Diamondbacks Designate Alek Thomas For Assignment, Promote Ryan Waldschmidt
The D-backs are cutting ties with one former top outfield prospect in order to turn the page toward a new one. Arizona announced Friday that Alek Thomas has been designated for assignment, while top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt‘s contract has been selected to the majors. Waldschmidt, currently the game’s No. 41 prospect on Baseball America’s recent top-100 update, figures to get regular work in the outfield moving forward. The Snakes also activated first baseman Tyler Locklear from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Reno.
Now 26 years old, Thomas was a second-round pick out of high school back in 2018 and quickly became not only one of the game’s top-ranked outfield prospects but its top-ranked prospects overall. From 2020-22, Thomas was a consensus top prospect on lists at Baseball America, MLB.com and several other outlets. He climbed as high as No. 32 on BA’s rankings in 2022 and all the way up to No. 18 over at MLB.com.
While Thomas didn’t exactly hit the ground running in 2022, he showed decent bat-to-ball skills, good speed and a quality glove in his first taste of big league action. After slashing .322/.397/.539 (125 wRC+) in Triple-A Reno to earn his big league promotion that year, he hit .231/.275/.344 with eight homers in 411 plate appearances during his first taste of the majors.
That was nearly 30% worse than league-average production, per wRC+, but Thomas showed 95th percentile sprint speed and logged positive marks in both Defensive Runs Saved (7) and Outs Above Average (7). It’s easy enough to overlook a shaky offensive showing for a 22-year-old in his MLB debut when the other tools are present, and Thomas had a nice speed-and-defense floor with an 18% strikeout rate that sat well shy of league average.
Unfortunately, Thomas’ bat has yet to come around. He’s now played in parts of four major league seasons. He’s never topped nine homers or an 81 wRC+. He’s a career .230/.273/.361 hitter in 1485 plate appearances and has seen his strikeout rate climb since that rookie showing. Thomas struck out at an alarming 26% clip last season (in a career-high 469 plate appearances) and is at 23% this season while batting .181/.222/.340. He’s out of minor league options, and a D-backs club that ranks 19th in runs scored and 22nd in home runs clearly feels it can no longer wait for an offensive breakout that may simply never manifest.
Waldschmidt, 23, entered the season as a top-tier prospect and has done nothing to change that outlook. The former No. 31 overall draft pick has taken 156 plate appearances in Reno and delivered a .289/.400/.477 batting line with three homers, nine doubles, three triples, six steals, a huge 12.2% walk rate and a 24.4% strikeout rate. He’s a 6′, 205-pound outfielder who bats from the right side and has plus raw power that has yet to fully be displayed in game settings just yet. Last year’s 18 homers are a career-high, but he’s a potential 20- to 30-homer bat with a good idea of the strike zone, above-average speed and experience in all three outfield spots.
Most scouting reports think Waldschmidt will settle in as a corner outfielder, but he’s played primarily center this season and could take over for Thomas in that regard. The primary alternative in center would be Corbin Carroll, but he’s a plus right field defender in his own right, and Arizona may not want to rankle things by flipping two outfielders to positions they haven’t been playing this season.
While some top prospects get the call without a path to a clear everyday role — typically when they’re filling in for an injured player — that’s not the case with Waldschmidt. Thomas’ removal from the 40-man roster and the lack of any clear everyday outfield alternatives gives him an immediate everyday opportunity and a chance to cement himself as a long-term piece in the outfield mix right out of the gate.
Though Waldschmidt is a consensus top-100 prospect, he won’t be eligible to net the Diamondbacks any compensatory draft picks via MLB’s prospect promotion incentives. Too much time has past for him to qualify. Enough time has also elapsed that Waldschmidt cannot organically accrue a full year of major league service. His only path to doing so would be a top-two finish in this season’s NL Rookie of the Year balloting. Given his pedigree and prospect status, there’s a chance for him to do so, but players like Nolan McLean, Sal Stewart and JJ Wetherholt have a large head-start on him.
In all likelihood, Waldschmidt will finish the season shy of one year of big league service. That’d make him controllable for six years beyond the current campaign, all the way through 2032. The timing of his call to the big leagues does set him up nicely to reach Super Two designation, which would make him arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three, so long as he’s not optioned back to the minors. If that’s the case, the first of those four trips through arbitration would come in the 2028-29 offseason.
