Tigers To Select Jahmai Jones
The Tigers are going to select the contract of infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Infielder Andy Ibáñez has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo as the corresponding active roster move. Petzold suggests that outfielder Akil Baddoo could be designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot, though it’s unclear if that’s pure speculation or not.
Jones, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason. He has since been playing for Triple-A Toledo and putting up good numbers, with a .276/.392/.482 line and 139 wRC+. That’s at least partially inflated by a .345 batting average on balls in play but Jones also has six home runs and is drawing walks at a strong 11.7% clip while keeping his strikeouts down to a reasonable 22.4% level.
In addition to that strong work at the plate, Jones has stolen eight bases and bounced around the diamond. He has lined up defensively at all three outfield spots and second base. He hasn’t had any action at the infield corners this year but has done so previously in his career.
That’s a nice performance but the issue with Jones is that he has always performed well in the minors but hasn’t clicked in the majors yet. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a .263/.382/.453 line and 122 wRC+ on the farm. In the majors, he has a far worse .198/.257/.278 line and 50 wRC+, though he’s only been allowed to make 137 total plate appearances scattered over several seasons dating back to 2020.
It’s possible the Tigers envision a short-side platoon role for Jones, a right-handed hitter. The Detroit outfield has three regular lefties in Riley Greene, Parker Meadows and Kerry Carpenter. They also have other lefties getting playing time, including Colt Keith, Zach McKinstry and Trey Sweeney. Though Jones hasn’t clicked in the majors overall, he has a .304/.360/.565 line against southpaws and has good numbers against them in the minors as well.
Jones is out of options, so he can’t be easily sent back down to the minors if the Tigers want to shake up the roster later. But if he manages to stick, he can be cheaply controlled for years to come as he doesn’t yet have enough service time to qualify for arbitration and won’t be able to get there by the end of this season.
Jones getting a roster spot will cost Ibáñez his. Ibáñez was claimed off waivers from the Rangers going into 2023 and has been a fixture of the Tigers since, but with diminishing production. He hit .264/.312/.433 for a 104 wRC+ in 2023, followed by .241/.295/.357 and an 87 wRC+ last year. So far in 2025, he’s down to .213/.292/.319 and a 77 wRC+. He’ll try to get back on track in Toledo. Once he spends 20 days on optional assignment, he’ll burn his final option year and will be out of options going into 2025.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Tyler Alexander Elects Free Agency
Brewers left-hander Tyler Alexander passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He’s elected free agency instead and is now clear to explore opportunities with any team.
Alexander, 30, inked a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $1MM over the winter. He’s worked in a swingman role with Milwaukee, tallying 36 1/3 innings across 21 appearances (four of them “starts” as an opener) and pitched to an unsightly 6.19 ERA. He’s fanned a below-average 18.3% of opponents but posted a strong 7.8% walk rate.
Metrics like FIP (3.57) and SIERA (4.26) feel Alexander has pitched far better than that rudimentary ERA would suggest. Part of that stems from a .331 average on balls in play that’s about 40 points higher than league-average. Alexander has also uncharacteristically struggled to strand runners; he’s left just 47.2% of his runners on base this year — miles below his career 71.7% mark. That career mark sits right around the 72% mark that most pitchers tend to regress toward over larger samples.
Alexannder has pitched 485 1/3 big league innings dating back to his 2019 debut with the Tigers. In that time, he’s recorded a 4.67 earned run average with a 19% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. The 2015 second-rounder is a pronounced fly-ball pitcher and doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting 90.2 mph on his four-seamer in 2025, but he has good command and experience pitching in a variety of roles. The Brewers are also on the hook for the remainder of his salary, minus the prorated minimum for any time spent on another club’s big league roster, making Alexander an affordable depth play for any club in need of depth for the bullpen or rotation.
Athletics To Select Seth Brown
The Athletics are going to call infielder/outfielder Seth Brown back up the majors, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He was outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago and will need to be re-selected to the 40-man roster. The A’s will therefore have to make a corresponding move or moves to open room for him there and on the active roster.
