Blue Jays Place Ross Stripling On Injured List, Select Connor Overton
The Blue Jays announced they’ve placed right-hander Ross Stripling on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain. Trent Thornton is being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo, while the Jays selected the contract of right-hander Connor Overton. To create 40-man roster space for Overton, Toronto designated righty Patrick Murphy for assignment.
Stripling has been a regular in the Jays starting five for much of the season. He’s made twenty appearances (nineteen starts) and worked 93 1/3 innings of 4.34 ERA/4.21 SIERA ball. Stripling has bounced back a bit from a 2020 season that saw him post a 5.84 ERA between the Dodgers and Jays, but he’s yet to regain the above-average form he showed during his best years in Los Angeles.
Toronto has been rolling with a six-man rotation recently. With Stripling out, it seems Hyun-jin Ryu, José Berríos, Robbie Ray, Alek Manoah and Steven Matz will get the ball more frequently over the coming days. The team didn’t provide a timetable on Stripling’s potential return.
Overton will be making his major league debut when he first gets into a game. Selected by the Marlins in the 15th round of the 2014 draft out of Old Dominion, Overton was released the following season. He’d go on to spend time in the Nationals’ and Giants’ organizations but didn’t get to the big leagues with either club.
The 28-year-old hooked on with the Jays on a minor league contract over the winter. He’s had a great season with the Bisons, working to a 2.03 ERA over 57 2/3 frames as a swingman. Overton has worked multiple innings in 17 of his 21 appearances in Triple-A, so he’ll serve as a long relief option for manager Charlie Montoyo. He’s never run particularly high strikeout rates, but Overton has been adept at avoiding walks and keeping the ball on the ground this season.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see the Jays designate Murphy, who will find himself on waivers in the coming days. The 26-year-old has long been regarded as one of the more talented pitching prospects in the organization, but a series of injuries has impeded his progress up the ladder. Murphy has had brief stints in the majors in each of the past two seasons, working 15 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball.
While his peripherals in that limited work haven’t been particularly impressive, he’s averaged north of 96 MPH on his sinker. Murphy has typically posted groundball rates approaching or exceeding 50% at each minor league level. A starting pitcher throughout much of that time, Murphy has worked exclusively out of the bullpen this season. He’s in his final minor league option year, so any team that claims him could keep him in Triple-A through the end of the season but would have to break camp with him beginning in 2022.
Tigers Select Renato Nunez, Place Akil Baddoo On 7-Day IL
The Tigers have selected the contract of infielder Renato Nunez, recalled infielder Zack Short from Triple-A Toledo and placed outfielders Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill on the injured list, per a club announcement. Baddoo is heading to the seven-day concussion list, while Hill has been placed on the 10-day IL with a ribcage contusion. Hill and Baddoo sustained their injuries on a frightening, full-speed collision at the wall in left-center field in yesterday’s win over the Orioles.
This will be the second big league stint of the season for Nunez, who hit .148/.207/.444 with a pair of homers in 29 plate appearances earlier in the year. The 27-year-old went unclaimed when Detroit placed him on waivers earlier in the year, and he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo, where he’s batted .291/.383/.585 (153 wRC+) with 20 home runs, 14 doubles and a pair of triples in 311 plate appearances.
The second big league stint could prove to be something of a longer-term audition for Nunez, who has a decent big league track record at the dish. From 2018-20, he posted a .250/.316/.457 batting line with 51 homers in 1076 plate appearances between Oakland and Baltimore. Nunez’s power production in Baltimore resulted in a good bit of surprise among fans when the O’s placed him on waivers prior to Dec. 2020’s non-tender deadline, but no team claimed the slugger, whose defensive limitations and sub-par on-base percentage have sapped some of the value that power brings to the table. That said, he’ll now get another run with the Tigers, who’ll have the option of controlling him all the way through 2024 if he impresses enough.
