Angels To Promote Jo Adell
The Angels will promote top prospect Jo Adell, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). The club is off tonight, so he’ll have his first shot at playing in the majors tomorrow evening.
Adell entered each of the past two seasons as a consensus top-ten prospect leaguewide. Selected out of high school in the first round of the 2017 draft, he has certainly hit his ceiling as a prospect. Now we’ll see whether he can do so as a major leaguer.
Given the timing of the promotion, Adell will not be able to accrue a full season of MLB service this year. He’s now on track to reach free agency after the 2026 season. If he holds down a roster spot from this point forward, Adell will surely qualify for arbitration in advance of the 2023 season as a Super Two player.
The 21-year-old Adell has generally thrived on his way up the ladder. He didn’t impress at Triple-A last year after a late-season promotion, but he showed well in the Arizona Fall League and doesn’t really have anything left to prove. All told, Adell owns a .298/.361/.518 batting line in the minors.
Most prospect watchers expect Adell to grow into added power. He’s already driving the ball all over the field and has the wheels to take extra bases. That speed also serves Adell well in the outfield, where he also possesses a big arm.
There’s really not much not to like. Adell does have some swing and miss but not so much that it’s considered a likely hindrance. As with any prospect, there’s a wide variance of potential outcomes. But Halos fans have every reason to be excited to welcome another premium talent to the roster.
Shelby Miller Opts Out Of 2020 Season
Righty Shelby Miller has opted out of the 2020 season, the Brewers announced. He had been working out at the team’s alternative training site.
Miller, once an exciting young MLB hurler, has fallen on hard times on the mound of late. He has thrown only 82 innings in the majors over the past three seasons due to a combination of injuries and ineffectiveness.
The Brewers had inked Miller to a minor-league pact in hopes of unlocking some of his former promise. Now, we’ll have to wait and see whether Miller elects to mount another comeback attempt next spring.
Miller joins a still-growing list of players who have opted out of the campaign.
White Sox Activate Nomar Mazara
The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve activated right fielder Nomar Mazara for his season debut. In a pair of corresponding moves, catcher Yermin Mercedes was optioned to their alternate training site and right-hander Jimmy Lambert was placed on the 45-day injured list.
Mazara has yet to live up to the top prospect hype that surrounded his MLB debut with the Rangers, but he’s been a steady 20-homer producer with slightly above-average offense against right-handed pitching (career 103 wRC+). And while he’a already a four-year MLB veteran by virtue of his early call to the bigs in Arlington, his youth leaves the hope for some yet untapped upside at the dish.
As MLBTR’s George Miller explored a few months back, Mazara is quite impactful when hitting to the opposite field, by virtue of the fact that he elevates the ball with much greater regularity than when pulling the ball. Mazara’s number of pulled grounders are alarming and indeed have limited his output to this point in his career. However, he generally ranks above the league average in terms of average exit velocity, barrel rate, expected slugging percentage and a number of other Statcast metrics that portend some remaining upside. Mazara will likely be platooned with righty-hitting Adam Engel early in the season, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, but there’s obvious potential for Mazara to work his way into a larger role.
Even if Mazara simply maintains the status quo, though, that’s not an entirely bad thing for the Sox. Granted, plugging in a slightly above-average bat to the lineup doesn’t sound like a huge boost, but in nine games this season, White Sox right fielders have turned in a putrid .167/.211/.333 slash. Mazara’s lifetime .271/.337/.462 line against right-handed opponents looks all the better when juxtaposed with that to-date production (or lack thereof) from Chicago right fielders. Engel’s career .253/.299/.390 slash against lefties isn’t great — though it is better than Mazara’s career levels — but that platoon arrangement should lead to some improvement for what has already been a strong White Sox lineup.
The White Sox acquired Mazara in December trade that sent minor league outfielder Steele Walker to the Rangers. Mazara is playing out the 2020 season on a one-year, $5.56MM contract (prorated to about $1.97MM) and is controllable through the 2021 season via the arbitration process.
