Blue Jays Place Rafael Dolis On 10-Day IL, Select Jared Hoying
The Blue Jays announced some roster moves prior to tonight’s game with the Yankees, including the news that right-hander Rafael Dolis has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right middle finger strain. In addition, outfielder Teoscar Hernandez has been placed on the paternity list. Filling the roster spots will be right-hander T.J. Zeuch (called up from Triple-A to start tonight’s game) and outfielder Jared Hoying, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A. Carl Edwards Jr. has been moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man roster spot for Hoying.
The injury continues a tough season for Dolis, who has a 5.14 ERA/4.86 SIERA over 21 innings. After overcoming some notable control issues (14% walk rate) to post a 1.50 ERA over 24 frames for Toronto in 2020, the free passes became even more of a problem this year, with Dolis walking 17.3% of all batters faced. That is the ninth-highest walk rate of any hurler in baseball this season with at least 20 innings pitched.
Zeuch will get the start in place of Steven Matz, who is recovering from a positive (but asymptomatic) COVID-19 test. Since the Jays have an off-day on Monday, this could potentially be the only game they need to fill if Matz is able to return as quickly as possible, though Zeuch could put himself in line for another start with a solid performance tonight. The 25-year-old righty has 46 career MLB innings to his record since 2019, including a 6.75 ERA over 12 frames of work this season. Zeuch has been used as a starter, reliever, and bulk pitcher (behind an opener) during his brief career, so the Blue Jays have some flexibility in how they’ll use him as Matz’s replacement.
Hoying signed a minor league contract with Toronto in May, and he now might be lined up for his first bit of big league action since 2017. Hoying’s MLB resume consists of 74 games and a .220/.262/.288 slash line over 126 plate appearances with the Rangers in 2016-17. After a brief stay in the Angels organization on a minor league deal, Hoying joined the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO, hitting .284/.345/.498 over 1249 PA in parts of three seasons in South Korea.
White Sox Place Adam Eaton On 10-Day Injured List
The White Sox placed outfielder Adam Eaton the 10-day injured list today due to a strained right hamstring. The placement is retroactive to June 15. Right-hander Zack Burdi was promoted from Triple-A to take Eaton’s spot on the active roster.
With Eaton sidelined, this means that Chicago’s entire projected Opening Day outfield is now on the injured list. While Eaton’s hamstring problem doesn’t seem nearly as serious as the injuries that have sidelined Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert for the bulk of the season, it does underline how the Sox have managed to adapt and thrive despite these significant setbacks. In particular, hamstring and leg injuries have struck several White Sox players this season, with GM Rick Hahn recently discussing about how the team has been trying to figure out if there is any sort of root cause behind this unusual recurring issue.
Originally a member of the White Sox from 2014-16, Eaton returned to the Windy City this offseason after signing a one-year free agent deal worth $8MM in guaranteed money (including the $1MM buyout of an $8.5MM club option the Sox hold on Eaton for 2022). The results haven’t been good at the plate, as Eaton is hitting .195/.296/.345 over 203 plate appearances and his 25.1% strikeout rate is the highest of his career.
With Eaton gone, the Sox have Andrew Vaughn, Adam Engel, and Brian Goodwin as their starting outfield, with Jake Lamb and Leury Garcia able to fill in as part-timers. Outfield already seemed like a target area for the White Sox at the trade deadline given the uncertainty over Jimenez and Robert, and if Eaton ends up having to miss more time beyond the 10-day minimum, the club could be inspired to make a move sooner rather than later to shore up depth.
Cardinals Sign Wade LeBlanc
The Cardinals announced the signing of left-hander Wade LeBlanc. The deal is apparently a Major League contract, as LeBlanc will move directly onto the Cards’ active roster. In corresponding moves, right-hander Seth Elledge was optioned to Triple-A, and infielder Max Moroff was moved from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL.
LeBlanc is now lined up to pitch for the ninth different team of his 13-season MLB career. LeBlanc was also briefly a member of the Brewers and Rangers organizations within the last two months, signing minor league contracts with both clubs but not receiving a promotion to the majors.
