Angels To Select Kyren Paris
The Angels plan to promote middle infield prospect Kyren Paris from Double-A Rocket City, reports Taylor Blake Ward of the Sporting Tribune (on Twitter). He’ll take one of a number of open roster spots for the Halos.
Paris, whom Baseball America recently ranked the #5 prospect in the Angels’ system, was a second round pick out of a Bay Area high school in 2019. He has been among the better prospects in the organization since then even though the canceled 2020 minor league campaign combined with hamate and leg fractures to keep him from playing regularly until 2022.
The righty-swinging infielder spent most of last season in High-A, where he hit .229/.345/.387 over 89 contests. The Angels bumped him to Double-A late in the year. He has spent all of 2023 in Rocket City, putting up a .255/.393/.417 batting line through 514 trips to the plate. It’s a solid showing for a 21-year-old overall, although Paris’ profile is fairly volatile.
Prospect evaluators praise his athleticism and plus speed. Paris has stolen 44 bases and been caught just five times this year. He has connected on 14 home runs, 23 doubles and a triple despite a fairly slight 6’0″ frame. Scouting reports raise questions about whether he has the arm strength to stick on the left side of the infield but suggest he could be a good defensive second baseman.
At the same time, there are questions about Paris’ inconsistency making contact. He’s striking out at a near-30% clip in the minors. His youth and lack of professional experience have surely played a role, but Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote in June that Paris is always likely to have well below-average contact skills because of middling bat control.
Even for an organization that is very aggressive about promoting prospects, jumping Paris past Triple-A when he’s striking out so frequently in Double-A is a surprising decision. He’ll likely have some growing pains in his initial look at big league pitching. The Angels are content to live with potential early struggles to get Paris some experience as they close out another disappointing season.
Paris could step in as the primary shortstop with Zach Neto on the injured list. The Halos have been playing Luis Rengifo there. The utilityman is capable of moving around the diamond and could see increased outfield reps after Hunter Renfroe was moved on waivers.
Also taking a 40-man roster spot is right-hander Davis Daniel. The Angels reinstated him from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Salt Lake this afternoon. Daniel has missed the entire season with a shoulder strain. He was called to the majors for a point last summer but has yet to make his MLB debut. Los Angeles still has three open 40-man spots.
Tigers To Select Miguel Diaz, Recall Andre Lipcius For MLB Debut
The Tigers announced a pair of forthcoming promotions with active rosters expanding tomorrow. Detroit will select right-hander Miguel Díaz onto the 40-man roster and recall infielder Andre Lipcius from Triple-A Toledo. The 40-man roster remains at capacity after José Cisnero went unclaimed on waivers. As a result, they’ll need to make a corresponding move when selecting Díaz’s contract.
Díaz is up for the first time this season and his sixth MLB campaign overall. The 28-year-old reliever pitched in three contests for Detroit last season. He was non-tendered at year’s end but returned on a minor league pact. Díaz has pitched 57 innings with Toledo on the year, working to a 5.05 ERA. That’s largely because of an abnormally low 59.6% strand rate, as his underlying marks are better than the run prevention would suggest.
In addition to picking up 14 saves for the Mud Hens, Díaz is striking hitters out at a quality 28.6% clip. He has kept the ball on the ground on nearly half the batted balls against him. He’s issuing a few more walks than ideal, but the combination of whiffs and grounders will get him a middle innings spot in A.J. Hinch’s bullpen.
Now that he’s back on the MLB roster, Díaz will be eligible for arbitration next offseason. The Tigers could keep him around beyond this year if they’d like, though it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s again non-tendered after logging a few innings down the stretch.
It’s the first career promotion for Lipcius, who was initially added to the 40-man roster last winter. The right-handed hitter was a third-round pick out of Tennessee back in 2019. He has never been an elite prospect but has a solid minor league track record. Lipcius placed among the organizational top 30 prospects at Baseball America in each of the past two offseasons, though he wasn’t on the outlet’s midseason update of the farm system.
Lipcius has bounced around the diamond this year. He’s suited up at each of first, second and third base and in left field. He’s not regarded as a particularly good defender at any spot but has the ability to move around the diamond to keep his bat in the lineup. The 25-year-old is hitting .272/.363/.412 with 10 homers through 416 Triple-A plate appearances. While that’s roughly average overall production given the very hitter-friendly nature of the top minor league level, Lipcius has shown strong strike zone awareness. He’s walking at a 12.5% clip while striking out just 17.5% of the time.