Brown’s return to the majors seems to have been caused by him turning on the Game Genie when he got sent down. In nine games for the Aviators, he hit seven home runs, helping him produce a ridiculous .500/.512/1.071 line and 282 wRC+ over 43 plate appearances.
That’s a small sample of work but Brown has been good in the majors before, though obviously not that good. Over 2021 and 2022, he slashed .224/.294/.457 for a wRC+ of 111. Unfortunately, that dropped down in 2023, with a .222/.286/.405 line and 91 wRC+. His struggles continued in 2024 but he finished strong, with a .263/.304/.413 line and 107 wRC+ in the second half.
That prompted the A’s to tender him an arbitration contract for 2025, with the two sides avoiding arb and agreeing to a $2.7MM salary for this year. Through 61 plate appearances, he hit .212/.328/.308 for an 89 wRC+ and got sent down. Players with at least three but less than five years of service time can reject outright assignments but must forfeit their remaining salary to do so. Brown accepted his assignment, hit the crap out of the ball for a while and is now coming back.
Time will tell how the A’s plan to use Brown but it’s possibly related to the Shea Langeliers injury. The catcher left yesterday’s game with a “left flank injury” and was sent for an MRI. It’s possible that he will be placed on the injured list with some kind of oblique injury. If Tyler Soderstrom moves in from first base to take up catching duties again, Brown could factor into the first base/left field/designated hitter mix alongside Brent Rooker, JJ Bleday and Drew Avans.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin, Oncea-Imagn Images
Reds Designate Austin Wynns For Assignment
The Reds have designated catcher Austin Wynns for assignment, the team announced Friday. His spot on the roster will go to first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who is being reinstated from the injured list.
Wynns, 34, has hit brilliantly in limited time with Cincinnati, slashing .390/.429/.661 in 63 plate appearances dating back to last season. That includes a .400/.442/.700 line in 43 plate appearances in 2025. That outrageous output is propped up by a .513 average on balls in play, however, and it belies a career slash line of .241/.287/.354 for the journeyman Wynns.
Because Wynns is out of options, the Reds couldn’t simply send him to the minors. He’d first need to pass through waivers, which may well be where he’s headed now that he’s been designated for assignment. He’s a career .274/.363/.401 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A seasons — solid Triple-A production for any catcher, particularly a third one on a team’s depth chart.
Third catcher has indeed been Wynns’ role since Tyler Stephenson returned from an oblique strain. Stephenson and Jose Trevino have logged nearly all the time at catcher since Stephenson made his season debut. Wynns hasn’t logged a single plate appearance in June and tallied only seven trips to the plate in May, despite being healthy and on the active roster that entire time.
The Reds will have five days to trade Wynns before he has to be placed on outright waivers, though they could start the waiver process (which takes 48 hours) at any point between now and then. If Wynns does pass through waivers unclaimed — which he’s done eight prior times in his career — he’ll have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Encarnacion-Strand, 25, has been out since mid-April with a back injury. The Reds acquired him alongside Spencer Steer three years ago in the trade that sent Tyler Mahle to Minnesota. At the time, Encarnacion-Strand’s stock was on the rise. The former fourth-round pick was ripping through Triple-A pitching and looked poised to make the jump to the big leagues. He did just that in 2023 and hit well as a rookie: .270/.327/.477, 13 homers in 241 plate appearances.
Since that time, wrist and back injuries have tanked Encarnacion-Strand’s output at the plate. He’s never been one to take many walks and has always been too much of a free swinger, and both of those flaws have been magnified as his power has dissipated amid health troubles. Over the past two seasons, “CES” has only 183 plate appearances in the majors, during which he’s batted .179/.208/.295.
In the absence of Encarnacion-Strand, Steer has been playing first base regularly. It’s possible the Reds will slide the versatile Steer across the diamond to make room for Encarnacion-Strand at first base. Neither player is a good defender at the hot corner, however, and Santiago Espinal is also in the mix at third base. The Reds could begin to move Steer all over the diamond again, as they’ve done in the past, if the goal is everyday at-bats for Encarnacion-Strand at first base. If not, Encarnacion-Strand could slide into a more limited role as a righty-swinging power bat off the bench.
