Brewers Designate Rob Scahill, Select Brandon Woodruff
12:58pm: Unfortunately, Woodruff’s debut will need to wait. He has been scratched with hamstring tightness, the club announced.
8:52am: The Brewers have designated righty Rob Scahill for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot will go to prospect Brandon Woodruff, who’ll make his first MLB start today.
Scahill, 30, has generated quality results this year, continuing a trend in that regard. Since the start of 2015, he owns a 3.14 ERA over 83 innings. But a peek beneath the surface shows cause for concern. Through his 17 2/3 frames this year, Scahill has recorded just five strikeouts to go with nine walks.
The 24-year-old Woodruff earned top-100 billing from Baseball America before the start of the season. He has moved rather swiftly through the Milwaukee system since being taken in the 11th round of the 2014 draft out of Mississippi State.
Woodruff opened the current season at Triple-A, his first attempt at the highest level of the minors. Through 63 1/3 innings in a dozen starts, he owns a 4.12 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.
For the Brewers, who are surprisingly pacing the NL Central, the move represents another interesting pitching promotion. The club already bumped up top young lefty Josh Hader, who’s working out of the pen. With a realistic path to contention available, the Brewers will see if these young arms can provide a near-term boost while also getting a glimpse at the organization’s anticipated future staff.
Rangers Acquire Joely Rodriguez
The Rangers have acquired lefty Joely Rodriguez from the Phillies, per announcements from the organizations. Cash or a player to be named later will go back in return for Rodriguez, who was designated for assignment last week.
Rodriguez, 25, will head to Triple-A on optional assignment with his new organization. He’ll provide a depth option for a Texas club that has received strong contributions from southpaw Alex Claudio but may at some point see fit to add another lefty option to the pen.
After showing well in his first dozen major league games last year, Rodriguez opened the current season in the Phillies’ pen. But he struggled to a 6.33 ERA in 27 frames, coughing up 37 base hits while carrying a subpar 18:15 K/BB ratio. That said, Rodriguez has shown the capability to generate big groundball rates with his power sinker.
Cardinals Release Jhonny Peralta
The Cardinals have released infielder Jhonny Peralta, per a club announcement. The veteran had recently been designated for assignment.
It’s no surprise that Peralta cleared waivers. He’s earning $10MM in 2017, the final season of the four-year free agent deal he signed when he joined the Cards.
At 35 years of age, Peralta seems to have hit a wall. After struggling through an injury-riddled 2016 campaign, there was hope that he’d bounce back this year. But he’s hitting only .204/.259/.204 through 58 plate appearances.
The story is similar on the defensive side of the spectrum. Generally regarded as a solid, albeit unspectacular shortstop, Peralta has drawn negative reviews for his glovework since the start of 2015 — even after moving over to third base last year. DRS and UZR have both pegged him at average thus far in 2017, though that’s in a sample of just 114 innings.
Still, it’s easy to imagine rival organizations taking a look at a player who was an All-Star in 2015. That’s especially true since Peralta can be had for the league-minimum salary, with St. Louis continuing to pay the vast majority of his salary. Even if he’s not capable of handling short on a day-to-day basis, it helps that he brings so much experience at the position. All said, for clubs in need of some versatility around the diamond, taking a chance on the 15-year MLB veteran may hold quite a bit of appeal.
Twins Select Royce Lewis First Overall
The Twins have taken high school infielder Royce Lewis with the first overall pick of the 2017 amateur draft, as Keith Law of ESPN.com suggested on Twitter and John Manuel of Baseball America tweeted would occur. The selection is the first for the organization’s newly installed front office, led by chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine.
With the draft clock ticking down, reports suggested that Minnesota had whittled it down to two possibilities: Louisville two-way star Brendan McKay and Lewis. But McKay’s camp declined to take the bonus that Minnesota was offering him, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter), leaving the team to move on.
The 18-year-old Lewis is seen as a highly projectable talent who may thrive in center field even if he can’t stick at short. He hails from California’s JSerra Catholic High School. MLB.com’s team of Callis and Jonathan Mayo joined Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs in ranking Lewis as the fifth overall prospect on the board. Baseball America had him at seventh.