Turning back to Thomas, the D-backs will have five days to trade him or place him on outright waivers. (They could also release him, but they surely won’t go that route.) Given his speed, defensive chops and former prospect pedigree, Thomas will likely appeal to some outfield-needy clubs who hope to strike big on a change-of-scenery candidate. Teams like the Astros, White Sox, Nationals, Rockies, Royals, Tigers and Cardinals are either rebuilding or facing various outfield injuries that could make Thomas hold some appeal, even as a short-term stopgap.
A contender with a deeper outfield mix but thin bench could also look to add him in a reserve capacity. Thomas is earning a modest $1.926MM this season, so he certainly isn’t going to break the bank. He’s also controllable for two more years beyond the current season, so if another team can get him to even produce slightly below-average offense with some degree of consistency, they could get multiple years of value from the once-touted outfielder.
Dustin Harris Elects Free Agency
The Astros announced Friday that outfielder Dustin Harris, whom they designated for assignment earlier in the week, cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Sugar Land. He instead elected free agency and is now free to sign with any club.
Harris, 26, was a prospect of some note with the Rangers a few years back but has yet to break out in the majors. He’s received 102 plate appearances across parts of three seasons and has a .225/.307/.371 batting line (91 wRC+) in that time. That includes a career-high 52 plate appearances with Houston this season, during which he hit .233/.333/.302.
Harris has long been considered a bat-first prospect with a hit-over-power profile. Elements of that profile were apparent in his brief run with Houston. He fanned in only 13.5% of his plate appearances and drew walks at a stout 11.5% clip. Harris chased off the plate at a roughly league-average rate, but his contact rate on balls out of the zone was an enormous 81.3%. That’s clearly a tiny sample, but Harris’ time in parts of four Triple-A seasons shows similar trends. He’s a career .276/.366/.417 hitter at the top minor league level and has walked in 11.2% of his plate appearances against a lower-than-average 20.4% strikeout rate there. Those numbers come in a much larger sample of 1308 turns at the plate.
Though he was drafted as a first baseman (and got some looks at third base early in his pro career), Harris has since moved to the outfield on a near-exclusive basis. He has just 21 innings at first base over the past three seasons (majors and minors combined). Harris hasn’t played a single inning on the infield in the majors; he’s been primarily a left fielder (131 innings), with occasional appearances in right field (49 innings) and even briefer cameos in center (24 innings).
Harris has a keen eye at the plate and good bat-to-ball skills, but his defensive skill set is modest, as is his power output. He’s also out of minor league options. He’ll likely sign a minor league deal with a club seeking left-handed bats and/or outfield depth — a return to the Astros shouldn’t be ruled out — but if he’s added back to a major league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick or else once again be designated for assignment.
Guardians Designate Connor Brogdon For Assignment
The Guardians have designated right-hander Connor Brogdon for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for the recall of righty Franco Aleman, a move that was reported earlier. Tim Stebbins of MLB.com was among those to pass along the news of the completed transactions.
The Guardians signed Brogdon, 31, to a major league deal in the offseason. The $900K salary on that deal is barely above the $780K league minimum but it was still a bit of a surprise that Brogdon got a big league deal at all. Injuries had limited him to just three innings in 2024. He was back on the mound in 2025 but posted a 5.55 earned run average in 47 innings for the Angels. The Halos outrighted him off their roster at season’s end.
Cleveland was presumably seeing some signs of optimism under the hood. Brogdon’s fastball velocity ticked up to 95.5 miles per hour last year, a nice rebound after it had dipped to 92.8 mph while he has battling injuries the year prior. It was also possible to see some positive regression with his ERA, since his 24.6% strikeout rate was decent and his 9% walk rate around par. The runs allowed were partially due to the home run ball, which can sometimes be fluky in small samples. A metric like SIERA, for instance, views things that way and gave Brogdon a 3.86 last year.
The bet hasn’t paid off. Brogdon has lost a tick of velo, sitting at 94.5 mph this year. His 4.5% walk rate is nice but he has only struck out 20.9% of batters faced and the home runs are still an issue. Through 15 1/3 innings, he has a 5.28 ERA.
Brogdon is out of options, so the Guards have bumped him into DFA limbo. He can stay there as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could take five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on the wire sooner than that.
The season began with Brogdon’s service time at four years and 90 days, putting him 82 days shy of the five-year line. He has picked up another 44 days of service so far this year but hasn’t quite made it to five years.
