4% strikeout rate and 19.4% walk rate through 14 2/3 innings.

Both Krook and Cusick now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the A’s could take as long as five days to discuss trades with other clubs. Cusick is clearly a project at this point but comes with past prospect pedigree, while Krook’s minor league numbers have been somewhat intriguing of late. Both players can still be optioned and could therefore be stashed in the minors by any acquiring club.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Angels, Oscar Colas Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels and outfielder Oscar Colas are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s expected to head to the Halos’ Double-A affiliate once he passes his physical, per the report.

Colas is the latest in a line of former top prospects to try to rebuild their careers with the Halos. The Angels have regularly given looks to once-vaunted talents who didn’t reach their potential through several auditions with their original organizations. Recent examples include Carter Kieboom, Willie Calhoun, Keston Hiura, Miguel Sano and Carson Fulmer, just to name a few.

The 26-year-old Colas was a notable international pickup by the White Sox during the 2021-22 signing period. He’d posted intriguing power numbers both in the Cuban National Series and in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Initial thought that he could be a two-way player based on some dabbling on the mound in Japan proved vastly overstated, but throughout Colas’ early run in the ChiSox organization, he was still lauded as a top-100 prospect in the sport.

During the 2022 season, his first after signing with the Sox, Colas ripped through minor league pitching, slashing .314/.371/.524 with 23 homers across three levels. Strong as those rate stats were, his production came with some red flags. Colas spent the bulk of the season playing against younger and less experienced competition, and he rarely walked. His strikeout rates also climbed rapidly as he moved from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A.

Colas made his big league debut the following year, in 2023, and looked overmatched against MLB opposition. He tallied 263 plate appearances over the life of 75 games and turned in an anemic .216/.257/.314 batting line with a hefty 27.6% strikeout rate against a tiny 4.6% walk rate. His overly aggressive approach was clearly exploited; Colas had the 13th-highest chase rate on pitches off the plate among the 328 batters who tallied at least 250 plate appearances in 2023. His contact rate ranked 289th among that same set of 328 hitters.

Colas still managed to hit Triple-A pitching well that season, but even his production in the upper minors dipped the following season. He .246/.332/.400 at the Triple-A level in 2024. Even as the White Sox fielded a historically bad team that season, he received only 38 major league plate appearances and hit just .273/.368/.273 in that time. He split 2025 between the White Sox’ Double-A and Triple-A squads, batting a combined .163/.245/.255 in 110 turns at the plate before being released.

At this point, Colas is a pure project, but there’s little harm for an Angels team with a paper-thin farm system speculating on a once-notable outfield prospect. Only two of the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com are outfielders. Nelson Rada is currently hitting well in Double-A but is only 19 years old. Matthew Lugo is on the big league roster but showing a similarly untenable approach to that of the recently optioned Kyren Paris — chasing pitches and striking out at alarming rates. Colas will have to hit his way into being an option whatsoever, but he’ll give them some depth at a thin position.

Ildemaro Vargas Opts Out Of Minor League Deal With D-backs

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Veteran utilityman Ildemaro Vargas triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal with the Diamondbacks and has been granted his release, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Arizona could have added him to the 40-man roster to retain him but have instead granted Vargas his release. He’s now a free agent.

The 33-year-old Vargas has appeared in parts of eight major league seasons and carries a lifetime .246/.289/.354 batting line in 1192 plate appearances split between the D-backs, Twins, Cubs, Pirates and Nationals. Arizona gave Vargas his major league debut back in 2017, and saw big league action with the Snakes in each subsequent season up through 2021. His return to the organization won’t culminate in a big league appearance this time around (barring a re-signing and some injuries that create a need at Chase Field).

Vargas has continued to showcase terrific bat-to-ball skills in Triple-A this year, fanning in only 9.5% of his 221 plate appearances. In 49 games with Reno, he’s batting .261/.330/.397 (78 wRC+) with five home runs, eight doubles, a pair of triples, four steals (in five tries) and an 8.6% walk rate. The versatile defender has seen time at second base, shortstop and third base this year — his three primary positions throughout his professional career. Vargas also has limited experience at first base and at all three outfield slots.

The switch-hitting Vargas has typically been better from the right side of the dish, but he’s had better luck swinging left-handed in 2025. He’s slashing .270/.329/.421 with 13 of his 15 extra-base hits while facing right-handed pitching in 2025; as a right-handed batter, he’s logged only a .234/.333/.319 output (albeit in a small sample of 54 plate appearances).

Though he can play all over the diamond, Vargas is best deployed as a second baseman or third baseman at this stage of his career. A team looking for some depth at those positions and perhaps more of an emergency option at short or in the outfield could take a look at the journeyman as he explores the market for new opportunities.

