Phillies Release Simón Muzziotti
The Phillies have released outfielder Simón Muzziotti, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer on X. The outfielder was outrighted off the Phillies’ roster in February, so this won’t impact the club’s 40-man count.
Muzziotti, now 25, was originally an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela but then Boston was found to have violated international signing rules. As a punishment, the Sox were not allowed to make any international signings in the 2016-17 period and five players they had previously signed were declared free agents, one of whom was Muzziotti.
He then landed a new deal with the Phillies and worked his way up through their system. The Phils placed him on their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft but he ended up missing most of 2021 due to visa issues.
In 2022, he was able to make his major league debut, getting into nine games. He hit just .143./.250/.143 in those, but in just nine plate appearances. He spent most of his time in the minors but that season was ended prematurely due to a torn patellar tendon in his right knee.
Due to the pandemic canceling the minor leagues in 2020, Muzziotti’s visa issues in 2021 and injuries in 2022, he was able to play just 66 minor league games in that three-year stretch. Last year, he stayed healthy enough to get into 124 Triple-A games and hit .296/.358/.404 in those. That translated to a 93 wRC+, indicating he was 7% below league average, but that’s passable production for Muzziotti since he’s been considered a strong defender and a speedster on the bases.
Despite finally having a steady season, the Phillies designated him for assignment in February of this year and the 29 other clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers. He didn’t have the right to elect free agency so he stuck with the Phils in a non-roster capacity but his results have tapered off this year. He’s slashed .235/.297/.373 in his 61 Triple-A contests for a wRC+ of 70, prompting the Phils to move on and let him go.
Muzziotti and his representatives will now look for opportunities elsewhere. Though his results have been poor this year, he’s still quite young and provides a decent floor with his speed and defense. Coming into this year, Baseball America still ranked him as the #22 prospect in the Phillies’ system.
Rays Reinstate Drew Rasmussen
The Rays announced that right-hander Drew Rasmussen has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Righty Joel Kuhnel was optioned to Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move. The club had a couple of vacant 40-man spots after their deadline dealings and their count in that regard now climbs to 39.
Rasmussen, now 29, has been on the IL all season after undergoing internal brace surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in July of last year. It’s not the first time that doctors have done work in that area of his elbow, as he underwent Tommy John surgery twice in college.
Those continual issues with his elbow have played a role in his circuitous journey. The Rays actually drafted him in the first round of the 2017 draft, between his two Tommy John surgeries, but didn’t sign him due to concerns in his physical. After he returned to college and went under the knife a second time, he was signed by the Brewers after that club selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 draft.
He worked his way up through the farm and then broke into the majors as a reliever with Milwaukee in 2020 and 2021. It was in May of 2021 that the Rays traded Willy Adames and Trevor Richards to the Brewers to get Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen. Though the Rays had walked away from the chance to sign him a few years prior, it seems they kept an eye on him and were encouraged by his progress.
They stretched him out after that deal, giving him ten starts in the latter half of the 2021 campaign. He was then able to fully grab hold of a rotation job in 2022 by making 28 starts with a 2.84 earned run average, 21.4% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate. He kept things rolling with a 2.62 ERA in eight starts last year before landing on the IL and eventually requiring yet another surgery.
Coming back from so many operations will be a challenge but it seems he and the Rays will take it a bit easy by keeping him in a multi-inning relief role for now. He started a rehab assignment last month and made five minor league appearances, none longer than two innings. Earlier this week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Rasmussen would be coming back in a relief role rather than getting fully stretched out.
Despite recently trading away Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin, the Rays have a strong rotation mix that currently consists of Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell. They also have Tyler Alexander doing solid work as a bulk guy behind an opener. Ryan Pepiot is on the injured list with a knee issue but could be back shortly.
For now, the club will assess Rasmussen out of the bullpen and decide how to proceed. He is making $1.8625MM this year, his first arbitration season, and can be controlled via arb for two more campaigns after this one. Each of those aforementioned rotation options projects to be a part of next year’s rotation mix, when Shane McClanahan will also return from his own Tommy John surgery layoff.
The Eflin and Civale deals have shown that the club is not afraid to deal established guys and then replace them with their own internal options, as Baz and Springs were also coming back from surgeries as those deals were lined up. Whether they decide to move Rasmussen back to the rotation next year or not, it seems fair to expect trade rumors around their pile of potential starting pitchers this offseason.