That’s significant because players with three years of service have the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency. But if they are shy of five years, they have to forfeit their remaining salary commitments in exercising that right. If Brogdon were to clear waivers, he presumably would not want to walk away from the remainder of his $900K salary, so he would likely report to Triple-A Columbus and give the Guardians some non-roster bullpen depth.
Photo courtesy of Scott Marshall, Imagn Images
Phillies Outright Dylan Moore
The Phillies announced that infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He was designated for assignment a week ago. He has the right to elect free agency though the Phils didn’t indicate whether or not he will exercise that right.
Moore, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Phils in the offseason. That deal would have paid him $1.85MM if the Phils called him up but Moore triggered an opt-out and then signed a big league pact with a $1.45MM salary. The latter deal had four bonuses worth $100K for 100, 200, 300 and 400 plate appearances, giving him a path to get back to the figure on his first deal.
Ultimately, he didn’t get there. He started the season in a utility role but didn’t get a hit in 15 plate appearances. He did draw three walks but also struck out six times. The Phils cut him loose a week ago when J.T. Realmuto came off the injured list, allowing them to keep Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs in a three-catcher setup with Félix Reyes and Edmundo Sosa in the other bench spots.
Moore is certainly capable of being a solid multi-positional guy. From 2020 to 2024, he hit 43 home runs for the Mariners in 1,397 plate appearances. His batting average was usually low but he made up for that with strong walk rates and some pop. He slashed .206/.319/.383 for a 105 wRC+ in that span while stealing 93 bases and moving all around the diamond, playing everywhere except catcher.
His numbers dipped a bit last year, as he slashed .201/.267/.374 between the Mariners and Rangers. As mentioned, he didn’t get off to a good start this year. As a veteran with at least five years of big league service time, he can elect free agency without forfeiting any of the money on his contract. He could therefore look for other opportunities elsewhere, leaving the Phillies on the hook for the salary.
If someone else signs him, they would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Phillies owe. 29 teams just passed on grabbing him from waivers, but that would have meant taking on the contract and the money owed to Moore. If he elects free agency now, the financial arrangement would be different and could be more enticing for clubs.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Astros Select Logan VanWey
May 8th: The Astros have now officially selected VanWey.
May 7th: Astros reliever Logan VanWey is meeting the team in Cincinnati for their weekend series with the Reds, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston has an open spot on the pitching staff after optioning Jason Alexander during Thursday’s off day. They also have a vacancy on the 40-man roster because they designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment on Tuesday.
Assuming they select VanWey’s contract rather than adding him to the taxi squad, he’ll be in Joe Espada’s bullpen for the first time this season. The former undrafted free agent reached the majors last April. He was on and off the MLB roster a few times throughout his rookie year, logging 10 2/3 innings across nine appearances. He gave up seven runs (six earned) on 15 hits while recording seven strikeouts and three walks.
The Astros dropped VanWey from the 40-man roster halfway through the offseason. He went unclaimed on waivers and remained in the system on an outright assignment. The 27-year-old righty has made 15 apperances this year with Triple-A Sugar Land. He has allowed 10 earned runs through 15 2/3 frames but has fanned 19 of 70 opponents, an above-average 27% rate.
VanWey doesn’t have huge raw stuff. His fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range and he works mostly with a low-80s slider as his main secondary pitch. It wasn’t a big swing-and-miss arsenal in his limited MLB work, though he has missed a fair number of bats in the minors. VanWey last pitched on Tuesday and will give Houston a fresh arm for the middle innings.
White Sox Designate Osvaldo Bido For Assignment
The White Sox have designated right-hander Osvaldo Bido for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the roster will go to southpaw Tyler Schweitzer, who’s being recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
Incredibly, this is the sixth DFA for Bido since mid-December — to say nothing of a seventh time he was placed on waivers in early December and went from the A’s to the Braves. In essence, that’s seven DFAs in a span of five months.
That may make Bido seem like an unwanted player, but the fact that he continues to land on major league rosters despite being out of minor league options is a clear indicator that big league evaluators think there’s another level to be unlocked in the wiry right-hander. Since Dec. 5, he’s gone from the A’s to the Braves, to the Rays, to the Marlins, to the Angels, to the Yankees, back to the Braves and finally to the White Sox. Despite hitting waivers seven times — soon to be eight, unless he’s traded first — he’s never once passed through waivers unclaimed.
Bido, 30, has pitched 18 2/3 innings between Atlanta and Chicago this season. In that time, he’s been tagged for 13 runs (6.27 ERA) on 15 hits and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts. He’s also plunked four batters and tossed four wild pitches. It’s the second straight season of unsightly results; Bido served up a 5.87 ERA in 79 2/3 innings as a swingman with the A’s in 2025 as well.
