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Red Sox Place Tanner Houck On Injured List With Flexor Pronator Strain

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The Red Sox have placed right-handed starting pitcher Tanner Houck on the 15-day injured list with a flexor pronator strain in his pitching arm. In a corresponding move, the team recalled fellow right-hander Cooper Criswell from Triple-A.

Following a strong 2024 season, Houck has not pitched well in 2025. Through nine starts, he is 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA. He has struck out just 32 batters in 43 2/3 innings, while walking 17 and hitting five. On two separate occasions, including his most recent outing on Monday, he has given up 11 earned runs in a start and failed to escape the third inning. If those two games were scratched from the register, his ERA would drop to 3.92, and his strikeout and walk rates would look much closer to what they were last season. But of course, there’s no pretending those blow-ups didn’t happen. Now, at least, Houck and the Red Sox might have an explanation for his struggles.

After Monday’s game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told Chris Cotillo of MassLive that he was still trying to figure out why Houck had been so ineffective. “I’ve got to take a look at the video and we’ve got to see what we’re gonna do,” he explained. “Right now, it’s too fresh. It’s too quick. We have to take a look at it and see if it’s mechanical, usage, or where we’re at.” At that point in time, the skipper didn’t suggest the problem could be injury-related. Indeed, Cotillo notes that as recently as this afternoon, Cora continued to insist that Houck would start again this weekend. Now, Houck will not be able to return for at least two weeks. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out.

The Red Sox have not confirmed whether Criswell will make a start in Houck’s place. Criswell was more than serviceable as a starter last season, pitching to a 3.49 ERA and 4.21 FIP in 18 starts. While he failed to earn a rotation spot out of spring training, he has started his last four games at Triple-A to great success. In 20 2/3 innings, he has a 1.74 ERA with 27 strikeouts. Still, it’s possible he was called up to be an extra arm out of the bullpen instead. The Red Sox might prefer to move Sean Newcomb back from the bullpen into the rotation. After all, Newcomb beat out Criswell for a rotation spot on the Opening Day roster. Newcomb was also the reliever who came out of the bullpen and gave the team 5 2/3 strong innings on Monday after Houck’s early exit. In other words, he’s stretched out enough to start, and he’s on schedule to seamlessly take over for Houck.

There is also a chance the Red Sox won’t need either of Criswell or Newcomb to step up. They could skip Houck’s turn in the rotation and give the ball to Brayan Bello on Sunday, a course of action made possible by an off day on Thursday. Then, Walker Buehler, who is expected to be activated from the IL early next week (per Cotillo), could potentially make the start on Monday, giving Boston a rotation of Bello, Buehler, Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito, and Hunter Dobbins. This is only an option, however, if Buehler is ready to go by Monday. While the Red Sox are planning for him to rejoin the team at some point during their series with the Mets, it’s not yet clear if Monday is a realistic date for his return.

Astros Designate Tayler Scott For Assignment

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The Astros have designated right-hander Tayler Scott for assignment, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. That’s the corresponding move for lefty Colton Gordon, whose promotion was reported earlier this week. Gordon was already on the 40-man, so this drops the club’s count to 39.

Scott, 33 next month, seemed to have a bit of a breakout with the Astros in 2024. After years of bouncing around to various major league clubs, minor league clubs, indy ball teams and a stint in Japan, he signed a minor league pact with Houston in December of 2023.

He made the Opening Day roster last year and went on to log 68 2/3 innings on the season, allowing just 2.23 earned runs per nine. His 12.4% walk rate was certainly on the high side but his 42.4% ground ball rate was around league average, while his 25.2% strikeout rate was a few ticks above par. He likely got a bit of help from his .230 batting average on balls in play and 84.9% strand rate, but even ERA estimators like his 4.13 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggested he could be a useful bullpen arm even with a bit less luck.

Unfortunately, almost everything has gone in the wrong direction this year. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has a 5.40 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 15.4% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate. That has clearly worn out Houston’s patience. Scott is out of options, so they had little choice but to bump him off the 40-man entirely.