As for the 22-year-old Baddoo, the injury throws a wrench into his hopes for a late Rookie of the Year push. Baddoo was a surprising pick by the Tigers in the Rule 5 Draft, having missed most of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and spending the 2020 season recovering. He hadn’t played at either the Double-A or the Triple-A levels, but he’s shown barely any signs of rust, hitting at a .267/.333/.467 pace with 10 home runs, 18 doubles, six triples and 14 stolen bases. He wasn’t necessarily a Rookie of the Year favorite, but Baddoo, Randy Arozarena, Luis Garcia and Cole Irvin are among the AL rookies who could’ve conceivably separated themselves with a big finish.
There’s no word on how long Baddoo will be sidelined, as it’s difficult to project recovery timetables for concussions and concussion-like symptoms. He’ll spend at least a week on the shelf, though, and he’ll automatically be moved to the 10-day IL if he’s not ready for reinstatement once 10 days have passed.
Hill, meanwhile, had been in line for his first real look in center field at the big league level. Through 87 plate appearances, the former first-rounder was batting .250/.345/.316 with a home run, a triple and six steals. As with Baddoo, there’s no projected timetable for his recovery. With Baddoo and Hill both joining Daz Cameron on the injured list, the Tigers will look to Robbie Grossman, Victor Reyes and perhaps Harold Castro or Nunez in the outfield.
Nationals Select Sean Nolin
The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Sean Nolin from Triple-A Rochester. Fellow southpaw Sam Clay was optioned to Rochester to open a spot on the 26-man roster, while a 40-man roster spot was opened by transferring right-hander Stephen Strasburg from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Strasburg recently underwent season-ending thoracic outlet surgery.
Remarkably, this call to the big leagues will mark Nolin’s first big league action in nearly six years. The now-31-year-old lefty tossed 29 innings as a September call-up with the A’s that season — his lone action in Oakland after coming over alongside Kendall Graveman, Brett Lawrie and Franklin Barreto in the trade that sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto.
As one might imagine given Nolin’s inclusion in a swap of that magnitude, the left-hander was once a rather well-regarded prospect. Baseball Prospectus tabbed him among the game’s 100 most promising minor leaguers headed into the 2013 season. That ranking came on the heels of a 2.04 ERA in 101 1/3 combined innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, and he followed it with 110 1/3 frames of 2.77 ERA ball split between Double-A and Triple-A the following season.
A promising future for Nolin was largely derailed by injuries, however. Nolin underwent “bilateral core surgery” in the 2014-15 offseason — the same procedure Luke Voit had after the 2019 campaign — and he subsequently injured his shoulder about six weeks after returning. Nolin made it back to the mound in 2015 for that previously mentioned September run, but he was designated for assignment over the winter and landed with the Brewers. Things went from bad to worse in Milwaukee, as Nolin tore his left UCL during Spring Training and eventually required Tommy John surgery.
That injury and surgery wiped out Nolin’s 2016 and 2017 campaigns, and he went on to bounce about the game in journeyman fashion. He’s since pitched with the Rockies, Mariners and White Sox in addition to stints in the independent Atlantic League, in Mexico and in Japan, where he spent the 2020 season with the Seibu Lions.
Nolin didn’t fare especially well overseas, but he’s been effective in his return to affiliated ball. In 47 1/3 innings with the Nationals’ Rochester affiliate, he’s notched a 3.80 earned run average with a 26 percent strikeout rate and a 7.5 percent walk rate while keeping the ball on the ground at an above-average 47.7 percent clip. Nolin doesn’t even have two years of Major League service time, so if he can parlay this improbable opportunity into a lasting place in the Washington ‘pen for the remainder of the season, he could be an option for the Nats well beyond the 2021 season.
Diamondbacks Claim J.B. Wendelken
The D-backs have claimed right-hander J.B. Wendelken off waivers from the Athletics, reports FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). The A’s designated him for assignment just yesterday.
It’d have been surprising for a team in the Diamondbacks’ position — dismal bullpen, No. 1 waiver priority, multiple open 40-man spots — to pass on Wendelken. The right-hander hasn’t had a great season in Oakland, but his work leading up to the 2021 campaign was quite strong.
