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Red Sox Acquire Vladimir Gutierrez

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The Red Sox announced Thursday evening that they’ve acquired right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez from the Brewers in exchange for cash and optioned him to Triple-A Worcester. Milwaukee designated Gutierrez for assignment earlier in the week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Boston transferred injured shortstop Trevor Story from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Story underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week. The Sox also announced that lefty Joe Jacques was optioned to Worcester following today’s game.

The 28-year-old Gutierrez originally signed with the Reds on a hefty $4.75MM bonus (plus a 100% tax on that bonus) in 2016 after defecting from his native Cuba. He profiled as one of Cincinnati’s top pitching prospects for a few years before making his MLB debut in 2021. The 6’1″, 205-pound righty pitched 150 2/3 innings for the Reds from 2021-22, turning in a 5.44 ERA with a 17.3% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate that were both worse than league-average.

Despite those struggles, Gutierrez would likely have received a longer look with the Reds — had he remained healthy. His elbow had other ideas, as a torn ulnar collateral ligament in ’22 led to Tommy John surgery. Gutierrez returned to the mound to toss a handful of minor league innings last September but didn’t get back to the big leagues. He was removed from Cincinnati’s 40-man roster and became a free agent following the season. After a few showcases for big league scouts, he signed a minor league deal with the Marlins.

It’s been a whirlwind three weeks for Gutierrez, who was selected to the Marlins’ 40-man roster and pitched four innings of long relief to help spare their taxed bullpen. That four-inning appearance meant he’d be unavailable for several days, so the Fish designated him for assignment to clear space for another fresh arm in the ’pen. Miami surely hoped to be able to pass Gutierrez through waivers and keep him as a depth option, but the Brewers scooped him up off waivers on April 5. He was rocked for seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in his lone Triple-A start with Milwaukee, who designated Gutierrez themselves in order to bring fellow righty Tobias Myers up to the MLB roster.

Now with his third team in a span of three weeks, Gutierrez will hope to get into a groove in Worcester and pitch his way into a big league opportunity. The Red Sox lost Lucas Giolito for the season before Opening Day, and they’ve more recently placed Garrett Whitlock (oblique strain) and Nick Pivetta (flexor strain) on the injured list. That leaves the Sox with a rotation including Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Cooper Criswell. Veteran Chase Anderson is on hand as a long man in the ’pen and could move into the rotation following Whitlock’s IL placement just yesterday. Gutierrez joins lefty Brandon Walter and righty Naoyuki Uwasawa as a rotation depth option on the 40-man roster.

Rangers Sign Shaun Anderson, Collin Wiles To Minor League Deals

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The Rangers have signed righties Shaun Anderson and Collin Wiles to minor league pacts, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Both pitchers have been assigned to Triple-A Round Rock.

This will mark the 29-year-old Anderson’s second stint in the Rangers organization. Texas claimed him off waivers from the Twins in 2021, but he lasted less than a month in the organization before being designated for assignment and claimed by the Orioles.

A former third-round pick by the Red Sox, Anderson has pitched in parts of four big league seasons, totaling 135 2/3 frames with an unsightly 5.84 ERA. Fielding-independent marks like FIP and SIERA are only a bit more favorable, at 5.00 and 5.24, respectively. The 6’6″ Anderson doesn’t throw especially hard (career 93 mph average fastball) but has excellent extension and tantalizing spin rates that have at times resulted in plus swinging-strike rates. He hasn’t been consistent enough at inducing whiffs, however, as evidenced by a career 17.1% strikeout rate. He’s walked 9.9% of his opponents in the big leagues.

Anderson opened the 2023 season with the KBO’s Kia Tigers and pitched reasonably well, tossing 79 innings with a 3.76 ERA, 19% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 61.7% ground-ball rate. That run preceded a Triple-A look with the Phillies, where he pitched to a 4.85 ERA in 52 innings with diminished strikeout and grounder rates. In a total of 249 Triple-A innings, Anderson has a 3.90 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate.