High-school righty Hunter Greene and Vanderbilt starter Kyle Wright have drawn the most votes as the top overall player available. But every team’s assessments are different. And maximizing an overall draft requires bonus pool management. The first overall slot came with over $7.7MM in total spending capacity, some of which will likely be allocated to other selections.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/12/17
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Twins have signed right-hander Tim Melville to a minor league deal and assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, according to Nate Rowan, the PR director of their Rochester affiliate (Twitter link). The 27-year-old Melville was a fourth-round pick by the Royals in 2008 and made his big league debut with the Reds last season, yielding 11 runs on 16 hits and nine walks in just nine innings of work. That unsightly cup of coffee aside, Melville has been enjoying a nice season with the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks. Through 47 innings, he’s worked to a 3.45 ERA with a 48-to-18 K/BB ratio. Melville has a rather pedestrian 4.61 ERA in 160 career innings at Triple-A, but he’ll add some depth to a Twins organization that recently released Nick Tepesch and promoted Triple-A lefties Nik Turley and Adalberto Mejia to the Majors.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/11/17
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The Mets are the latest team to take a flier on righty Daniel Bard, signing him to a minor league deal, as SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Bard was once a first-round pick and top prospect of the Red Sox, but the 31-year-old’s wildness has reached Rick Vaughn levels in recent seasons, as he’s posted BB/9 rates above ten in eight consecutive stops from the Majors to the minors to winter ball. The Cardinals released him last month after he walked 19 batters in 8 2/3 Double-A innings.
Padres Select Phil Maton, Designate Jake Esch For Assignment
The Padres have selected the contract of righty Phil Maton from Triple-A El Paso. To clear roster space, they’ve optioned righty Kevin Quackenbush to El Paso and designated righty Jake Esch for assignment.
[Related: Updated San Diego Padres Depth Chart]
The 24-year-old Maton had an impressive 2.84 ERA, 11.0 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over 25 1/3 innings of relief in the tough pitching environment of El Paso and has generally dominated the minor leagues since the Padres selected him in the 20th round of the 2015 draft, posting a 1.89 career pro ERA. Padres manager Andy Green chalks some of Maton’s success up to a high spin rate and also a release point that’s closer to home than most pitchers, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
The Padres added the 27-year-old Esch on a waiver claim late in Spring Training. He had been a starter in the Marlins system who looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation pitcher in the big leagues. He has pitched sparingly in 2017 due in part to injury, making one appearance in the big leagues and three in the minors.
Cardinals Claim Sean Gilmartin
The Cardinals have announced that they’ve claimed lefty Sean Gilmartin from the Mets and optioned him to Triple-A Memphis. The Mets designated Gilmartin for assignment earlier today.
Gilmartin struggled in Triple-A Las Vegas this season, with a 7.05 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 at the Triple-A level. He is, however, a controllable lefty with big-league experience — he posted a 2.67 ERA, 8.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 for the Mets in 2015 after they took him from the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft the prior winter. He is also capable of starting and can also be optioned, which perhaps might have contributed to the Cardinals’ decision to take a flier on him.
Diamondbacks Designate Tom Wilhelmsen For Assignment
The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve reinstated outfielder Socrates Brito (finger) from the 60-day DL and optioned him to Triple-A Reno. They’ve also activated righty Zack Greinke from the paternity list and designated righty Tom Wilhelmsen for assignment.
[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks Depth Chart]
Wilhelmsen was a key contributor in the Mariners’ bullpen from 2011 through 2015, but his career briefly went off the rails after a trade to Texas prior to the 2016 season. He fared reasonably well after being released by the Rangers and re-signing with the Mariners last June, then signed a minor-league pact with the Diamondbacks last winter and made the team out of Spring Training. He produced a 4.44 ERA with the Snakes with a disappointing 5.8 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 over 26 1/3 innings. The 33-year-old still boasts a fastball in the mid-90s and a 49.4 GB%, however, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he wound up back in the big leagues in the near future.
Mets Designate Sean Gilmartin For Assignment
The Mets have designated lefty Sean Gilmartin for assignment, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets. The move clears roster space for righty Seth Lugo, who is returning from an elbow injury to make his 2017 debut in a start this afternoon against the Braves.
[Related: Updated New York Mets Depth Chart]
The 27-year-old Gilmartin was a first-round pick of the Braves in 2011, and he headed to the Twins in a 2013 trade for Ryan Doumit. The Mets selected Gilmartin from Minnesota in the Rule 5 Draft the following year, and his big-league career began auspiciously with a 2.67 ERA, 8.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over 57 1/3 innings in his rookie season, most of them spent in relief.
Gilmartin struggled in limited big-league opportunities last year, though, spending most of the season in the rotation at Triple-A Las Vegas. This year, he struggled with shoulder trouble in Spring Training, posted a 7.05 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over eight starts at Las Vegas (an admittedly unfriendly setting for pitchers), and allowed five runs in 3 1/3 innings in the big leagues.