Angels Sign Chris Taylor, Option Kyren Paris

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4:19PM: The Angels officially announced Taylor’s signing, and Paris’ demotion to Triple-A.

4:00PM: The Angels are going to sign utility player Chris Taylor, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Halos haven’t officially announced anything but Rosenthal says Taylor will be playing center field tonight when the club squares off against the Yankees, so it seems he’s jumping right onto the roster and into the lineup. The Angels have an open 40-man spot after right-hander Shaun Anderson was recently designated for assignment. Per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, outfielder Kyren Paris will be optioned as the corresponding active roster move.

Taylor, 34, spent many years as a useful player for the Dodgers. He bounced all over the diamond, stole bases and was above average at the plate as well. The Dodgers valued those contributions enough to re-sign Taylor ahead of the 2022 season, a four-year, $60MM deal. Unfortunately, Taylor’s production has dropped in recent years, which has cut into his playing time. He has been unable to climb out of his hole while stuck in a part-time gig, so the Dodgers released him just over a week ago.

The Dodgers are still on the hook for what’s left of Taylor’s $13MM salary this year, as well as the $4MM buyout on Taylor’s $12MM 2026 club option. That makes this a buy-low move for the Angels. They will only have to pay Taylor the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Dodgers pay.

The Halos are presumably hoping that getting Taylor some regular playing time will help him get back on track. From 2017 to 2021, he hit .265/.343/.461 for a 116 wRC+, stealing 50 bases over that span while playing every position except for first base and the battery. But since then, he has a .222/.307/.369 line and 90 wRC+. Last year, he dropped to a .202/.298/.300 line and 74 wRC+. He has fallen even farther so far in 2025, with a .200/.200/.257 line and 23 wRC+.

Taylor’s versatility essentially makes him a more experienced version of Paris, who has seen time as a second baseman, shortstop, center fielder, and left fielder over his three MLB seasons. Paris appeared in 36 games with the Angels over the previous two seasons, but he got a much longer look this year, getting into 43 games while mostly toggling between second base and center field.

It seemed like Paris was cementing his place as a lineup regular when he got off to a hot start, but his bat has drastically cooled off after the season’s first two weeks. Over 140 PA, Paris has struck out a whopping 59 times, and his slash line is down to .190/.266/.381 with six home runs. Some time in the minors might help Paris stabilize things at the plate, and it should be noted that Paris has only 37 career games at the Triple-A level (all in 2024). The Angels continued their habit of aggressive prospect promotions by calling Paris up for his MLB debut in 2023 before Paris had even appeared to Triple-A.

Marlins To Place Derek Hill On 10-Day IL, Promote Victor Mesa Jr.

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The Marlins are calling up outfielder Victor Mesa Jr., according to reporter Francys Romero.  Mesa is already on the 40-man roster, and he’ll take the 26-man roster spot of outfielder Derek Hill, as MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola reports that Hill is being placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left wrist sprain.

This is the second time Hill has hit the IL with a wrist-related injury this season, as another sprain in that same left wrist cost him about four weeks of action from mid-April to mid-May.  While these injuries have certainly had some impact on Hill’s production, his .233/.300/.370 slash line over 82 plate appearances is pretty close to his career numbers over 558 PA across parts of the last six Major League seasons.

Known more for his speed and ability to play all three outfield positions, Hill has primarily played center field in Miami since the Marlins claimed him off waivers from the Giants last August.  With Hill and Dane Myers now both on the IL, the Fish are thin on center fielders, so Mesa could be in line for a good chunk of playing time as he nears his MLB debut.

The 23-year-old Mesa was a highly-regarded international signing back in 2018, as he landed a $1MM bonus while older brother Victor Victor Mesa received an even heftier $5.25MM bonus.  While the elder Mesa brother was considered an elite prospect at the time, Victor Victor hasn’t played in organized baseball since 2023, and the younger (and somewhat less-regarded) Victor Jr. has slowly climbed up the ladder of the Marlins’ farm system.

MLB Pipeline ranks Mesa Jr. 26th on their list of Miami’s top 30 prospects, and Baseball America has him in the final spot in its top-30 Marlins ranking.  Mesa is considered to be a solid defensive outfielder capable of playing all three positions, including right field thanks to his above-average throwing arm.  Mesa has a career .261/.323/.443 slash line in 379 PA at the Triple-A level, with 14 home runs and 80 strikeouts.  Prone to chasing pitches, Mesa has considerably reduced his strikeout rate this season, though he has appeared in just 16 total minor league games in 2025 due to an injury of his own.

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