White Sox Designate Ryan Cusick For Assignment, Option Korey Lee
The White Sox announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Kyle Teel, a move that was reported yesterday. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow catcher Korey Lee has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ryan Cusick has been designated for assignment.
Cusick, 25, was just claimed off waivers two days ago. While it may seem odd to grab a player and then cut him so quickly, it’s possible the Sox are hoping he will clear waivers this time, which is a possibility. Cusick started this season with the A’s but was put on waivers by that club a little over a week ago. He was claimed by the Tigers, the team with the best record in baseball and therefore the last waiver priority. That means the 28 other teams, apart from the A’s and Tigers, passed.
The Tigers then put him back on waivers but the White Sox, with a roster spot just opened by Miguel Castro‘s season-ending knee injury, claimed him this time. Now that Cusick is going back on the wire yet again, it’s possible he goes through unclaimed. The Tigers nudged Cusick off by reinstating Parker Meadows from the 60-day IL and they have also since reinstated Sawyer Gipson-Long, tightening up their roster and perhaps giving them less ability to claim Cusick again.
If he does indeed pass through waivers unclaimed, the Sox would be retaining a former first-round pick. Atlanta grabbed Cusick 24th overall in 2021 and then flipped him to the A’s as part of the Matt Olson deal a few months later. The A’s tried to develop Cusick as a starter without success. He tossed 143 innings over the 2022 and 2023 minor league seasons, missing time due to injury and posting a 5.60 earned run average in that span.
He was moved to a relief role halfway through the 2024 season and showed some flashes of intrigue there. His final 26 innings of the year resulted in a 1.73 ERA. Walking 11.8% of opponents in that span was less than ideal but he recorded strikeouts at a 28.2% clip. That was enough that the A’s thought he could get snapped up in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November.
He couldn’t carry that strong performance in 2025, or at least hasn’t yet. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings to start the season, giving out 13 walks to just 11 strikeouts. That kicked off his trip through the waiver wire in recent weeks. The next few days will reveal whether he will stick in the White Sox’ system or perhaps get claimed yet again.
Lee’s optional assignment is also notable, as it sheds more light on Chicago’s catching plans. They have had Lee and Edgar Quero as their primary catching duo for most of the season. With Teel’s promotion, it wasn’t clear how they would distribute the playing time.
It was possible to envision a three-catcher setup, as the club doesn’t have an everyday designated hitter. Teel has also been doing some work at first base. With Andrew Vaughn having been recently optioned, it would have been possible for Lee, Quero and Teel to all get regular playing time by sharing the catching duties as well as DHing and maybe Teel playing some first base.
Instead, it seems the Sox will go with a more straightforward two-catcher setup, though it will be a very inexperienced duo. Teel has yet to make his debut while Quero has just 38 games under his belt.
Lee isn’t exactly a veteran but he has been around a bit longer than those two. He’s still only 26 years old but got some brief big league time in 2022 and 2023 before becoming a regular in 2024. All told, he has 175 major league contests on his track record. That’s not a ton, relatively speaking, but it does make him the most experienced of the three catchers and the one most familiar with the Chicago pitching staff.
He also has the least upside of the three. He was a notable prospect, getting selected 32nd overall by the Astros in 2019, but his production has stalled out at the upper levels. He has a .192/.231/.315 batting line and 51 wRC+ in the majors. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .281/.331/.395 line and 85 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. Outlets such as Baseball Prospectus and Statcast aren’t thrilled with his work behind the plate either.
Quero and Teel, on the other hand, have each hit well at the Triple-A level recently. Quero’s major league offense hasn’t produced much power yet but he’s drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts, leading to a passable .256/.343/.306 line and 91 wRC+. Rolling with the Quero/Teel duo gives the Sox a fairly inexperienced catching corps in the short term but it seems that doesn’t bother them. They surely aren’t expecting to compete anytime soon, so they will let their best catchers get the big league playing time and gain that experience during the rebuilding process.
That will leave Lee in the minors as a depth option. If he stays down for at least 20 days, he will burn his final option year in 2025. If that comes to pass, that would leave him out of options going into 2026.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
White Sox To Promote Kyle Teel
The White Sox scratched top catching prospect Kyle Teel from today’s Triple-A lineup and plan to promote him to the majors, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The team has not made the move official, but the social media account for TeelsBaseball — a training facility run by his father Garett — has announced the call-up. Chicago will need to select his contract and make corresponding moves for the active and 40-man rosters.