Wiles, also 29, reached the majors with the A’s in 2022 but has just 9 2/3 innings of big league experience. He allowed five earned runs on 11 hits and two walks with nine punchouts in that brief cup of coffee. This minor league deal marks a return to the organization that originally selected him with the No. 53 overall pick of the 2012 draft. Wiles was in the Rangers’ system from 2012-21 before departing as a minor league free agent and signing with Oakland. He racked up 143 1/3 innings in their Triple-A rotation and made four relief appearances in the majors.

Wiles doesn’t have standout run-prevention numbers (career 4.57 ERA) or strikeout rates (17%) in parts of 10 minor league seasons. He sports plus command though, as evidenced by a career 5.3% walk rate that’s actually improved as he’s climbed the minor league ladder (4.8% walk rate in both Double-A and Triple-A). Wiles signed the Brewers on a minor league deal in the 2022-23 offseason but wound up requiring shoulder surgery and didn’t pitch in 2023.

Both right-handers will give the Rangers some bullpen depth at a time when Brock Burke, Josh Sborz and Jonathan Hernandez are all on the injured list.

Red Sox To Select Cam Booser

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Left-hander Cam Booser is joining the Red Sox in Pittsburgh tomorrow, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. The lefty will be added to the club’s 40-man roster, per Andrew Parker of Beyond the Monster, who adds that lefty Joe Jacques will be optioned to open a spot on the active roster. The Sox will also need to open a 40-man roster spot but could do so easily by transferring Trevor Story to the 60-day injured list, since he will miss the rest of the year due to shoulder surgery.

Booser will crack a major league roster for the first time at an usually old age, as his 32nd birthday is just a few weeks away. It’s a testament to his determination that he will make it to the show after all these years, as he made his minor league debut over a decade ago, playing Rookie ball in the Twins’ system in 2013. After a few years in the minors, he topped out at High-A in 2017, not pitching in any official capacity for the next few years.

He resurfaced with the Chicago Dogs, an indy ball team, in 2021. He tossed 23 1/3 innings with a 1.93 earned run average for the Dogs that year and showed enough promise to get a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks for 2022. He tossed 25 innings in Double-A but struggled with a 6.48 ERA and got released. He then joined the Lancaster Barnstormers, another indy ball club, and tossed 11 2/3 innings with a 4.63 ERA.

He was able to secure himself a minor league contract with the Red Sox for 2023 and made 48 Triple-A appearances last year. He had a 4.99 ERA in his 57 2/3 innings, striking out 26.7% of batters faced while walking 9.7%. He received an invite to major league camp in 2024 and seemed to impress manager Álex Cora, as the skipper mentioned him to reporters last month, highlighting his high-90s fastball and ability to throw offspeed pitches in the zone.

It was around that same time during Spring Training that Ian Browne of MLB.com profiled the lefty. Booser apparently retired at the end of the 2017 season following several injuries, a marijuana suspension and “self-admitted attitude problems.” He then turned his attention to a carpentry career but stumbled back onto the mound by doing lessons with kids and rediscovering his past form.

“After the kiddos would leave, I would stay in the dark and throw into a net by myself for a couple of months. And through that process, I found out that my arm felt better than it ever had with that time off. One day, I got on the mound and my fastball was pretty good, 97-98 [mph]. So we figured, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’ I met with a trainer back home the next day and went out there to [independent] ball in 2021, and it’s been a great journey ever since.”

Booser didn’t break camp with the Sox but reported to Triple-A and has thrown 6 2/3 innings over four appearances this year, allowing two earned runs while striking out 15 opponents against just one walk. Though he obviously didn’t take the traditional path, Booser has found his way to the big leagues in amazingly unique fashion. The Sox have Brennan Bernardino and Joely Rodríguez in their bullpen but Booser will give them a third southpaw option.

Yankees Claim Taylor Trammell, Designate Kevin Smith

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed outfielder Taylor Trammell off waivers from the Dodgers, the latter club having designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a roster spot for Trammell, the Yankees designated infielder Kevin Smith for assignment.