From 2018-20, Wendelken pitched 74 1/3 innings for the A’s, working to a 2.30 ERA with a strong 26.4 percent strikeout rate and a very solid 8.4 percent walk rate. The righty also thrived in terms of limiting hard contact, yielding an 86.6 mph average exit velocity, a 30.6 percent overall hard-hit rate and just a 2.1 percent barrel rate. Fielding-independent pitching metrics weren’t quite as bullish as his baseline ERA (3.04 FIP, 3.72 SIERA) but still generally agreed that Wendelken was a solid reliever.
The 2021 season hasn’t gone quite as well, but Wendelken has pitched to a respectable 4.32 ERA in 25 frames. His 22.2 percent strikeout rate is his lowest since a brief rookie debut in 2016, and his 11.1 percent walk rate is a career-high. Still, the 28-year-old has continued to limit hard contact effectively, and his swinging-strike and chase rates have actually improved over their 2020 marks.
Wendelken will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, and the D-backs can control him through the 2024 season via that arbitration process. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the big league roster, but based on his past 100 innings in the Majors, there’s reason to think he can stick.
It’s always possible that Wendelken’s strikeout and walk tendencies continue to trend in the wrong direction, but there’s no reason for the last-place D-backs to pass on a risk-free flier. Arizona relievers rank second-to-last in the Majors with a combined 5.41 ERA, so Wendelken is an upgrade even if he doesn’t quite return to his peak form.
Braves Activate Travis d’Arnaud, Designate Kevan Smith
The Braves announced Wednesday morning that they’ve reinstated catcher Travis d’Arnaud from the 60-day injured list and opened a spot on the roster by designating fellow backstop Kevan Smith for assignment.
The 32-year-old d’Arnaud played in just 23 games this season before undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his thumb. It wasn’t an especially productive start to the campaign for d’Arnaud, who batted just .220/.253/.341 in 87 plate appearances. However, the veteran backstop posted a mammoth .321/.386/.533 line with nine homers and eight doubles in 187 plate appearances for the Braves in 2020.
The 2021 season is the second of a two-year, $16MM deal inked by d’Arnaud in the 2019-20 offseason. He signed that deal on the heels of a breakout .263/.323/.459 run through 92 games with the Rays. All told, over the past three seasons, the former No. 37 overall pick and longtime top prospect has combined for a healthy .266/.325/.448 batting line. That’s about six percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+, but it’s particularly hearty output for a catcher. Dating back to 2019, the average catcher has been about 12 percent worse than league average at the plate.
Atlanta gets its starting catcher back at a pivotal juncture, as the Mets have begun to fade after a nearly three-month run atop the division. Both the Braves and the Phillies have overtaken the Mets, and it’s now Philadelphia that holds a one-game lead over Atlanta and a two-game lead over New York. A healthy d’Arnaud will go a long ways toward improving the Braves’ lineup, as neither Smith nor deadline acquisition Stephen Vogt has provided much of anything with the bat since joining the organization.
Smith, 33, came to the Braves with a solid enough track record at the plate — .272/.321/.384 in 726 plate appearances from 2016-20 — but hasn’t been able to come close to his former levels of production. In 101 plate appearances with the Braves, he’s mustered a tepid .165/.248/.198 batting line with a 28.7 percent strikeout rate that is more than 10 percent higher than his career mark. The Braves will put Smith on outright waivers or release waivers within the next week.
Red Sox Sign Alex Claudio
The Red Sox have signed left-hander Alex Claudio to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Worcester, relays Bill Koch of the Providence Journal (Twitter link). The veteran southpaw was released by the Angels last month.
Claudio signed with Los Angeles on a one-year contract over the offseason on the heels of a pair of decent but unspectacular years with the Brewers. The 29-year-old was a frequently-utilized option for Angels manager Joe Maddon, who turned to him 41 times over the club’s first 98 games. Claudio pitched to a career-worst 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 frames, partially due to the highest walk rate (10.1%) of his career.
That said, Claudio did strike out batters at a 20.3% clip, the highest rate of his career (excluding his 12 1/3 inning debut season in 2014). That’s well below league average for a reliever, but the soft-tossing Claudio has long been known as a groundball specialist. He’s no longer inducing grounders on over 60% of balls in play — as he did at his 2016-18 peak with the Rangers — but the southpaw’s 52% grounder rate this season remains above-average.