It’s an exciting day for White Sox fans. Teel was the centerpiece of the Garrett Crochet return. (Chase Meidroth was the first prospect from the group to debut and has played his way to everyday work in the middle infield.) Boston’s first-round pick in 2023, Teel has ranked among the sport’s most talented catching prospects throughout his time in pro ball.
The University of Virginia product was essentially the consensus #4 prospect in the Red Sox’s system. He was behind Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer but was viewed as one of the sport’s 50 or so best minor leaguers in his own right. Teel ranked between 32nd and 52nd on the preseason lists at MLB Pipeline, ESPN and Baseball America. He slotted 42nd on BA’s most recent in-season update, which came out this week.
Baseball America now ranks Teel as the White Sox’s #2 prospect and their top position player talent. The left-handed hitter has a well-rounded profile that gives him a good chance to be a long-term starter behind the plate. He has been particularly good offensively throughout his minor league career. Teel has a .300/.401/.456 batting line in pro ball. He has kept up a similar pace during his first season in the Chicago system.
Teel has played 50 games this year with Triple-A Charlotte. He carries a .295/.394/.492 slash with eight home runs through 213 plate appearances. As he has throughout his career, he’s taking free passes at an excellent 14.1% clip. Teel has struck out a little more than a quarter of the time, but the overall production has been strong. He was on fire throughout the past month, hitting .333/.444/.613 in May after posting a .626 OPS in April.
There isn’t a whole lot left for Teel to prove against minor league pitching. He’ll probably strike out a decent amount in the majors, but his plate discipline should give him a solid on-base floor. The Sox are certainly going to have him in the lineup on most days, though it’ll be interesting to see how they deploy him defensively. Scouting reports suggest he’s a solid defensive catcher.
The Sox already have a touted rookie catcher in Edgar Quero, who began the season playing alongside Teel in Charlotte. He and Korey Lee are splitting the work behind the plate. The switch-hitting Quero isn’t hitting for any power, but he’s batting .250 with a .341 on-base percentage in 37 games. He has hit at every minor league stop and deserves continued playing time. Lee is unlikely to be more than a long-term backup, but the White Sox probably won’t want to carry only two rookie catchers.
Teel said this week that he has begun taking first base drills. He has not played anywhere other than catcher in a minor league game. Teel could mix in at first base, where the Sox have gotten nothing all season. They’ll probably also use both rookie catchers somewhat frequently at designated hitter. That’d push Andrew Benintendi into more of a full-time left field role while cutting the playing time for journeyman outfielder Joshua Palacios.
As a consensus Top 100 talent, Teel meets the eligibility for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. That means he could earn a full service year if he finished in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. The A’s Jacob Wilson may have already locked up one of those spots, but there’s at least an outside chance for Teel to play well enough to get consideration for the other. The White Sox would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote him early enough to spend 172 days in the majors. If he doesn’t earn the full service year, Teel will remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He likely wouldn’t reach arbitration eligibility until the 2028-29 offseason.
Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.
Pirates Re-Sign Nick Solak To Minor League Deal
The Pirates brought Nick Solak back on a minor league contract, relays Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. He was briefly a free agent after being placed on waivers this week.
Solak spent a couple weeks on the big league bench after being called up in the middle of May. He went 1-11 with two strikeouts over the four games he played. He started twice at first base and one time in left field. It marked his first MLB action in two years. The Bucs dropped him from the roster when Nick Gonzales returned from an ankle fracture. Solak is out of options, so Pittsburgh needed to run him through waivers to take him off the MLB roster.
While Solak didn’t make an impact in his MLB cameo, the former second-round pick has destroyed Triple-A pitching this year. He’s hitting .393/.452/.625 with six homers across 126 plate appearances with their Indianapolis affiliate. He’s a career .291/.379/.472 hitter over parts of six Triple-A seasons. Solak has never found a great defensive home and has not gotten an extended MLB opportunity since his 2021 season with the Rangers. He’ll try to maintain his blistering early-season pace in the International League to earn another big league look later in the year.