Trammell, 26, was only with the Dodgers for a couple of weeks. They claimed him off waivers from the Mariners in early April and he only got six hitless plate appearances, striking out three times, before getting bumped off the roster and put right back on waivers.

The Yankees are likely interested based on Trammell’s past status as one of the top prospects in the game. Selected 35th overall by the Reds in 2016, he was on Baseball America’s top 100 lists in three straight years starting in 2018.

But his results started to dip as he began to be passed around the league a bit. He was flipped to the Padres in the 2019 deal that sent Trevor Bauer to the Reds and Yasiel Puig to Cleveland, then was traded again, going to the Mariners in the 2020 deal that also sent Ty France and Andrés Muñoz to Seattle.

The Mariners gave him sporadic playing time in the majors over the past few years but he didn’t live up to his previous prospect hype. He currently has a line of .165/.266/.361 in 357 plate appearances, having struck out in 37.3% of those. His 10.9% walk rate is strong but the overall output has obviously not been good. He is now out of options, which is why the Mariners and Dodgers have each had to designate him for assignment in recent weeks.

Reasons for optimism can be found on Trammell’s Triple-A performance. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has 812 plate appearances at the top minor league level. He struck out in 24% of those but also drew walks at a 14% rate and hit 38 home runs. That’s to be taken with a grain of salt since those homers were all in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but his .274/.381/.506 batting line nonetheless translated to a 116 wRC+, indicating he was 16% above league average. He also stole 33 bases in 40 tries in that time.

The Yanks will give Trammell a roster spot to see if he can finally have his long-awaited breakout in pinstripes. While that’s a sensible decision in a vacuum, it seems less than ideal in terms of roster construction.

The Yankees already have a pretty loaded group in terms of outfielders, with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo getting the regular playing time. Giancarlo Stanton is in the designated hitter slot most days while Trent Grisham is on hand as a glove-first backup.

Smith was added to the roster on the weekend with the club’s infield injuries mounting. Oswald Peraza and DJ LeMahieu both started the season on the injured list, which prompted the Yanks to trade for Jon Berti. But then Berti himself landed on the IL a few days ago, which is what led the club to select Smith’s contract.

Swapping in Trammell for Smith will seemingly give the club a surplus of outfielders but leave them a bit shorthanded on the dirt. Oswaldo Cabrera has taken over as the regular third baseman amid all those injuries, taking a spot next to Anthony Volpe, Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo. The Yankees have Jahmai Jones on hand as a depth infielder but he’s been given just one plate appearance so far this year and only has major league experience at second base and in left field.

LeMahieu is starting a rehab assignment this week but a bench of catcher Jose Trevino, Jones, Grisham and Trammell will leave the club a bit thin on the infield until LeMahieu is ready to rejoin the big league club. Someone will have to lose their roster spot when LeMahieu gets back and time will tell who that is. If Trammell hangs onto his spot, he can be retained well into the future. He has less than two years of service time, meaning he has four years of club control beyond the current campaign.

As for Smith, the Yankees will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He got into one game as a pinch runner during his time on the roster but didn’t get sent to the plate. He has hit .173/.215/.301 in his 333 career plate appearances at the major league level.

He seemed to have a Triple-A breakout in 2021 when he hit .285/.370/.561 for the top minor league affiliate of the Blue Jays. But since then, his Triple-A performance has been an average-ish .280/.340/.497, which translates to a 101 wRC+. He also struck out in  29.9% of his plate appearances in that time. Like Trammell, he’s out of options but comes with years of potential club control. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Yankees as depth but without occupying a roster spot.

Brewers Outright Kevin Herget

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Right-hander Kevin Herget has cleared waivers and been outrighted by the Brewers to Triple-A Nashville, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Brewers had designated the righty for assignment on the weekend.

Herget, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in the offseason. He had his contract selected April 9 and was bounced off the roster five days later without making an appearance. Prior to joining the big league club, he made four scoreless appearances in Triple-A, striking out five batters while only issuing one walk. He also had two scoreless appearances in Spring Training.