Dodgers Likely To Select Kolten Wong
The Dodgers are planning to select veteran second baseman Kolten Wong onto the big league roster tomorrow, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Orange County Register. He’ll take one of the expanded active roster spots. To fill the other role, Los Angeles will recall righty Emmet Sheehan from Triple-A (as first reported by Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 in Houston).
Wong joined the organization on a minor league pact a couple weeks ago. He didn’t spend much time in Triple-A. Wong played in just three games, collecting seven hits and a walk in 14 trips to the plate.
Before joining L.A., the veteran infielder had been struggling through the worst season of his career. Wong hit only .165/.241/.227 over 67 games with the Mariners. He struck out at a personal-high 21.3% clip and made hard contact on only around a quarter of batted balls — well below the 36% MLB average.
That offensive output would’ve been untenable even if Wong were continuing to defend at an elite level. Yet the two-time Gold Glove winner received slightly below-average grades from metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average over 513 1/3 innings. It was his second straight season with middling marks for his glovework, as Wong also played below his established level during his final year with Milwaukee.
While Wong’s glove has slipped as he’s gotten into his 30s, he was a productive hitter as recently as a year ago. The lefty-swinging infielder put up a .251/.339/.430 slash with 15 homers and 17 steals in 497 trips to the dish for the Brew Crew. The Dodgers will hope for something more closely approximating that form than his early-season work in Seattle.
Mookie Betts has played second base for the Dodgers lately. Wong can sometimes factor in when there’s a need for Betts to move back to the outfield. The Dodgers have Amed Rosario, Enrique Hernández and Chris Taylor as middle infield options off the bench, though that entire group hits from the right side.
There’s no financial risk for L.A. in bringing Wong up. The Mariners are on the hook for virtually all of his $10MM salary. The Dodgers will pay him just the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum for whatever time he spends on the MLB roster. He’ll be a free agent at year’s end.
While there’s no need for an active roster move, Los Angeles will need to make a corresponding 40-man transaction when Wong is officially promoted. The club filled the 40-man this afternoon by reinstating Shelby Miller from the 60-day injured list. The veteran righty has been out since late June because of a nerve issue in his neck. Miller has turned in 30 innings of 2.40 ERA ball out of Dave Roberts’ bullpen.
Braves, Adam Kolarek Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Adam Kolarek, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. The veteran southpaw had recently elected free agency after being waived by the Mets.
Kolarek had split the 2023 campaign between the Dodgers and Mets. He has made five MLB appearances, working six scoreless innings. Kolarek has spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A, pitching 35 1/3 innings of 2.55 ERA ball. He has a roughly league average 23% strikeout rate in that time but has walked an uncharacteristic 13.5% of opposing hitters.
Now 34, Kolarek has pitched in parts of seven big league seasons. He was a quietly effective lefty specialist early in his career with the Rays and Dodgers. His performance over the past few seasons has been more mixed, as he struggled for Oakland between 2021-22 before this year’s small-sample success. The sidearmer doesn’t throw hard and has struggled mightily against right-handed hitters, but he’s held lefty swingers to a .184/.234/.250 line in his major league career.
By signing him before September 1, the Braves keep open the possibility of Kolarek factoring into their playoff picture. Players only need to be in an organization by the end of August to be eligible for the postseason. Even players who aren’t on the 40-man roster at the start of September can get onto the playoff roster via application to the league office for an exemption to replace an injured player, which happens a few times each year.
In the interim, the Braves can keep Kolarek at Triple-A Gwinnett as they evaluate their bullpen before October. A.J. Minter and Brad Hand are the two southpaws currently in Brian Snitker’s relief corps.
Blue Jays To Activate Chad Green From Injured List
The Blue Jays are reinstating Chad Green from the 60-day injured list tomorrow, tweets Eric Treuden of Jays Journal. He’ll take one of the expanded roster spots. Treuden and Robert Murray of FanSided report that the Jays will recall Spencer Horwitz with the other vacancy. In order to clear space on the 40-man roster for Green, Toronto is likely to transfer Hagen Danner from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.