This transactional carousel began after the Orioles outrighted LeBlanc in April, and the veteran southpaw decided to become a free agent. The move ended a tough two-year stint for LeBlanc in Baltimore that saw him post an 8.38 ERA over 29 innings, with LeBlanc starting seven of his 12 total appearances in the black-and-orange.
St. Louis manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat and The Athletic’s Katie Woo) that the Cardinals will mostly use LeBlanc as a relief pitcher. While LeBlanc’s recent results don’t exactly indicate a quick fix for a struggling Cards bullpen, he can at least provide the team with some depth as a long man, and perhaps even as a spot starter in the event of more injuries within the rotation. LeBlanc’s splits against left-handed batters have still been generally good, so a more situational usage — within the boundaries of the three-batter rule — might be the more optimal way to deploy the southpaw at this stage of his career.
“He’s got versatility. He’s not overly splitty, throws strikes to both righties and lefties. But he’s built up, he’s got some length,” Shildt said.
NPB’s Orix Buffaloes Sign Rangel Ravelo
First baseman/outfielder Rangel Ravelo has signed with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to reporters Francys Romero and Yusseff Diaz (Twitter link). Ravelo had previously been on a minor league contract with the Dodgers, but the two sides worked out a deal for Orix to purchase Ravelo’s rights earlier this week.
As noted by Romero, there was some expectation that Ravelo would receive a promotion to the Dodgers’ big league roster, considering that Ravelo was crushing Triple-A pitching. The 29-year-old had a .407/.504/.758 slash line and eight homers over 113 plate appearances for the Oklahoma City affiliate, though the Dodgers didn’t turn to Ravelo even after multiple injuries created opening on the MLB roster.
Ravelo will now head to Japan for a new chapter in his 12-year professional career. A sixth-round pick for the White Sox in the 2010 draft, Ravelo was part of one of the more notable trades in recent Athletics history — Ravelo, Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt, and Josh Phegley all went to Oakland in December 2014 while Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa were sent to Chicago. Ravelo didn’t reach the majors until 2019 as a member of the Cardinals, however, and Ravelo hit .189/.250/.351 over 84 PA with St. Louis in 2019-20. After being non-tendered by the Cards last winter, Ravelo signed on with Los Angeles.
Rangers Acquire Dennis Santana, Designate Hyeon-jong Yang
The Rangers announced they’ve acquired right-hander Dennis Santana from the Dodgers in exchange for left-handed pitching prospect Kelvin Bautista. To create 40-man roster space for Santana, Texas designated left-hander Hyeon-jong Yang for assignment. Texas optioned Santana to Triple-A Round Rock.
The Dodgers designated Santana for assignment last week. The 25-year-old saw big league action in each season between 2018-21. Across 40 2/3 MLB innings, Santana has only managed a 6.42 ERA/4.88 SIERA with worse than average strikeout and walk rates (18.7% and 11.9%, respectively). He’s fared particularly poorly this season, allowing eleven runs (ten earned) on eighteen hits and eleven walks with just eight strikeouts across fifteen frames.
To Santana’s credit, he has induced ground balls at a robust 54.9% clip in 2021. That’s a new development but not all that surprising for a pitcher who leans primarily on a 95 MPH sinker. Santana, though, throws an extremely high-spin sinker. Unlike with four-seam fastballs, sinkers tend to fare better as low-spin offerings, since higher-spin heaters can resist gravity and be less likely to dive down towards the bottom of the strike zone.
Nevertheless, Santana’s three-pitch mix (he throws a slider and changeup with relatively equal frequency) has long intrigued scouts. Entering the year, Baseball America ranked Santana the Dodgers #19 prospect, praising his repertoire but questioning his command. The Rangers will now attempt to actualize that upside. Santana is in his final minor league option year, so he can be sent back and forth between Arlington and Round Rock without being exposed to waivers for the remainder of this season. While all 32 of his MLB appearances have come in relief, Santana has started the majority of his minor league games, so it’s possible the Rangers could try to lengthen him back out as rotation depth.