Though he didn’t get into a big league game with the Brewers, he has 31 1/3 innings of major league experience with the Rays and Reds. He has a 5.74 earned run average in that time, striking out just 12.6% of batters faced but limiting walks to a tiny rate of 4.4%. His work in the minors has naturally been more intriguing. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has tossed 230 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.86 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate.

Herget has been outrighted before in his career, which gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. It’s not yet clear whether he’s chosen to report to Nashville or head back out to the open market.

Rangers Promote Jack Leiter

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April 18: Texas officially selected Leiter’s contract on Thursday morning. The Rangers optioned Grant Anderson to Triple-A in a corresponding move. To create space on the 40-man roster, they transferred lefty reliever Brock Burke to the 60-day injured list. Burke broke his non-throwing hand last week and will now be out of action until at least the middle of June.

April 16: The Rangers announced this morning that top pitching prospect Jack Leiter will have his contract selected to the major league roster and make his big league debut Thursday against the Tigers. Texas has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to accommodate the right-hander, whom they drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021.

It’s an early birthday present for Leiter, who’ll turn 24 just three days after making his long-awaited debut. The second-generation talent is the son of two-time World Series champion and two-time All-Star Al Leiter, the nephew of 11-year MLB veteran Mark Leiter, and the cousin of current Cubs setup man Mark Leiter Jr.

The fourth Leiter to reach the majors, Jack hasn’t had the most straightforward path to the show despite his considerable draft and prospect pedigree. He annihilated hitters in college ball at Vanderbilt, fanning 41% of his opponents in two seasons prior to being drafted, but struggled with command following an aggressive assignment to Double-A right out of the gate.

Leiter walked more than 13% of his opponents and posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of his first two seasons at the Double-A level but has been an absolute monster in his first three Triple-A appearances this season. In 14 1/3 innings, he’s punched out 25 of his 57 opponents (43.9%), walked only three (5.3%) and surrendered just 11 hits. Four of those, unfortunately, have left the yard and saddled Leiter with a 3.77 ERA that’s far less impressive than his overpowering K-BB profile would otherwise suggest, but it’s hard not to be encouraged by the strikeout and walk trends. That’s especially true given that Leiter also pitched 12 2/3 innings for Texas this spring and posted a much-improved 9.6% walk rate in that short time as well.

Texas’ rotation has been hammered by injuries. Jacob deGrom, signed to a five-year contract in the 2022-23 offseason, opened the year on the 60-day injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June. Max Scherzer, acquired at least year’s trade deadline, required offseason back surgery to repair a herniated disc. Twenty-six-year old southpaw Cody Bradford was a godsend through three starts to begin the season (1.40 ERA) … until he suffered a lower back strain of his own and was subsequently placed on the 15-day IL.

Leiter will step onto a starting staff that’s in flux. Veteran righty Michael Lorenzen, who inked a one-year deal late in spring training, made his Rangers debut yesterday with five shutout frames over his former Tigers teammates (albeit with five walks against four strikeouts). Veteran lefty Andrew Heaney would’ve been on tap for Thursday’s start, but he’s yet to last five innings in any of his three starts while pitching to a 6.75 ERA. It seems Leiter will overtake that spot, at least for the time being.

That all points to a rotation that’ll include Lorenzen, Leiter, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Wednesday’s starter Dane Dunning — at least for the time being. It’s not clear how long a leash Leiter will be given if he struggles out of the gate, though one would imagine the Rangers are planning to give him multiple starts following his initial call to the big leagues. Manager Bruce Bochy and/or general manager Chris Young will presumably expand on the team’s plans for their young righty in the days to come.

Leiter’s 2022-23 struggles were enough to drop him off prospect rankings, meaning he’s ineligible for MLB’s prospect promotion incentives. He won’t accrue a full year of service time, given the lack of sufficient time remaining on the calendar, nor can he net the Rangers a draft pick based on his Rookie of the Year voting. As it stands, he’ll be controllable through the 2030 season and is set up on pace to reach Super Two status, granting him four trips through the arbitration process rather than the standard three. The first of those arb-eligible offseasons would come in the winter of 2026-27, though future optional assignments could yet impact both his free agent timeline and arbitration status.