Cubs Sign Adrian Houser To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He started yesterday’s game for Triple-A Iowa, tossing 46 pitches over 2 2/3 innings.
Houser, 31, started the year in the Mets’ rotation but was later bumped to the bullpen and eventually off the roster entirely. By the first week of May, he had made six starts but allowed 26 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings for an 8.16 earned run average. He then made two relief appearances before making his seventh start of the year, in which he allowed six earned runs in five innings.
He only pitched in relief from that point forward and had much better results. From May 26 to July 24, he tossed 31 2/3 relief innings with a 3.41 ERA. His 18.6% strikeout rate was low but his 6.2% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate were both strong.
Those numbers were roughly in line with his previous track record. From 2019 to 2023 with the Brewers, he made 120 appearances, 97 of those being starts. In that time, he had a 4.04 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 52.5% ground ball rate.
That suggests Houser was more or less the same guy with the Mets this year, apart from the rough start to the campaign. Though he had gotten things back on track, the Mets were getting various injured pitchers back from the IL and needed roster spots, nudging Houser off.
Since Houser has more than five years of major league service time, he had the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all that remained of this year’s $5.05MM salary. Since he was bound for the open market anyway, the Mets simply released him. That leaves them on the hook for what’s left of that salary while the Cubs will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
The Cubs’ major league rotation is in a decent spot, consisting of Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Kyle Hendricks. But they have some starting depth on the shelf right now, as each of Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski are on the IL. Prospects like Cade Horton and Kohl Franklin are also injured at the moment, further thinning out the emergency options. Based on yesterday’s usage, it seems the Cubs will stretch Houser out and he will give them some experienced non-roster depth who can be called upon for essentially no cost at some point.
Royals Release Tyler Duffey
The Royals have released right-hander Tyler Duffey, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided this afternoon. Duffey pitched out of the club’s bullpen earlier this year but was outrighted off the 40-man roster back in May.
The 31-year-old is a veteran of 10 big league seasons who first made his debut with the Twins back in 2015. A starting pitcher back then, Duffey impressed in ten starts with Minnesota in his rookie season as he posted a 3.10 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 58 innings of work down the stretch. Unfortunately for Duffey, he struggled badly in his first full season in a rotation role as a big leaguer. The righty made 26 starts for the Twins in 2016, but he posted an atrocious 6.43 ERA with a lackluster 4.73 FIP in his 133 innings of work. That performance ended his days as a starter pitcher, but after some mixed results early in his move to the bullpen he emerged as a steady contributor in the Twins’ relief corps.
From 2019 to 2021, Duffey posted an excellent 2.69 ERA with a 3.16 FIP while striking out an excellent 29.8% of batters in 144 innings of work. Those impressive numbers led the Twins to bring Duffey back in 2022 on a one-year, $3.8MM contract signed just before the non-tender deadline, but that move did not end up working out well for Minnesota. Duffey wound up regressing significantly as his ERA ballooned to 4.91 in 44 innings of work while his strikeout rate plummeted to just 21.1%. Duffey’s struggles eventually proved significant enough that the Twins opted to part ways with the righty entirely, designating him for assignment in early August of that year.
The righty briefly caught on with the Yankees and Rangers late in the year after being cut loose by the Twins but wouldn’t appear in the big leagues again until October of the following year when he was briefly brought up by the Cubs nearly eight months after he signed a minor league deal to pitch in the organization. While he managed just two innings of work in Chicago, Duffey posted a respectable 3.77 ERA in 45 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A for the club’s Iowa affiliate last year. That performance was enough to earn Duffey another minor league deal last winter, this time in the Royals organization.
Since signing with the Royals, 2024 has proven to be a rollercoaster year for Duffey. The right-hander underwent a procedure to treat melanoma during Spring Training after a cancerous mole was discovered during his physical after signing with Kansas City, and while he didn’t make the Opening Day roster he did get selected to the big leagues in late April. Unfortunately, the right-hander’s brief stay in the majors did not go well as he surrendered a 5.00 ERA in nine appearances and walked 19% of the batters he faced. Duffey was outrighted to the minors in late May and has pitched to an excellent 2.01 ERA in 22 1/3 innings of work since his demotion.