Padres Add Three To Player Pool
The Padres announced that they’ve added left-hander Travis Radke and infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Jason Vosler to their 60-man player pool. All three will head to the club’s alternate training site. The additions bring San Diego’s pool up to a total of 57 players.
Radke, 27, pitched well across three minor league levels in 2019, working to a combined 2.64 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 71 2/3 innings of relief work. He allowed only two home runs in that time and posted a ground-ball rate north of 60 percent as well. A 25th-round pick back in 2014, Radke underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2016 season and much of the 2017 season. Radke has never been considered a high-end prospect within the organization, but he carries a cumulative 2.22 ERA since returning from surgery and also threw well in a 2018 Fall League stint.
Mejias-Brean made his MLB debut with the Friars last season and clubbed a pair of home runs in a brief look that included 33 plate appearances. The 29-year-old can play all over the infield and is a career .269/.334/.382 hitter in just shy of 1500 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
San Diego acquired Vosler, now 26, in the 2018 trade that sent right-hander Rowan Wick to the Cubs. He split his time evenly between first base and third base with the Padres’ Triple-A club last year, posting a quality .291/.367/.523 slash with 20 long balls, 19 doubles and four triples in 425 trips to the plate. Between the right-handed-hitting Mejias-Brean and the lefty-swinging Vosler, the Padres look to have added some largely MLB-ready infield depth that can cover multiple positions and platoon scenarios.
Mets Outright Hunter Strickland
Right-hander Hunter Strickland went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to the team’s alternate training site in Brooklyn, tweets MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Strickland is no longer on the 40-man roster, but because he was outrighted to the alternate training site, he remains in the Mets’ 60-man player pool and could be selected back to the big league roster at some point.
The 31-year-old Strickland appeared in three games for the Mets but struggled, serving up four runs (three earned) on six hits with two strikeouts in 2 1/3 frames. He still averaged 96 mph on his heater, and it’s worth noting that he didn’t give up much in the way of hard contact in his tiny sample of work (80.7 mph average exit velocity). That said, the fact that he went unclaimed underscores the manner in which he’s tailed off since his strong run with the Giants earlier in his career.
From 2014-17, Strickland pitched to a 2.64 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 in 180 2/3 innings of relief in San Francisco. He’s since made headlines for the wrong reasons — breaking his hand when punching a door after a blown save, inciting a bench-clearing brawl by throwing at Bryce Harper — and his production on the mound has deteriorated as well. In his last 72 big league innings, Strickland carries a 4.75 ERA and and an FIP to match. He’s posted a lackluster 57-to-29 K/BB ratio in that time and served up 11 home runs as well.
Rangers Place Danny Santana On 10-Day Injured List
Prior to this afternoon’s game against the Giants, the Rangers announced they’ve placed outfielder Danny Santana on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 30, with a right forearm strain. In his stead, they’re bringing up infield prospect Anderson Tejeda.
Four years removed from his previous quality season, Santana surprisingly broke out in Texas last season, hitting .283/.324/.534 (111 wRC+) with 28 home runs and 21 steals over 511 plate appearances. An elevated strikeout rate (29.5%) and below-average walk rate (4.9%) cast some doubt on the long-term sustainability of that strong output, but Santana has clearly established himself as an everyday option for manager Chris Woodward.
Tejeda, 22, is remarkably in position to make his MLB debut despite never having taken a high minors plate appearance. He’s topped out in the High-A Carolina League, putting up a solid but unspectacular .253/.327/.426 line in 703 plate appearances at that level. A switch-hitting middle infielder with power, Tejeda has a bright future but seems unlikely to get many MLB at-bats at this stage of his career.
Mariners Place Brandon Brennan On 45-Day Injured List
The Mariners announced yesterday they have placed reliever Brandon Brennan on the 45-day injured list with a left oblique strain. The right-hander got into one game before the injury.