Blue Jays Trade Jimmy Robbins To Rangers

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The Rangers acquired minor league left-hander Jimmy Robbins from the Blue Jays, according to an announcement from Texas’ top affiliate in Round Rock. He was not on the Toronto 40-man roster and therefore won’t occupy a spot with Texas. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, the Jays received cash in return.

Robbins, a 6’3″ southpaw, has yet to reach the majors. The Jays selected him out of a Florida junior college in the 20th round of the 2019 draft. Robbins has never ranked among the organization’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America. Eric Longenhangen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs rated him as an honorable mention on their write-up of the Toronto farm system in 2023, praising his slider and calling him a potential situational lefty out of the bullpen.

The 26-year-old has worked mostly as a starting pitcher in his career, but control issues figure to push him to relief. He started 18 of 22 appearances in Double-A last year, where he walked almost 14% of batters faced. That resulted in a lackluster 4.67 ERA over 86 2/3 innings. Robbins has gotten brief looks as a non-roster invitee to big league Spring Training in each of the last two years, allowing two runs in 5 1/3 frames spanning four relief outings. He has pitched twice out of the bullpen in Triple-A this season, tossing 2 1/3 innings of two-run ball.

Texas will keep Robbins in Triple-A, where he could see action as a starter or multi-inning reliever. The Rangers are calling Jack Leiter up from the Round Rock rotation for his MLB debut tomorrow. Meanwhile, their lefty relief depth took a hit when Brock Burke suffered a self-inflicted hand fracture over the weekend.

Angels Sign Bryan Shaw, Elliot Soto To Minor League Deals

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The Angels have signed right-hander Bryan Shaw and shortstop Elliot Soto to minor league deals, per each player’s transaction tracker at MLB.com. Both have been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register relays that Shaw will make a prorated salary of $1.1MM if he makes the major league club.

Shaw, 36, is a veteran with 796 major league appearances to this point in his career. That puts him in the top 60 on the all-time list among pitchers and third among active hurlers, behind only Kenley Jansen and David Robertson. He has a 3.96 earned run average in that time over 764 1/3 innings.

He spent last year with the White Sox, logging 45 2/3 frames with a 4.14. He struck out 21.1% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.9% rate. He returned to the Sox on a minor league deal this offseason and cracked the Opening Day roster. He struggled in his first five appearances this year, allowing four earned runs in four innings while issuing four walks. The Sox designated him for assignment last week and he elected free agency after clearing waivers.

The Angels have a few relievers on the injured list, including Guillo Zuñiga and José Quijada, but the most notable is Robert Stephenson. Signed to a three-year, $33MM deal in the offseason, he started the season on the injured list due to some shoulder soreness and is now being evaluated for some elbow soreness which occurred during his rehab. Shaw will give the club a bit of veteran non-roster depth while trying to work his way back to the big leagues.

The Halos used six relievers in last night’s 13-inning loss to the Rays, leaving their bullpen fairly taxed. They have other relievers on their 40-man roster they could recall, such as Ben Joyce or Jimmy Herget, but no one in their current bullpen mixed can be optioned down. Since someone currently on the active roster will have to be placed on the injured list or designated for assignment to get a fresh arm in the mix, Shaw might have just as good a chance as someone already on the 40-man.

Soto, 34, has three games of major league experience, which came with the Angels back in 2020. He hit .333/.429/.500 in his seven big league plate appearances but is generally considered to be a glove-first player. Since the start of 2021, he’s hit .224/.310/.318 in the minors, which includes a line of .213/.282/.299 for the Twins’ Triple-A club last year.

He has mostly played shortstop in his career but has also spent time at third base, second base and the outfield, so he can provide the Halos with depth at multiple spots. The club’s regular infielders are all out to slow starts, with each of Zach Neto, Anthony Rendon, Brandon Drury, Luis Rengifo and Nolan Schanuel provided subpar offense to this point in the season. Depth infielder Michael Stefanic is on the injured list while youngster Kyren Paris is on optional assignment in Double-A.