In other Red Sox news, Koch notes that Worcester released reliever Marcus Walden over the weekend. The 32-year-old pitched 106 innings of 4.50 ERA ball for the Red Sox between 2018-20 but was outrighted off the 40-man roster in Spring Training. Walden worked 42 2/3 innings with Worcester this year, posting a 4.01 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate.
Marlins Outright Austin Pruitt
AUGUST 10: Pruitt has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-Jacksonville, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. As a player with more than three years of MLB service, Pruitt had the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Doing so would’ve meant forfeiting the remainder of his $617.5K salary, though, and he has indeed accepted an assignment to Jacksonville, where he made his first appearance this evening. If he’s not selected back to the 40-man roster before the end of the season, Pruitt will qualify for minor league free agency this winter.
AUGUST 5: The Marlins are designating right-hander Austin Pruitt for assignment in order to open a roster spot for lefty Braxton Garrett to be recalled from Triple-A, tweets Christina De Nicola of MLB.com.
It’s a bit of a surprise, given that Miami just acquired Pruitt alongside outfield prospect Bryan De La Cruz in the trade that sent right-hander Yimi Garcia to Houston. Then again, Pruitt himself was in DFA limbo at the time of that swap, having recently been designated by the Astros. It was clear at the time that De La Cruz was Miami’s target in that swap, and today’s move only further underscores that reality.
Pruitt, 31, did appear in one game with the Marlins and toss a scoreless inning. He’s pitched just 3 2/3 innings so far in 2021, allowing a pair of runs on four hits with no walks and a strikeout in that short time. That marks Pruitt’s first action since the 2019 season; he missed all of the 2020 campaign with an elbow fracture that required surgical repair — a procedure that also sidelined him well into the 2021 season.
Prior to that injury, Pruitt had spent parts of three seasons with the Rays, working to a 4.87 ERA and 4.28 FIP in 199 2/3 frames. Pruitt didn’t miss tons bats in that time (17.2 percent strikeout rate, 9.9 percent swinging-strike rate), but he excelled at keeping the ball on the ground, inducing weak contact and limiting walks. Pruitt’s 5.8 percent walk rate in that three-year stretch was considerably better than the league average, and he also posted a healthy 48.9 percent grounder rate while getting opponents to chase out of the strike zone at a hearty 34.2 percent clip. Those traits, plus elite spin rates on his curveball, all surely appealed to Houston when trading for Pruitt in the 2019-20 offseason.
With the deadline to trade big league players behind us, Pruitt will be placed on either outright waivers or release waivers. Any of the other 29 teams will have the opportunity to claim.
Garrett, the No. 7 overall draft pick in 2016, returns to the Majors on his 24th birthday. He’s tossed 22 1/3 innings for Miami already this season, working to a 4.37 ERA with a below-average 20.2 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate.
Astros Reinstate Pedro Baez From Injured List
The Astros announced they’re activating reliever Pedro Báez from the 60-day injured list in advance of tonight’s game against the Rockies. Bullpen colleague Rafael Montero is landing on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort in a corresponding move. To open space for Báez on the 40-man roster, the club transferred righty Andre Scrubb from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Báez, signed to a two-year deal over the winter, is finally in line to make his Astros debut. The 33-year-old missed a few weeks in Spring Training after testing positive for COVID-19, then felt soreness in his right shoulder during his attempt to ramp up a throwing program. The latter issue has kept him out of action for the past few months as the soreness has persisted. Fortunately, he’s now apparently healthy and able to contribute for the stretch run.
During his time with the Dodgers, Báez was quietly one of the league’s more consistent and productive relievers. He posted an ERA between 2.63 and 3.35 during each of his seven seasons in L.A. While Báez’s run prevention numbers never wavered, his peripherals have tailed off in recent seasons. The righty struck out a career-worst 18.6% of opponents last year with accompanying dips in swinging strike rate and velocity.
That came in a 17-inning sample during an anomalous year, though, and the Astros felt comfortable enough to add Báez on a $12.5MM guarantee. If he pitches at or near the level he showed throughout his Dodgers’ tenure, Báez would be a significant upgrade to a Houston relief unit that’s middle of the pack in terms of ERA (3.97) and strikeout/walk rate differential (15.2 percentage points).