Brennan stuck with Seattle as a Rule V pick out of the Rockies organization last season. While he only managed a 4.56 ERA in 47.1 innings as a rookie, he also showed some intriguing swing-and-miss stuff. Brennan’s 15.1% swinging strike rate dwarfed the 11.1% league average and had positioned him as a likely key piece in a shaky Seattle bullpen.
Instead, he’ll be out for an extended period of time. The Mariners didn’t immediately make a 40-man roster addition, suggesting they simply had no expectation Brennan would be in position to return anytime soon.
Giants Designate Jandel Gustave For Assignment
Prior to today’s game, the Giants designated right-handed reliever Jandel Gustave for assignment, per Maria Guardado of MLB.com (Twitter link). The move cleared roster space for the addition of fellow right-hander Andrew Triggs, whose contract was selected. Additionally, Rule V draftee Dany Jiménez cleared waivers and was returned to the Blue Jays organization after being designated earlier in the week, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link).
The hard-throwing Gustave was once a relief prospect of note in the Astros’ system, but his most extensive MLB action came last season with the Giants. He tossed 24.1 innings of 2.96 ERA ball, but mediocre strikeout (14.1%) and walk (9.1%) rates suggested that strong run prevention was unlikely to continue. He hadn’t been on the Giants’ active roster this season.
Triggs got off to an inauspicious start to his SF tenure this afternoon, allowing three runs on three walks while recording just one out in a loss to the Rangers. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old once looked like a solid back-end starter, flashing solid strikeout and ground ball tendencies across the bay with the A’s between 2016 and 2018.
Jiménez’s time as a Giant comes to an end after just two appearances (in which he walked three of eight batters faced). The 26-year-old returns to the Toronto organization, where he needn’t occupy a 40-man roster spot.
Marlins Claim Brian Moran, Sign Brett Eibner
The Marlins announced they have claimed left-handed reliever Brian Moran off waivers from the Blue Jays. They’ve also purchased the contract of two-way player Brett Eibner from the Eastern Reyes del Tigre of the independent Constellation Energy League, per an announcement from the indy ball club. (Mark Berman of Fox 26 was first to report that agreement was close). They’re the latest additions to a pitching staff decimated by this week’s onslaught of positive COVID-19 tests.
The sidewinder Moran actually made his debut as a member of the Marlins last season. He worked 6.1 innings across ten games, leveraged heavily against left-handed batters (including his younger brother Colin, whom he struck out). While the elder Moran performed well both in Triple-A and in his brief MLB action, the Marlins outrighted him last fall. Moran signed a minor-league deal with the Jays over the offseason and made Toronto’s season-opening roster, but he only appeared in two games before they cut him loose.
Meanwhile, Eibner will return to affiliated ball for the first time since 2018. The onetime Royal and Dodger outfielder flirted with a two-way role toward the end of his L.A. tenure but was derailed by a Tommy John surgery. He’s stuck with playing both ways since his return, although he’s presumably being viewed as a primary pitcher in Miami. Eibner has not been added to the 40-man roster but seems likely to report to the club’s alternate training site. In 5.1 relief innings in indy ball this season, he’s struck out eight against one walk.
Brewers Place Ryan Braun On 10-Day Injured List
The Brewers have placed Ryan Braun on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 30, the club announced. He’s dealing with an infection in his right index finger. Milwaukee didn’t provide a timetable for his return.
The 36-year-old has only gotten into four games to this point, starting three at designated hitter. He’s coming off a productive 2019 effort (.285/.343/.505 in 508 plate appearances) and figures to reemerge as a middle-of-the-order bat for manager Craig Counsell upon his return to health.
The Brewers have not yet made a decision as to who will replace him on the 30-man active roster. Between Justin Smoak, Logan Morrison, Jedd Gyorko, Christian Yelich and Avisaíl García, they have a fair number of options to rotate through the first base/corner outfield/DH mix while Braun is out.