Soto will provide them with some non-roster depth who has been around a while, despite his limited major league track record. If he cracks the roster at any point, he has a full slate of options and just a few days of service time.

Red Sox Place Garrett Whitlock On Injured List Due To Oblique Strain

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The Red Sox announced to reporters, including Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, that right-hander Garrett Whitlock has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Left-hander Joe Jacques has been recalled to take his spot on the roster for now.

Whitlock, 28 in June, exited last night’s game with some tightness in the oblique. Per manager Álex Cora, as relayed by McCaffrey in the tweet above, Whitlock fought the club to stay on the active roster but the Sox made the decision for him, not wanting him to make the injury worse.

That perhaps suggests that the issue is minor and that Whitlock will be back in a couple of weeks, but it’s a tough blow for the Red Sox nonetheless. He was off to a strong start to the season, having posted an earned run average of 1.96 through his first four starts, though he wasn’t going to maintain a .265 batting average on balls in play nor an 87.4% strand rate.

Still, the Sox are facing a number of challenges in the rotation. Lucas Giolito and Chris Murphy are out for the year due to elbow surgeries while Nick Pivetta is currently on the shelf with a flexor strain. With Whitlock now out of action as well, the rotation is down to Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Cooper Criswell. They will need to find someone else to replace Whitlock but Cora didn’t tip his hand to McCaffrey about who that would be.

Veteran Chase Anderson is with the big league club and could be an option since his first two appearances were three innings each, though his last outing was just one inning and the previous appearance was just two. Naoyuki Uwasawa is on the 40-man roster but has a 6.30 ERA through his first two Triple-A starts. Wikelman Gonzalez is on the 40-man but he’s in Double-A and didn’t make it out of the first innings in his most recent start at that level.

Jacques tossed 26 2/3 innings for the Sox last year with a 5.06 ERA. He’ll give the Sox another lefty in their bullpen for the time being but perhaps find himself optioned back out in the coming days when the club decides on the move to replace Whitlock in the rotation.

Cubs Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves to add some fresh arms to the bullpen after their recent pair of extra-inning games taxed the relief corps. Right-handers Hayden Wesneski and Colten Brewer are up from Triple-A Iowa — the latter of whom had his contract selected to the 40-man roster. Chicago optioned righty Daniel Palencia and lefty Luke Little to open a pair of spots on the active roster. Right-hander Julian Merryweather, already shelved with a stress fracture in his ribcage, was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot for Brewer on the 40-man roster. He’s been on the IL since April 6, meaning he’ll now be out until at least June 6.

The Cubs will be the fourth big league club for Brewer, 31. The right-hander tossed 8 1/3 innings with the Yankees in 2023 and has previously spent time with the Padres and Red Sox. He’s logged a combined 99 1/3 innings across parts of five MLB campaigns, pitching to a 4.98 ERA with a 19.7% strikeout rate, 13.1% walk rate and 51.3% grounder rate. Brewer also spent time with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year, hurling 11 1/3 innings while allowing three runs on six hits and six walks (one intentional) with 14 strikeouts.

Brewer signed with Chicago on a minor league pact over the winter and had a strong spring training (seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, no walks). He’s posted quite similar numbers in Des Moines so far: 7 2/3 innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, two walks, nine strikeouts. The 6’4″ righty is no stranger pitching to working in a long-relief role and could give the Cubs multiple innings if needed.

A protracted absence for Merryweather stings for the Cubs. The 32-year-old joined the organization as a waiver claim out of Toronto in January 2023 and quickly became one of their most important relievers. Since Opening Day ’23, Merryweather touts a 3.29 ERA (3.46 FIP, 3.41 SIERA) with a huge 32.1% strikeout rate. His 11.7% walk rate could rather obviously stand to improve, but Merryweather has done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard and frequently overpowering opponents with a heater that’s averaged 98.1 mph as a Cub. Among the 244 big league pitchers to toss at least 70 innings since Opening Day 2023, Merryweather’s 15.4% swinging-strike rate ranks 11th, placing him right between Mariners setup stud Matt Brash and reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.

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