Back in 2024, the 6’3″, 175-pound righty logged 63 1/3 innings with a 3.41 ERA for the A’s in their final season in Oakland. He set down 24.3% of his opponents on strikes, issued walks at a 10% clip and did an outstanding job avoiding hard contact (85.6 mph average exit velocity, 27% hard-hit rate).
Bido spent seven seasons in the Pirates system before making his MLB debut as a 27-year-old in 2023. In 212 1/3 major league innings, he’s posted a 5.17 ERA (4.67 SIERA, 4.81 FIP). He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher who’s shown passable but not great command and missed bats at a slightly below-average level. Bido averages 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike, coupling those heaters with an 86 mph slider and a lesser-used, upper-80s changeup.
The White Sox have five days to trade Bido, place him on outright waivers (a 48-hour process) or release him. If they can finally be the team to pass him through waivers, he’ll head to Triple-A Charlotte, as Bido lacks the prior outright or three years of service time needed to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Marlins Promote Robby Snelling
May 8: The Marlins have formally announced Snelling’s selection to the big league roster. He’ll start tonight’s game. Miami designated righty Stephen Jones for assignment in a corresponding move.
May 6: The Marlins are calling up pitching prospect Robby Snelling. He’ll be selected to the roster and will start Friday against the Nationals. They have an open 40-man spot after designating Chris Paddack for assignment earlier this week, so they will only need to open an active roster spot for him. Manager Clayton McCullough announced the news to reporters, including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base.
The Snelling promotion has been expected since not long after Paddack’s DFA. He and fellow lefty Braxton Garrett were possibilities to take the ball Friday in place of Paddack, but Garrett tossed 80 pitches in a start for Triple-A Jacksonville last night, strongly hinting that Friday would be Snelling’s big league debut. The team has now made that official.
Selected by the Padres with the No. 39 overall pick back in 2022, Snelling made his way to the Marlins organization as part of the return in the deadline trade sending relievers Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing to San Diego. His stock was down a bit at the time of the swap, but he’s rebounded nicely with the Marlins organization — so much so that Baseball America ranked him 26th on this morning’s refresh of their top-100 prospect rankings.
The 22-year-old Snelling has been excellent this year in six Triple-A starts, recording a 1.86 ERA and a mammoth 40% strikeout rate — albeit against a concerning 13.6% walk rate. He’s kept 57% of batted balls against him on the ground. Snelling was also lights out in 11 Triple-A starts last year (1.27 ERA — 2.51 overall ERA between Double-A and Triple-A). At this point, he seems more than ready for a look in the majors, even with the sub-par command.
Snelling, listed at 6’3″ and 210 pounds, works primarily off a four-seam fastball that averages just over 94 mph and a curveball that sits 82-83 mph. He mixes in an occasional changeup and slider, but the four-seamer/curveball combo has accounted for more than 80% of his pitches in 2026. Snelling’s four-seamer and curveball both drew plus grades (60) on BA’s scouting report, while his lesser-used changeup and slider still garner above-average (55) ratings on the 20-80 scale. He’ll need to rein in his command, but it’s not hard to see why the Marlins are eager to take a look at a 22-year-old southpaw with four above-average pitches and a sub-2.00 ERA in 18 career Triple-A starts.
Since Snelling opened the season in the minors and wasn’t called up until early May, he won’t qualify to net the Marlins an additional draft pick under MLB’s prospect promotion incentive (PPI) program. Enough time has elapsed this season that the only way for him to accrue a full year of major league service time would be to finish first or second in National League Rookie of the Year balloting. Snelling certainly has the pedigree to do so, but young standouts like Nolan McLean, JJ Wetherholt and Sal Stewart all have a considerable head start on him in that race.
Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Snelling will remain under club control for at least six years beyond the 2026 campaign. If he sticks in the majors for good from this point forth, he’ll be a surefire Super Two player, thereby making him eligible for arbitration four times (beginning after the 2028 season) rather than the standard three.
With Paddack on his way out the door, there’s a long-term spot in the Miami rotation open. This figures to be more than just a simple spot start. Snelling should have a clear runway to prove he can be a building block in the rotation. Triple-A teammate Thomas White, who ranked 11th on the aforementioned Baseball America top-100 update, should get the chance to join him at some point down the road this year.