Houston added Montero alongside Kendall Graveman from the Mariners at the trade deadline as part of an effort to shore up the bullpen. Montero had a nightmarish time in Seattle, but he’d begun his Astros tenure with six innings of one-run ball. He left Sunday’s game against the Twins with a shoulder issue, though, and his recovery timeline remains uncertain.
Scrubb is also down with a shoulder issue. The 26-year-old landed on the IL on July 19 with a strain. Today’s transfer rules him out for sixty days from that date, so he’s looking at a mid-September return in a best case scenario. There’s no word on whether or not the team expects he’ll be able to pitch again this season.
Manager Dusty Baker provided reporters (including Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle and Mark Berman of FOX 26) with updates on a pair of different injured players. Star third baseman Alex Bregman still isn’t ready to return, and his allotted twenty-day rehab window has passed. League rules stipulate that position players not prepared to return after the conclusion of their rehab period must remain inactive for at least five days before reembarking on a minor league assignment, so Bregman can’t return to game action until Friday.
Starter José Urquidy, meanwhile, is scheduled to begin his own rehab assignment tomorrow. Baker said the club is hopeful he’ll be back on a big league mound by September 1. Urquidy has been out since June 30 with right shoulder discomfort.
Rays Reinstate Randy Arozarena; Place Ryan Yarbrough On COVID-IL, DJ Johnson On 10-Day IL
5:21 pm: Cash didn’t sound particularly optimistic regarding Johnson’s prognosis, noting that the righty’s shoulder injury is “pretty severe” and will require him to miss “substantial time” (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).
1:37 pm: The Rays announced a series of roster moves, including the reinstatement of outfielder Randy Arozarena from the COVID-related injury list and the placement of right-hander DJ Johnson on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder sprain. While these transactions were expected, the club also announced that southpaw Ryan Yarbrough has been placed on the COVID-19 list. Righty Louis Head has been recalled from Triple-A to take Yarbrough’s roster spot.
League rules don’t require Yarbrough’s exact situation to be made public, so it isn’t known whether or not the lefty has tested positive for the coronavirus himself, or if he is being held out as a precautionary measure due to contact tracing or symptoms. (Yarbrough had another brief one-day stint on the COVID-IL earlier this season due to vaccine side effects.) Whatever the reason, it would now seem unlikely that Yarbrough will make his next scheduled start on Wednesday against the Red Sox, so the Rays may need to go with a bullpen game in this key AL East matchup.
Yarbrough has a 4.76 ERA/4.26 SIERA over 119 innings, usually working as a traditional starting pitcher but also making a few appearances as a bulk pitcher behind an opener. The southpaw is among the league’s best pitchers at limiting hard contact and avoiding walks, though his 19.6% strikeout rate is far below average.
Arozarena returns after just a few days on the COVID-IL for being a close contact to a positive case. Head is also back in the big leagues in short order after being optioned to Triple-A over the weekend, as teams are able to make quick recalls of players in the event of injury.
Johnson’s shoulder problem arose during Sunday’s game, with the right-hander falling to the ground after throwing a pitch. Manager Kevin Cash ominously reported that Johnson said he felt a crack in his shoulder, though further tests revealed only a sprain rather than a more serious injury. Johnson was making his third appearance for Tampa Bay after being acquired in a deadline deal with the Indians.
Cubs Activate Rowan Wick From Injured List
The Cubs are activating reliever Rowan Wick from the 60-day injured list before the second game of today’s doubleheader with the Brewers, the team informed reporters (including Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’ll be making his season debut whenever he gets into a game. The Cubs already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is required.
Wick hasn’t pitched since last September on account of a left oblique strain. The righty was one of the Cubs’ top relievers from 2019-20, combining for 50 2/3 innings of 2.66 ERA ball. Wick punched out a solid 25.7% of batters faced in that time, albeit with a slightly elevated 10.3% walk rate.
At 52-62, the Cubs have fallen into fourth place in the National League Central. The team is playing out the string at this point. Still, Wick’s return gives him a few weeks to log some innings and look to cement himself as a back-end option for the team going into 2022.