Yang loses his roster spot after eight appearances (four starts). Signed to a minor league deal over the winter after a lengthy, successful career in the Korea Baseball Organization, the 33-year-old was selected to Texas’ MLB roster in late April. Yang struggled in 29 big league innings, working to a 5.59 ERA with a subpar 15% strikeout rate and an elevated 11.8% walk rate. The Rangers will have a week to trade him or place him on outright waivers.
Bautista signed with the Rangers as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic during the 2017-18 international signing period. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Bautista the #62 prospect in the Texas farm system last month, noting that the diminutive southpaw throws in the mid-upper 90s with a promising but inconsistent curveball and subpar command.
Indians Select Ryan Lavarnway
The Indians announced they’ve placed catcher Austin Hedges on the seven-day concussion injured list. Veteran backstop Ryan Lavarnway has been selected to the roster to pair with René Rivera in Hedges’ absence. To create 40-man roster space for Lavarnway, Cleveland transferred outfielder Jordan Luplow from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Lavarnway, who’ll get the start behind the plate this afternoon against the Orioles, will be making his first MLB appearance of 2021. It’ll mark his fifth consecutive year getting big league time (and his tenth overall), each of the last five with a different club. Lavarnway has suited up for the A’s, Pirates, Reds and Marlins over the last four years, totaling fewer than twenty plate appearances at each stop. A quintessential third catcher, the 33-year-old has appeared for seven teams in total (the Indians will be his eighth) and hit .215/.272/.344 across 456 MLB plate appearances. He’s hit .258/.313/.551 in 97 trips to the dish this year with Triple-A Columbus.
Hedges missed yesterday’s game with an illness that now appears to be related to a concussion. This is the second time in his MLB career he’s gone on the concussion IL. The defensive specialist has hit just .144/.205/.240 so far this season.
Luplow has been on the injured list since May 27. His transfer rules him out for sixty days from the date of that original placement, so he’ll now be ineligible to return to the majors until late July. Before the injury, the 27-year-old had posted an odd, but fairly productive, .173/.331/.439 line (113 wRC+) with seven homers across 121 plate appearances. Luplow’s on-base and slugging percentages exceed the respective major league averages of .317 and .405 despite the low batting average.
President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti provided reporters (including Mandy Bell of MLB.com and Zack Meisel of the Athletic) updates on a few other injured players this morning. Designated hitter Franmil Reyes and catcher Roberto Pérez could begin minor league rehab assignments within the next week. Starter Zach Plesac, meanwhile, is slated to throw a bullpen session tomorrow and could embark on a rehab assignment of his own in the next couple weeks.
Nationals Place Starlin Castro On Restricted List, Call Up Luis Garcia
12:42PM: Castro went on the restricted list because he is “dealing with a family matter which requires his immediate attention,” a source tells Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post.
11:23AM: The Nationals announced that infielder Starlin Castro has been placed on the restricted list. Infielder Luis Garcia has been called up from Triple-A to take Castro’s spot on the 26-man roster.
No further details were released about Castro’s situation, though he didn’t play in last night’s game against the Pirates. After his debut season with the Nats in 2020 was cut short by a broken wrist, Castro has struggled to a .239/.287/.312 slash line over 254 plate appearances this season. Castro’s .266 wOBA is one of the lowest in the league and his .296 xwOBA isn’t much better, as the veteran isn’t making much hard contact whatsoever.
Castro has played almost every inning at third base for Washington this season, so depending on how long he is absent, the Nats will have a major hole to fill in their lineup. Jordy Mercer, Josh Harrison, or Garcia could all get some playing time at the hot corner while Castro is gone. Garcia hasn’t hit much over 152 career PA in the big leagues, but the former top-100 prospect has been swinging the bat well at Triple-A Rochester this season, hitting .270/.336/.478 with seven homers in 128 PA.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/16/21
The latest minor moves from around the league:
- The Red Sox announced that right-hander Brandon Brennan has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Worcester. Evidently, he’s accepted the assignment, as Brennan is listed on Worcester’s active roster. Boston designated him for assignment last weekend after he made one MLB appearance, tossing three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He has a 2.16 ERA in 8 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year, with eleven strikeouts and five walks.