Scott will now be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Astros could take five days to explore trade possibilities. Perhaps some club in need of bullpen help could be interested, if they feel there’s a way for Scott to get back to last year’s results.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea,Imagn Images

Tigers Select Akil Baddoo, Option Jace Jung

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The Tigers announced that they have selected outfielder Akil Baddoo to the 40-man roster. Infielder Jace Jung has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster already had a couple of vacancies, due to recently cutting Kenta Maeda and Manuel Margot, so no move was required to open a spot in that regard. Chris McCosky of Detroit News first reported that Baddoo was at the ballpark today and that Jung would be optioned for him.

Jung, 24, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect but the Tigers are still waiting for him to click at the big league level. He was promoted late last year and put up a serviceable .241/.362/.304 line in his first 34 big league games, though he did that while striking out at a 30.9% pace. The Tigers clearly weren’t fully convinced by that performance, as they made a strong push to sign Alex Bregman in the offseason, though he went to Boston instead.

Coming into this year, Jung struggled in the spring, hitting .121/.216/.273. He was optioned down to the minors prior to Opening Day but crushed it in Triple-A, slashing .239/.409/.463. That got him recalled three weeks into April but he hasn’t done much with the opportunity. His 28.3% strikeout rate is a slight improvement relative to last year but he has no extra-base hits, leading to a .111/.245/.111 line.

The Tigers apparently want him to work things out with more time on the farm, though he doesn’t have much left to prove there. He slashed .257/.377/.454 for a 123 wRC+ at the Triple-A level last year and, as mentioned, was good at that level for a spell this year. Still, it’s understandable that the club considers his current performance unacceptable for a competitive big league club.

The length of this optional assignment could be significant for Jung. He came into this year with 45 days of major league service time, putting him 127 shy of the one-year mark. He added another 23 days with this recent stretch in the majors but will need to come back up fairly quickly in order to have a shot at getting over that line. There are 137 days left in the regular season at this point.

Jung has been the club’s regular third baseman for past few weeks, so the club will need to come up with a new solution there. Javier Báez, Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibáñez and Trey Sweeney have also started games at third base this year. McKinstry and Báez have also been drawn into the outfield in order to cover for Detroit’s many injuries there, but Baddoo’s promotion will perhaps allow the club to shift some of those utility guys from the grass to the dirt.

Baddoo, now 26, seemingly had a breakout season in 2021. A Rule 5 pick, he hit 13 home runs, stole 18 bases and provided passable outfield defense. However, his bat cratered over the next three seasons. He hit .203/.292/.328 over the 2022 through 2024 campaigns.

That dropped his stock enough that the Tigers were able to pass him through waivers unclaimed in the offseason. He then required hamate surgery in February, putting him on ice during the spring. He has since recovered and has been performing well in Triple-A. He has a .245/.336/.471 line for a 123 wRC+ in 116 plate appearances, with six stolen bases to boot.

The Detroit outfield currently consists of Báez, McKinstry, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Justyn-Henry Malloy. Carpenter is often in the designated hitter slot while Báez and McKinstry could move to the infield a bit more now, as mentioned, which could open outfield playing time for Baddoo.

Matt Vierling is on a rehab assignment and could factor into the mix soon as well, either at third base or in the outfield picture. Baddoo still has an option and could be sent back down to the minors when Vierling is reinstated.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.

Pirates Claim Michael Helman

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The Pirates have claimed infielder/outfielder Michael Helman off waivers from the Cardinals, according to announcements from both clubs. There was no previous indication that the Cards had removed Helman from their 40-man roster, so their count drops to 39. The Bucs opened a 40-man spot by transferring infielder Enmanuel Valdéz to the 60-day injured list.

Helman, 29 this month, has a tiny amount of big league experience. He got 10 plate appearances with the Twins last year, collecting three hits while also striking out three times. He was traded to the Cardinals in February for cash.

His 2025 season is out to a rough start. In 73 Triple-A plate appearances, he has a .185/.260/.292 batting line and 50 wRC+, indicating he’s been 50% worse than league average. Perhaps the Cardinals felt that those poor numbers would help Helman sneak through waivers, so they quietly put him on the wire.