Royals, Justin Dunn Agree To Minor League Deal
The Royals are in agreement with righty Justin Dunn on a minor league contract, reports Jaylon Thompson of The Kansas City Star. The former first-round pick had been pitching in Triple-A with the White Sox but was released last week.
Dunn signed an offseason minor league deal with Chicago. He had a tough run in Triple-A, allowing a 7.64 ERA across 33 innings. He walked more than 15% of opponents while allowing hard contact on half the batted balls against him. He’d started his first seven appearances before moving to the bullpen. Dunn tossed a scoreless outing in his first relief appearance but gave up seven runs (five earned) over the next 2 1/3 frames and was released.
The 29-year-old last appeared in the majors with Cincinnati in 2022. He battled shoulder problems the following season and was limited to three minor league appearances. That culminated in surgery that cost him the entire ’24 campaign. Dunn has averaged 92.4 MPH in this year’s Triple-A work, which is in line with his velocity from his most recent MLB action. He has 32 big league starts to his name between the Mariners and Reds, posting a 4.44 ERA in 133 2/3 innings.
Astros Sign Omar Narvaez To Minor League Contract
The Astros signed veteran catcher Omar Narváez to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Sugar Land, the team announced (relayed by Ari Alexander of KPRC 2). The ISE client was granted his release by the White Sox last month.
While the White Sox are in a full rebuild, they had a crowded depth chart behind the plate. Edgar Quero made his MLB debut in April. Fellow top prospect Kyle Teel will do the same tomorrow. Former Astro Korey Lee remains on the Sox’s roster as a defensive specialist. Matt Thaiss, who had operated as the backup catcher early in the season, was traded to Tampa Bay. Teel and Quero are the potential long-term answers for the White Sox, so Narváez was never going to get more than a stopgap run.
The 33-year-old did spend a week on the MLB roster in mid-April. Lee had recently sprained his ankle and the Sox had yet to promote Quero. Narváez went 2-7 with a couple walks in four games before being cut loose. He returned to the organization on a new minor league deal and spent a month in Triple-A. He hit .218/.317/.345 over 15 games.
Narváez has some familiarity with the Astros organization. He signed a minor league deal with Houston last June — a move that came a few weeks after he’d been released by the Mets. He only hit .196 over 42 games in Sugar Land and never received a big league call. Narváez hasn’t hit much at either the MLB or Triple-A levels over the past few seasons, but the Astros evidently value him as a defender and clubhouse presence.
Houston is carrying each of Yainer Diaz, Victor Caratini and Cesar Salazar on the active roster. Narváez is unlikely to get a look unless one or two players from that trio suffers an injury. They didn’t have much in the way of non-roster catching depth in the upper minors, though. Joe Hudson, the only other backstop in the organization with MLB experience, is a 34-year-old who has appeared in 19 big league games and is hitting .129 in Triple-A.
Cooper Hummel Elects Free Agency
The Orioles yet again announced that outfielder/first baseman Cooper Hummel elected free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers. He was designated for assignment on Monday when Colton Cowser returned from the injured list.
Hummel had two stints in Baltimore that lasted a combined four days. He signed an MLB deal with the O’s after opting out of a non-roster contract with the Yankees. They designated him for assignment a day later when they needed a third catcher. He cleared waivers and re-signed on a fresh major league deal. Hummel spent three more days on the active roster. He struck out in his only at-bat and played two innings in right field.
It has presumably been a frustrating sequence, but Hummel picked up a little over a week of big league pay between his stint on the active roster and in DFA limbo. He’ll now return to the market and should at least find another minor league deal if no team is willing to plug him directly onto the MLB roster.
The switch-hitting Hummel appeared in 66 MLB contests for the Diamondbacks during his 2022 rookie season. He’s only made 17 big league appearances in the two-plus years since then. A career .159/.254/.274 hitter, he’s shown more offensive ability in the minors. Hummel has a .284/.419/.475 slash line over parts of five Triple-A seasons. He reached base at a .415 clip in 10 games with the Yankees’ affiliate before opting out.