- The Yankees announced they’ve activated outfielder Ryan LaMarre from the injured list and passed him through outright waivers. New York selected LaMarre, whom they signed to a minor league deal over the winter, to the roster when Aaron Hicks went down in mid-May. The 32-year-old LaMarre went down with an injury himself just three days later and went on the IL. He’s been outrighted before in his career, so he has the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
COVID Notes: 6/16/21
Here are the latest updates on coronavirus-related situations around baseball…
Latest Updates
- The Astros are placing outfielder Kyle Tucker on the COVID-19 IL, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle was among those to relay. Tucker has missed the past two games as he’s been feeling under the weather. Infielder Abraham Toro is up from Triple-A Sugar Land to take his active roster spot. [UPDATE: General Manager James Click told reporters (including Mark Berman of Fox 26) Tucker has been placed on the IL because he developed COVID-like symptoms. The team hopes “it’s a short-term” absence.]
Earlier Notes
- The Rays placed right-hander Collin McHugh on the COVID-related injury list, and called up right-hander Chris Mazza from Triple-A to take McHugh’s spot on the active roster. McHugh is receiving rapid testing after feeling sick this morning, manager Kevin Cash told The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters, so the COVID-IL placement is precautionary. After missing the 2020 season with injuries, McHugh has rebounded to post a 2.70 ERA/2.38 SIERA over 23 1/3 innings for the Rays this year, with an elite 37.1% strikeout rate and an above-average 7.2% walk rate. [UPDATE: McHugh has tested negative for the virus and is feeling a bit better, manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Topkin).]
Cubs Select Robert Stock, Place Dillon Maples On IL
The Cubs announced a series of moves before tonight’s game against the Mets. Robert Stock was selected to the roster, while Cory Abbott was recalled from Triple-A Iowa. Dillon Maples was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 15, with a right triceps strain, and Trevor Megill was optioned to Iowa. To create 40-man roster space for Stock’s selection, Chicago transferred catcher P.J. Higgins from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Chicago claimed Stock off waivers over the winter, but they ultimately outrighted him off the 40-man before the season began. The hard-throwing righty has spent the year in Iowa, where he’s tossed 19 2/3 innings of 4.12 ERA ball. That’s not an eye-catching level of run prevention, but Stock’s peripherals look much better. He’s punched out 30.5% of opponents in Triple-A while walking just 4.9% of batters faced.
The latter number is especially crucial for Stock, who’s been plagued by control issues at the big league level in recent seasons. The 31-year-old walked an untenable 15.3% of hitters with the Padres and Red Sox between 2019-20, contributing to a 7.13 ERA over 24 frames. The Cubs will give him a chance to carry over his seeming newfound control at the big league level. Stock’s 2021 MLB debut will come tonight, as he’s on the mound as an opener against New York.
Losing Maples is a tough blow for the Cubs bullpen. The 29-year-old has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past five seasons, but his 22 2/3 innings this year is easily a career-high. Maples has pitched to a sterling 1.99 ERA over that time with elite strikeout (33.7%) and ground ball (52.3%) numbers. Maples boasts some of the best stuff in baseball, with elite velocity and spin on each of his four-seam fastball, cutter-slider and curveball. He’s always walked a fine line with his control, though, and Maples has continued to dole out free passes at an alarming rate (14.7%) this season.
Higgins went on the IL last week with a forearm strain. He’ll now be sidelined until at least mid-August. Recent testing revealed more significant damage than expected in his elbow, reports Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 28-year-old Higgins has picked up his first 25 MLB plate appearances this season, serving as a backup to Willson Contreras.