However, the Bucs have swooped in and grabbed him, presumably overlooking his 2025 numbers and focusing on his other seasons. Over 2023 and 2024, Helman took 480 minor league plate appearances, hitting 21 home runs and slashing .282/.356/.507 for a 121 wRC+. He still has a full slate of options, so the Pirates can keep him in the minors and see if he bounces back. If he does, he could be a versatile utility piece. He has played every position outside the battery in his minor league career.

As for Valdéz, he landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago due to left shoulder inflammation. His status is unclear but the fact that he has been quickly moved to the 60-day IL doesn’t bode well. He’s now ineligible to return until July.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Dodgers Promote Dalton Rushing, Designate Austin Barnes For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that they have selected catching prospect Dalton Rushing to their roster. Fellow catcher Austin Barnes has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the Rushing promotion prior to the official announcement while Robert Murray of FanSided relayed the Barnes DFA.

Rushing, now 24, was selected by the Dodgers in the 2022 draft. It was technically a second-round pick, 40th overall, though that was the club’s top selection that year. It was moved back ten spots due to the Dodgers going over the third tier of the Competitive Balance Tax in 2021. The club gave him a signing bonus of just under $2MM, right around slot value.

Since then, Rushing has done nothing but mash at the plate. He has stepped to the dish 1,150 times in total, for various minor league clubs. He has been struck out at a reasonable 21.5% pace in that time, while drawing walks at an excellent 15.6% clip. He has 54 home runs and a .277/.412/.519 batting line, which translates to a 154 wRC+.

That production would be excellent from any position but especially for a catcher, a spot that generally comes with lower offensive expectations. He’s also considered a good defender behind the plate, only adding to his prospect stock. The combination makes Rushing a consensus top 50 prospect. Baseball America currently lists him at #31 with MLB Pipeline having him at #15. In the preseason, FanGraphs gave him the #8 spot, ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic both had him at #16.

Despite Rushing’s obvious talents, it was unclear how the Dodgers would fit him in. Will Smith has been the club’s regular catcher for years and is signed through 2033. Teams with two good catchers will sometimes use the designated hitter spot to distribute more at-bats but the Dodgers can’t do that. They have Shohei Ohtani in the DH spot every day and he’s also signed through 2033.

That led the Dodgers to have Rushing dabble at other positions. He has played a bit of first base and left field in the minors, though he’s still been behind the plate more often than he’s been in those spots.

With Barnes being the corresponding move, it seems Rushing will slot into the catching mix alongside Smith. Perhaps his ability to play other positions will help both backstops get into the lineup. Freddie Freeman has first base locked down, but there’s a path for Rushing to get some outfield playing time.

Both Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman are currently on the injured list. That leaves the club with an outfield alignment consisting of Andy Pages, Michael Conforto and James Outman, with utility guys Hyeseong Kim and Chris Taylor contributing on occasion as well. Pages is the only guy in that group currently hitting well, so perhaps Rushing will be able to take some playing time from the others.

It’s too late in the season for Rushing to earn a full year of service time, at least the traditional way. As a top prospect, he technically has a path to earning a full year of service by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, though that will be a challenge. No one is currently running away with the NL ROY race but Rushing is still weeks behind others who have been up all year. Even the best prospects will sometimes struggle when first promoted to the majors, so there’s no guarantee that Rushing can just storm through the rest of the season.

Regardless, it seems the club plans for Rushing to be up for good, since they are moving on from Barnes. If Rushing struggles and they want to send him back down, Hunter Feduccia is also on the 40-man roster. Assuming Rushing finishes 2025 shy of the one-year service line, he’ll be under club control through 2031, so he and Smith can theoretically be the catching duo for years to come.

As for Barnes, he has been serving as a glove-first backup catcher for over a decade now. He has appeared in 612 games for the Dodgers, dating back to his 2015 debut. He has a combined .223/.322/.338 line in that time, which translates to an 85 wRC+. That indicates he’s been about 15% worse than the league average hitter, but catchers are generally about 10% worse than league-wide par, so that’s not bad output for a backup catcher.

Since he also provided good work behind the plate in that time, he has been a fairly solid member of the roster, leading the Dodgers to sign him to a modest extension in 2022. They were satisfied enough with his performance to pick up a $2.5MM club option for the 2025 season.