Miami only has Sandy Alcantara signed through the 2027 season, but the allure of a rotation including Alcantara, Snelling, White, Eury Pérez and Max Meyer — with Garrett and Janson Junk also in the mix — is readily apparent. Even if the Fish finally trade Alcantara this summer, the starting staff has several high-upside young pieces who could form the nucleus of a contending staff … if the Marlins can find a way to put together a decent offense. Only twice in the past two decades have the Marlins put together an offense that was better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The 2007 and 2017 Marlins both logged collective wRC+ marks of 101, indicating they were 1% better than average. They’re exactly average (100) so far in 2026.
Marlins Designate Stephen Jones For Assignment
The Marlins announced Friday morning that right-hander Stephen Jones has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man and active rosters will go to top pitching prospect Robby Snelling, whose widely reported promotion to the majors is now official.
The 28-year-old Jones received his first call to the majors just yesterday after eight years in pro ball, but the Marlins didn’t get him into a game before removing him from the roster. He’ll now be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the next five days. Waivers would take another 48 hours, so his stay in DFA limbo could last up to a week.
Jones has opened the 2026 season with 16 2/3 innings and a 3.24 ERA in Double-A. He’s surrendered six earned runs on 10 hits and a problematic 13 walks, tacking on 19 punchouts in the process. Jones’ 25.7% strikeout rate isn’t supported by his well below-average 8.5% swinging-strike rate, however, and his colossal 17.6% walk rate presents an obvious red flag.
Originally a 21st-round pick by the Rockies back in 2019, Jones is in his first year in the Marlins system. Miami signed him as a minor league free agent over the winter. He spent 2025 with the Padres organization — also after inking a minor league contract. He typically works off a four-seamer that sits 95 mph and a slider that sits 86 mph, sprinkling in an occasional sinker, cutter and changeup.
Astros Re-Sign Daniel Johnson To Minor League Deal
The Astros re-signed outfielder Daniel Johnson to a minor league contract, according to the MiLB.com transaction tracker. He elected free agency yesterday after being designated for assignment on Monday. He’ll report to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Johnson began the season in Triple-A with the Marlins. Released in early April, he signed with Houston a couple weeks later. Johnson was called up not long after with the Astros’ outfield dealing with a lot of injuries. He played in eight MLB games, collecting two hits and walks apiece over 17 plate appearances. Zach Cole came back from a broken toe that had cost him five weeks and replaced Johnson on the active roster this week.
The 30-year-old Johnson has appeared in parts of five MLB seasons but has fewer than 200 career trips to the dish. He owns a .191/.249/.306 line with five home runs in 75 games, striking out at a 28% clip along the way. He’s a .255/.321/.448 hitter in nearly 1800 plate appearances over parts of seven Triple-A campaigns.
Tigers Outright Yoniel Curet, Zack Short
The Tigers sent righty Yoniel Curet and infielder Zack Short through outright waivers, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News was among those to relay. Short is still weighing whether to accept the assignment or elect free agency. This is the first career outright for Curet, so he has no choice but to report to Triple-A Toledo.
Both players were recent acquisitions. Detroit picked up Curet off waivers from Philadelphia in the middle of April. They traded for Short, who was playing on a minor league contract, in a cash deal with the Nationals on Friday. Detroit called him up on Sunday and designated him for assignment on Tuesday after he went 0-3 in two games.
Curet, 23, has yet to pitch in the big leagues. He garnered some prospect hype after a strong run between 2022-24 in the low minors of the Rays’ system. Tampa Bay carried him on the 40-man roster for two years as a long-term development project. A shoulder injury sidelined him for the first half of last season, and the big righty struggled to throw strikes once he got healthy. The Phils picked him up in a DFA trade in December but dropped him from the roster early in April.
The Tigers will now get to work with Curet without needing to carry him on the 40-man roster. He has a mid-90s fastball and showed big strikeout potential early in his minor league career. It seems likelier at this point that any MLB future is going to come out of the bullpen. Curet spent the first couple weeks of his time in the Detroit system at their Florida complex, presumably to work on his mechanics. He has only pitched once for Toledo and walked three of his six opponents.
Short is a utility player who owns a .171/.269/.295 line in just shy of 600 big league plate appearances. Detroit was very thin on upper minors shortstop depth behind Kevin McGonigle once Javier Báez joined Zach McKinstry and Trey Sweeney on the injured list. McKinstry returned this week and they brought in Paul DeJong on a minor league contract on Tuesday, pushing Short down the depth chart a couple notches.