He’ll now head back into free agency in search of an opportunity to crack a big league roster elsewhere. Given the righty’s track record and success in the minors this year, it’s certainly feasible to imagine a team being interested in bringing Duffey into the fold at least as a non-roster depth option, and it’s possible a team could even be willing to give him a shot at the big league level in fairly short order.
Mariners Sign Josh Fleming To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have signed left-hander Josh Fleming to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Tacoma, as relayed by Tacoma Rainiers broadcast Mike Curto on X (link). Fleming elected free agency on the day of the trade deadline after being designated for assignment by the Pirates the week prior.
Fleming, 28, was a fifth-round pick by the Rays in the 2017 draft and spent his entire career in Tampa prior to the 2024 season. The southpaw made his big league debut back in 2020 and enjoyed a solid rookie season with a 2.78 ERA and 4.40 FIP in seven appearances, including five starts, that totaled 32 1/3 innings of work. Fleming struck out just 19.2% of opponents in that first season as a big leaguer but made up for that with an eye-popping 63.7% ground ball rate. Those strong results led the Rays to offer Fleming an expanded role the following year as he posted a career-best 104 1/3 innings of work in 2021. Unfortunately, the lefty struggled with the larger role and posted a lackluster 5.09 ERA, though it’s worth noting that his 4.27 FIP and 4.36 xFIP both indicate that he pitched better than that top-level run prevention number might otherwise suggest.
After his lackluster 2021 season, Fleming saw his role in Tampa reduced somewhat as he pitched just 35 innings for the big league club in 2022 followed by 51 2/3 innings of work in 2023. Once again splitting time between the bullpen and starting rotation, Fleming pitched to a combined 5.40 ERA with a 5.16 FIP, a 13.8% strikeout rate, and a 7.9% walk rate. He continued to generate grounders at an impressive 61.4% clip in those years until his 2023 season ended early due to a bout of elbow inflammation. The combination of injury concerns and ineffectiveness led the Rays to designate Fleming for assignment, and while he was snapped up off the waiver wire by the Phillies the lefty became a free agent not long afterwards when Philadelphia non-tendered him.
The southpaw ended up remaining in Pennsylvania despite that non-tender, however, as he eventually signed with the Pirates on a split contract back in February. Fleming made the club’s Opening Day roster out of Spring Training and pitched fairly well for Pittsburgh over the first month of the season. Things took a sharp turn for the worse in May, however, as Fleming allowed nine runs (eight earned) in just three innings of work across four appearances before eventually being outrighted off the club’s roster. He remained with the Pirates in the minors and eventually returned to the roster in mid-June. He pitched well for the club following his return with a 1.46 ERA in 12 1/3 innings of work, though he did so with questionable peripherals as he walked more batters (five) than he struck out (four). That led the Pirates to DFA him once again, though this time he decided to return to free agency rather than remain in the minor leagues with Pittsburgh.
Now, Fleming will join a Mariners organization that currently has just one left-handed pitcher (reliever Tayler Saucedo) on the active roster. Gabe Speier and Jhonathan Diaz are both lefty options in the minors already on the 40-man roster, though each has struggled at the big league level this year. That could leave a clear shot at a big league job for Fleming if he can impress Mariners brass with his performance at the Triple-A level, where he’ll have to contend with the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.
Twins Sign Giovanny Gallegos To Minor League Deal
The Twins have signed veteran right-hander Giovanny Gallegos to a minor league deal, per a club announcement. Gallegos has been assigned to Triple-A.
The veteran righty, 33 next week, began his big league career with the Yankees back in 2017. Gallegos made just 20 appearances with New York before being dealt to the Cardinals partway through the 2018 season in the deal that sent Luke Voit to the Bronx. Gallegos made just two appearances in St. Louis down the stretch with 1 1/3 scoreless frames but emerged as a key piece of the Cardinals bullpen the following year.
From 2019 to 2022, Gallegos pitched to a sterling 2.84 ERA with a nearly matching 2.83 FIP with 33 saves in 228 1/3 innings of work with an eye-popping 32% strikeout rate. That four-season stretch saw Gallegos emerge as one of the most dominant relievers in the game: among relievers with at least 150 innings of work in that stretch, the righty’s ERA and FIP both ranked eighth while his strikeout rate ranked 11th and his SIERA ranked tenth. As impressive as those numbers were, things took a turn for the worse during the right-hander’s age-31 season last year.