However, his offense seems to have a hit new low this year. He is striking out at a 31.8% clip, easily the highest of his career, while his 2.3% walk rate is a personal worst by a notable amount. He currently has a .214/.233/.286 slash and 44 wRC+.

Given that Barnes is now 35 years old, the club may not have much hope of a turnaround. The combination of his struggles and Rushing’s ascendance has pushed Barnes off the roster. The Dodgers will now technically have a week of DFA limbo to work out what’s next. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to come together in the next five days.

There’s not likely to be much interest, based on his salary and recent performance. If he clears waivers, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his entire salary coming to him. If he ends up on the open market, another club could sign him and pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Dodgers pay.

Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Bryan Terry and Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Phillies Sign Seth Beer To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies signed first baseman Seth Beer and assigned him to Double-A Reading earlier this week. The deal was announced by the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, with which the former first-round pick had spent the past month.

Beer, 28, signed with the Ducks during the second week of April. He appeared in 14 games, hitting .239/.426/.565 with four homers and three doubles. He worked 12 walks but struck out 16 times in 61 plate appearances. Beer’s combination of plate discipline and power impressed the Phillies enough to get him another opportunity in affiliated ball.

A Clemson product, Beer was the 28th overall pick by the Astros in the 2018 draft. Houston traded him to the D-Backs as part of the Zack Greinke blockbuster. Beer appeared in 43 games for the Snakes between 2021-22, hitting .208/.294/.292 over 43 games. He spent last season in the Pittsburgh farm system. The lefty hitter divided his time between the top two minor league levels, putting up a .277/.354/.431 slash over a combined 99 games. While he has yet to get much of a look in the majors, Beer brings a career .278/.376/.475 minor league batting line to the Philadelphia organization.

Jordan Luplow Signs With Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers

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Outfielder Jordan Luplow has signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League, the team announced this week. The 31-year-old made his debut yesterday.

Luplow has played for six big league teams across parts of seven MLB seasons. He’s carved out a role as a thorn in the side of left-handed pitching, consistently drawing walks and hitting for power against southpaws. His .227 average against lefties isn’t much, but Luplow has walked in nearly 14% of his career plate appearances when holding the platoon advantage and has slugged .495 in those matchups.

The resulting .268 ISO (slugging minus batting average) ranks 13th among the 226 players who tallied at least 500 plate appearances versus lefties during Luplow’s active years in MLB (2017-23), just behind prominent sluggers like Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Riley and Rhys Hoskins. Overall, Luplow is a .212/.314/.423 hitter in 1060 major league plate appearances. He’s picked up five years of MLB service thanks in large part to his ability to consistently hit for power against lefties.

The 2024 season was the first since 2016 in which Luplow didn’t appear in a major league game. He tallied at least 27 games and 87 plate appearances each year from ’17 to ’23. The 2014 fourth-rounder opened the 2024 season with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate and looked like a prime candidate to join the Phils’ big league club at some point. He hit .255/.343/.450 with 10 homers and a dozen steals in 62 games, but Luplow suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last June, ending his season.

Now that he’s healthy, Luplow will look to shake off any residual rust in the Atlantic League. Based on his track record as a quality role player, big league scouts will surely be keeping an eye on his progress there — particularly those from teams that have struggled against left-handed pitching in 2025. As of this writing, the ten teams with the worst output against left-handed pitching so far in 2025 (by measure of wRC+) are the Guardians, Brewers, Pirates, Rays, Braves, White Sox, Royals, Rockies, Orioles and Angels.

Not all of those teams will be clear fits. Atlanta has a crowded outfield, for instance, and will soon welcome Ronald Acuna Jr. back now that he’s begun a rehab stint. The White Sox and Rockies have younger, controllable players to whom they’d prefer to allocate playing time. But outfield-needy teams who’ve struggled against lefties, such as Kansas City and Cleveland, could make sensible landing spots. Of course, on a minor league deal, most clubs could justify taking a no-risk look at a veteran with Luplow’s track record — so long as he looks to be back in form following that knee injury.

Yankees Sign Anthony DeSclafani To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees signed veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The RailRiders announced the news to Conor Foley of The Yes Network.