Gallegos’s ERA and FIP ballooned to 4.42 and 4.36 respectively in 2022, figures that were actually slightly below average by measure of ERA- and FIP-. Those middling run prevention numbers were caused by two main factors: the right-hander’s strikeout rate plummeted to just 25.8% after sitting well above 30% for his entire Cardinals tenure to that point, and his home run rate skyrocketed. After allowing home runs on just 8.6% of fly balls from 2019 to 2021, the 2022 season saw that number shoot up to a whopping 15.3%. Just ten qualified relievers allowed more home runs than Gallegos’s 11 last year, and the combination of diminished strikeout ability and difficulties keeping the ball in the park gave the veteran the look of a pedestrian middle reliever rather than the shutdown leverage arm he had been in years past.
Gallegos ended his 2023 season on the IL due to rotator cuff tendinitis, and while and the Cardinals were both surely hoping for a rebound in 2024 the season proved to be anything but for the veteran hurler. Continued shoulder woes cost the right-hander nearly two months earlier this year, but even when he was healthy enough to take the mound his results were nothing short of disastrous. The righty surrendered a 6.53 ERA with a nearly matching 6.36 FIP in 20 2/3 innings of work for the Cardinals this year. That’s the 11th-worst ERA in the majors this year among relievers with at least 20 innings of work, and Gallegos paired those lackluster results with a career-worst 22.6% strikeout rate and a 10.6% walk rate that is not only the highest of his career but more than double his rate from just last season.
Those deep struggles led the Cardinals to designate Gallegos for assignment prior to the trade deadline in hopes of finding a team willing to trade for him, but no deal came together and he ended up electing free agency last week. Now, he’ll look to regain his previous form in a Twins organization that has struggled to get production out of the bullpen in recent weeks. Minnesota relievers have combined for a lackluster 4.60 ERA since the calendar flipped to July, and injuries to Brock Stewart and Kody Funderburk have further diminished the depth available in the club’s relief corps. If Gallegos can show improvement at the Triple-A level, it’s not hard to imagine the Twins believing in the veteran righty’s track record of success enough to give him a spot in the club’s bullpen over a pitcher like Josh Winder or Randy Dobnak.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/6/24
The frenzy of moves before the trade deadline always has ripple effects of players being nudged out of their roster spots. 15 players were designated for assignment on deadline day and several in the days leading up to it as well. That has led to many recent waiver claims, with the Marlins claiming seven different players in the past two weeks. But they can’t claim them all, so here’s a round-up of some guys who passed through unclaimed recently.
As a reminder, players can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have a previous career outright or at least three years of major league service time. Players need at least five years of service to both elect free agency and keep their salary intact.
- The Diamondbacks released Miguel Castro, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. The righty signed with the Snakes heading into 2023 on a one-year deal with a vesting option for 2024. He reached 60 appearances last year and locked in a $5MM salary for himself in 2024. Unfortunately, his results have tailed off as he has a 5.93 ERA this year. That has come in just 11 appearances as he missed close to three months with a shoulder strain. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep all of his money. Another club could now sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster with that amount subtracted from what Arizona pays. He has a career 4.20 ERA in 419 appearances with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles, Mets, Yankees and Diamondbacks.
- The Pirates sent Ryder Ryan outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his second career outright and he therefore has the right to elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so. The righty has an ERA of 5.00 in his 18 major league innings. He has thrown 27 1/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.61 ERA, 15.5% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate.
- The Mets sent catcher Logan Porter outright to Triple-A Syracuse, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. It’s his first career outright and he has just a few days of service time, so he’ll have to accept the assignment. The backstop was signed just a couple of weeks prior to the deadline after opting out of his minor league deal with the Giants, which had been acquired from the Royals. He was hitting .319/.428/.575 for the Royals’ Triple-A club before the Giants acquired him, but then his results tapered off. The Mets were still intrigued enough to give him a 40-man spot but the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.
- The Dodgers sent left-hander Nick Ramirez outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has previous career outrights and therefore has the right to elect free agency. Acquired from the Yankees in early April, he spent most of the year on optional assignment. He logged 11 1/3 big league innings over seven appearances with a 6.35 ERA. In his 23 Triple-A innings since the trade, he had a 2.35 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 3.3% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate.
- The Braves have sent right-hander Darius Vines outright to Double-A Mississippi, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his first career outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has a 5.82 ERA in 34 big league innings between last year and this year. His 2024 output at Triple-A includes 77 innings over 14 starts with a 5.14 ERA, 16.6% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 40.3% ground ball rate.
- The Cardinals sent right-hander Jacob Bosiokovic outright to Triple-A Memphis, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty had his contract selected at the end of June, his first time added to a big league roster, but was optioned a few days later without getting into a game. That means this is his first outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has 43 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year with a 4.15 ERA, 28.9% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate.
Rangers Designate Andrew Knizner For Assignment
The Rangers announced that right-hander Tyler Mahle has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, the club optioned left-hander Walter Pennington and designated catcher Andrew Knizner for assignment.
Knizner, 29, signed with the Rangers in the offseason after being non-tendered by the Cardinals. Texas gave him a one-year deal with a $1.825MM salary, knowing that he could be retained via arbitration beyond this season as well.
Unfortunately, the club has been struggling to get much production from the catcher position this year. Jonah Heim hit .258/.317/.438 last year for a 103 wRC+ but he has dropped to a line of .232/.277/.346 and a 73 wRC+ this year. The falloff from Knizner has been even more drastic as he slashed .241/.288/.424 with the Cards last year for a 92 wRC+ but he is hitting .167/.183/.211 this year for a wRC+ of 4.
Perhaps some of that can be attributed to a .206 batting average on balls in play but Knizner has also drawn walks at a paltry 1.1% clip and hit just one home run in his 93 plate appearances, compared to the ten he hit in 241 trips to the plate last year. The Rangers fortified their catching corps by acquiring Carson Kelly from the Tigers prior to the deadline and then optioned Knizner to Triple-A, though he has now been bumped off the 40-man roster altogether.
With the trade deadline now passed, the Rangers will have to put Knizner on waivers in the coming days. Despite his rough season, he could perhaps garner interest based on his past performance and contract status.
He has one option left and therefore a claiming club wouldn’t need to give him an active roster spot right away, though he would be out of options next year in that scenario. He has not yet spent 20 days on optional assignment this year, so it’s possible he could retain that option next year if he either doesn’t get claimed or is kept in the majors by some other club. He also came into this season with four years and 21 days of service time, putting him just shy of the five-year mark at present. If any club felt especially bullish about Knizner’s future, they could claim him, keep him on optional assignment for the rest of the year and then control him via arbitration for two more years.
As for Mahle, he will be taking the mound for the first time in over a year. He required Tommy John surgery in May of last year, just a few months from free agency. The Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22MM deal with the knowledge that they would have to wait for his arrival.
With Mahle and Jacob deGrom both on their way back from surgeries last year, the club felt good enough about their rotation depth to deal Michael Lorenzen to the Royals prior to the deadline. But both Jon Gray and Max Scherzer recently landed on the IL, thinning the group out further. As of right now, the group consists of Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, José Ureña and Cody Bradford, with Dane Dunning in a long-relief role in the bullpen.
Rockies Designate John Curtiss For Assignment, Select Chasen Shreve
The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Chasen Shreve. In a corresponding move, right-hander John Curtiss has been designated for assignment. Their 40-man roster count stays at 39.
Shreve, 34, has been struggling to get to the majors this year. That’s a bit surprising as he’s generally been solid in his major league career and has been producing decent numbers in the minors this year. In 367 big league appearances dating back to his 2014 debut, he has a 3.97 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate in that time is on the high side but only slightly. His 25.3% strikeout rate is quite strong and he’s also kept 41.6% of balls in play on the ground.
Coming into this year, he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers but opted out in early May and re-signed with that club on another minors pact. In mid-June, he signed a minors deal with the Yankees, presumably after opting out from his Rangers deal yet again. The Yanks released him a few days ago, perhaps due to another opt-out situation, and he quickly landed with the Rockies on another minor league deal.
Across all those deals, he has a 2.61 ERA in 34 1/3 Triple-A innings this year. He has struck out 26.7% of batters faced while walking 9.2% of them. Despite those decent numbers, the Rangers and Yankees didn’t find room for him in their respective bullpens but the Rockies will.