DeSclafani’s debut appearance with Scranton will be his first game action in almost two years. He suffered a flexor strain while pitching for the Giants in July 2023. DeSclafani missed the entire second half but attempted to rehab without surgery. He was traded twice over the following offseason, largely as a salary offset. The Giants shipped him to Seattle alongside Mitch Haniger for Robbie Ray. The Mariners flipped him to the Twins as part of the Jorge Polanco return less than a month later.

The Mariners paid down $8MM of DeSclafani’s $12MM salary. The Twins hoped he’d provide affordable back-of-the-rotation output. That wasn’t to be, as he suffered a setback that was later diagnosed as an elbow strain. He underwent flexor tendon surgery at the end of March and spent the entire season on the injured list. DeSclafani qualified for free agency at the end of the year and never threw a pitch with the Twins.

Nearly 14 months since that procedure, he’s evidently healthy enough to get back on the mound. The 35-year-old owns a roughly league average 4.20 earned run average in parts of nine major league seasons. His production has been quite volatile. He’s turned in a pair of seasons with an ERA south of 3.30, but he has also allowed at least 4.88 earned runs per nine on five separate occasions. DeScalafani had arguably the best year of his career in 2021, when he turned in a 3.17 mark with a solid 22.5% strikeout rate over 31 starts for San Francisco.

The Giants re-signed him to a three-year, $36MM free agent deal during the ensuing offseason. That didn’t work out. He allowed a 5.16 ERA while throwing just 118 2/3 innings over the course of that contract. His strikeout rate dropped into the 18-19% range during that time, though he continued his career-long track record of very rarely issuing walks. There’s not much downside for the Yanks in seeing how his stuff plays after surgery. Jake Woodford, Brandon Leibrandt and the recently outrighted Carlos Carrasco are their most experienced depth starters at Triple-A.

Cubs Promote Moises Ballesteros

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May 13: The Cubs have formally selected Ballesteros’ contract, per a team announcement. Happ heads to the 10-day IL, as expected, while a 40-man roster spot was freed up by transferring righty Tyson Miller from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Miller has been out all season due to a hip impingement.

May 12: The Cubs intend to promote catching prospect Moisés Ballesteros for tomorrow’s game against the Marlins, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. Ian Happ is headed to the 10-day injured list, Levine adds. Happ has missed the past three games with oblique discomfort. Ballesteros is not on the 40-man roster, so the Cubs will need to make another move in that regard.

Ballesteros, 21, is one of the top young offensive players in the minors. He’s a career .288/.371/.459 hitter over five professional seasons. His production has remained remarkably consistent as he has climbed the ladder. Ballesteros has posted an OPS above .800 at each stop. That includes a ..311/.368/.477 slash for Triple-A Iowa over the past two seasons.

The lefty-hitting Ballesteros has been on fire to begin this year. He’s out to a .368/.420/.522 start over his first 34 Triple-A contests. He has connected on four homers, seven doubles and one triple while limiting his strikeout rate to a minuscule 10.7% clip. Among hitters with 100+ plate appearances, he’s second in the International League in batting average and ranks among the top 11 hitters in both on-base percentage and slugging. He’s seventh in the league in OPS, and every other player in the top 10 is at least 24 years old.

Unsurprisingly, Ballesteros’ bat has always been his calling card on scouting reports. He was viewed as an advanced hitter when he signed for $1.5MM out of Venezuela during the 2021 amateur signing period. He climbed towards the top of an excellent Chicago farm system as he continued to prove himself against higher-level pitching.

Ballesteros ranked among the league’s Top 100 prospects on offseason lists from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, Keith Law of The Athletic and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him outside his offseason Top 100 but ranked him sixth in the Cubs’ system in December. He is up to 37th overall on BA’s in-season update.

The reports are quite similar across the board. He’s praised for his well-rounded offensive ability but faces questions about his defensive fit. Ballesteros is listed at 5’8″ and has a heavyset build (though he’s reportedly slimmed down a bit in recent years). He’s drawn comparisons to Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk as a result. Kirk has developed into a solid defensive catcher but faced questions about his glove as a prospect. There are perhaps even greater concerns about Ballesteros’ receiving acumen and ability to control the running game. Opponents have gone 27-31 in stolen base attempts in his 191 1/3 innings as a catcher this season.