He’ll take the spot of Curtiss, who has been on and off the Colorado roster this year. He was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and has now twice has his contract selected but has been designated for assignment a few days later in both instances. He has allowed four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings around those transactions, giving him an unsightly 15.43 ERA on the year.
He had some intriguing results a few years ago but hasn’t got his strikeouts back after his Tommy John surgery. With the Rays, Marlins and Brewers in 2020 and 2021, he tossed a combined 69 1/3 innings with a 2.86 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate. He went under the knife in September of 2021 and was then non-tendered by Milwaukee.
The Mets signed him for 2022 and 2023, knowing that he would miss the first year of that stretch. He eventually returned and tossed 19 2/3 innings with the Mets last year but with a 4.58 ERA and 19.8% strikeout rate. He was outrighted off their roster after last year, which led to his deal with the Rockies. He’s tossed 38 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.03 ERA and 18.5% strikeout rate. With the trade deadline now passed, the Rockies will have no choice but to put Curtiss on waivers in the coming days.
Astros Select Zach Dezenzo
3:05pm: The Astros have now officially announced that they have selected Dezenzo. In corresponding moves, they optioned outfielder Trey Cabbage to Triple-A Sugar Land and designated right-hander Dylan Coleman for assignment. Coleman was acquired from the Royals in an offseason trade but has just one big league appearance for Houston, having spent the rest of the year on optional assignment. In his 36 Triple-A innings, he has a 6.50 ERA with a 23.9% walk rate.
2:25pm: The Astros are going to call up infielder Zach Dezenzo, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. They will need to make corresponding moves to open space for him on the active and 40-man rosters.
Dezenzo, 24, gets the major league call for the first time. A 12th-round pick of the Astros in 2022, he has made a quick rise through the farm system. He split his time between High-A and Double-A last year, hitting 18 home runs in 94 games. His 25.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he also drew walks at a solid 10.2% clip. His combined batting line was .304/.383/.531 for a 141 wRC+, though with an unsustainable .382 batting average on balls in play.
Coming into 2024, Baseball America ranked him #5 in the club’s system. They noted that his bat-to-ball skills are low but he makes good decisions and crushes the pitches that he does make contact with, leading to strong exit velocities.
He began this year on the shelf due to a wrist issue and began a rehab assignment at the Complex League in early June. It was around that time that FanGraphs ranked him #6 in the system, suggesting he could wind up like Eugenio Suárez as a guy who strikes out a lot but puts the ball over the fence enough to still be a useful contributor, though perhaps in streaky fashion.
Once he overcame his wrist issue, Dezenzo returned to Double-A and hit a tepid .222/.308/.370 in 22 games there but was nonetheless promoted to Triple-A and debuted at that level on July 24, less than two weeks ago. He has since been on a massive heater, hitting .391/.472/.739 in his 11 Triple-A games. He won’t maintain a .438 BABIP but it’s encouraging that he has four home runs and an 11.3% walk rate in that time.
It’s an aggressive move for the Astros to promote him despite his lack of a track record, but it reflects how much they have struggled to get production out of their first base slot. José Abreu had an awful time this year, struggling so much that he agreed to be optioned for a time. Around that stint on the farm, he hit .124/.167/.195 in the majors and was released in the middle of June.
Jon Singleton has picked up the bulk of playing time at first base in Abreu’s absence but has hit .230/.311/.354 this year for a 91 wRC+. That’s not disastrous production, only 9% below league average overall, but clubs generally expect first base to be a position where they can count on strong offensive output. He’s also been slumping of late, with a line of .167/.196/.315 dating back to July 13.
Dezenzo has been splitting his time between third base and first base this year but it seems unlikely he’ll see significant time at the hot corner with the presence of Alex Bregman and the struggles at the other end of the diamond. It’s a bold move, with Dezenzo having just 85 Double-A games and 11 Triple-A contests on his ledger but the Astros are in a tight race and didn’t get any first base help prior to the deadline.
Houston started out dreadfully this year but managed to climb back into the race. They are currently five games back of a Wild Card spot but just a game and a half behind the Mariners in the West division. Perhaps Dezenzo can give them a bit of a boost if he can quickly acclimate to big league pitching. It’s also possible that this is a bit of an audition for next year, with Bregman slated for free agency. Prospect reports generally cast some doubt on Dezenzo’s ability to stick at third, which will likely be a long-term question, but the first test will be handling himself at the plate.