It’s unlikely that he’ll get much work behind the dish in the short term. Carson Kelly has obliterated opponents to a .303/.443/.671 slash over his first 25 games. Miguel Amaya has an impressive .286/.309/.506 line over 22 contests. They’ve been the National League’s most productive catching tandem. Ballesteros can occasionally spell Michael Busch at first base, but his clearest path to at-bats would come as a designated hitter. Seiya Suzuki has drawn into left field while Happ has been day-to-day. Suzuki should play left regularly for the extent of Happ’s IL stint.

Happ has been out to a typically productive start at the top of Craig Counsell’s batting order. He owns a .269/.364/.381 line through 187 plate appearances. His power numbers are a bit lighter than usual, but the on-base mark would be the best of his career. He’d been amidst an 0-14 skid leading up the injury but had collected hits in seven straight games before that. His IL stint can be backdated to May 10, meaning he’ll be eligible to return next week.

It remains to be seen if Ballesteros will stick with the big league club once Happ is healthy. He’s past the point where he can accrue a full year of service time through the traditional means, though he meets the prospect criteria to potentially earn a bonus service year via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’d get a full service year if he finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting. The Cubs would not receive an extra draft choice in that instance because they didn’t promote him early enough in the season. If this is a permanent promotion, Ballesteros would be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason even if he doesn’t earn the full service year.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

Royals Sign Rich Hill To Minor League Deal

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The Royals announced that they have signed left-hander Rich Hill to a minor league deal. He will report to the club’s spring training/Complex League facility in Surprise but will be heading to Triple-A Omaha soon.

The veteran lefty has already defied the normal aging curves and seems determined to do so again. Now 45 years old, Hill would easily be the oldest player in the majors if he eventually has his contract selected. 42-year-old Justin Verlander is oldest active player at the moment.

Hill has a long and storied career that dates back to his 2005 debut. He had some success in the subsequent years, followed by a long stretch of being injured and/or ineffective. He returned to prominence about a decade ago, amazingly having some of his best seasons while in his mid-30s.

Lately, the results haven’t been quite as strong. His last full season was 2023, in which he finished with a 5.41 earned run average. That was fairly lopsided, as he had a 4.76 ERA with the Pirates but then struggled badly after being traded to the Padres.

He believed that he could be better with an unconventional approach, so he intentionally waited until late in 2024 to sign a new deal. This would allow him to spend more time with his family, in addition to saving his best results for later in the year, theoretically giving him a better chance to thrive in competitive games down the stretch.

The plan didn’t quite work out. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the middle of August. After a couple of weeks in the minors, he was added to the big league roster but wasn’t given a rotation job. He made four low-leverage relief appearances before being designated for assignment and then released.

Over the winter, he said he was still planning to pitch in 2025, but without trying the same late-signing strategy. As recently as three weeks ago, he said he was still throwing and hoping to sign. Whether it’s by design or simply due to a soft market, Hill is now splitting the difference somewhat. He is signing and getting started later in the year, but with a few extra months of potential ramp-up time relative to last season.

The Royals don’t really need starting pitching. They have one of the best rotations in the majors, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a detailed look at. They have a strong front four in Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, with Michael Lorenzen a serviceable back-end guy as well. Noah Cameron, one of the better pitching prospects in the majors, is on the 40-man and pitching in the Triple-A rotation.

However, there’s little harm in adding some extra depth, just in case the injury bug bites. The Royals have also recently seen both Alec Marsh and Kyle Wright suffer setbacks in their rehabs, so perhaps they have added Hill in response to those developments.

Even if they don’t need him, they can let him take the ball and get into game shape. If he finds himself in good form as the trade deadline approaches, they could perhaps flip him to some other club with a greater rotation need. It’s also possible that the deal contains some opt-outs or upward mobility clauses, so Hill can get out of the deal if the Royals don’t call him up.

If Hill is able to get back to the majors, with the Royals or some other club, he would get a chance to add to his career stat lines. He has 1,409 big league innings over his career with a 4.01 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images.

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