Green’s activation is the biggest news. The right-hander is in line for his first major league appearance since May 2022. Green injured his elbow and required Tommy John surgery that month. It ended his seven-year tenure with the Yankees, as he headed to free agency last winter.
The Jays and Green agreed on a complicated free agent pact. He’s making $2.25MM this season. At year’s end, the Jays will have to decide whether to trigger a three-year, $27MM team option. If they decline, Green would have a $6.25MM player option for next season. If he declines, Toronto could circle back on a two-year, $21MM pact. If all three provisions were declined, he’d return to free agency.
How Green looks down the stretch should play a role in his long-term future. Before the injury, he was a very valuable multi-inning relief arm in the Bronx. Green owns a 3.17 ERA with a 32.5% strikeout rate over 383 2/3 career frames. Toronto already has one of the game’s best bullpens, ranking fourth with a 3.47 ERA. If Green can immediately recapture his old form, he’d join the likes of Jordan Romano, Jordan Hicks, Tim Mayza and Trevor Richards in the middle to late innings. Erik Swanson could also factor into that mix but is currently on the injured list.
Green has made 12 minor league rehab outings over the past six weeks. He started with three rookie ball appearances and has pitched nine times with Triple-A Buffalo. In nine innings, he has allowed only three runs (two earned) with 11 strikeouts and one walk.
Royals To Promote Nick Loftin
The Royals are calling up infield prospect Nick Loftin tomorrow, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He will take one of the two extra spots when active rosters grow from 26 to 28 tomorrow, but he’s not yet on the 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to get a spot there. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Loftin, 24, was selected with the 32nd overall pick in the 2020 draft. Though he was primarily a shortstop at Baylor prior to being drafted, the Royals have pushed him towards a utility role by bouncing him around the diamond throughout his minor league career, having spent some time at all four infield positions and in the outfield as well.
He began his professional career in High-A in 2021, hitting 10 home runs and stealing 11 bases in 90 games. His .289/.373/.463 battling line amounted to a wRC+ of 130, indicating he was 30% better than league average. Last year, he got into 128 games between Double-A and Triple-A, adding another 17 homers and 29 steals. However, his overall batting line of .254/.333/.403 amounted to a wRC+ of just 91. This year, he’s primarily been in Triple-A, hitting .270/.344/.444 for a wRC+ of 95.
He is currently considered the club’s #5 prospect at Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, while FanGraphs has him at #1. The general profile on Loftin is that he may not have a standout tool but does lots of things well. He can play multiple positions while providing a bit of speed and power without striking out too much.
He would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft in a few months and was likely going to get a roster spot at that point anyway, but the Royals will give it to him now and use the final months of the seasons to get him some big league experience. How they get him into the lineup remains to be seen. Though he’s played all over, his primary positions this year have been second and third base. Michael Massey and Maikel Garcia have been getting the bulk of the playing time at those positions lately. But with Loftin’s versatility and the Royals being well out of contention at 41-94, they should be able to spread some playing time around.
Cubs To Select Shane Greene, Recall Alexander Canario
The Cubs are set to select the contract of veteran right-hander Shane Greene from Triple-A Iowa, reports ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. He adds that outfield prospect Alexander Canario, who’s already on the 40-man roster, will also be recalled for his Major League debut.
Greene, 34, has pitched in the Majors every year since 2014, albeit for just three innings in 2022. The former All-Star reliever experienced a stark dip in performance back in 2021 and has tallied just 26 2/3 innings from 2021-22, posting a 7.09 ERA in that time. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs earlier in the summer and has since appeared in five games — all of them starts, interestingly — pitching to a 2.16 ERA with a 28.6% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate in a still-tiny sample of 16 2/3 innings. The Cubs have built him up since signing, and he’s totaled nine shutout innings with 12 strikeouts against three walks in his past two starts.
Whether Greene is used as a starter or initially added to the bullpen as a long reliever isn’t yet clear. The fact that he’s been starting and is stretched out enough to have thrown five innings in a recent start, however, gives the Cubs some options to consider in the season’s final month.
As for the 23-year-old Canario, he’ll make his big league debut just over two years after being acquired from the Giants in the trade that sent former Rookie of the Year and NL MVP Kris Bryant to San Francisco. While he’s not generally considered to be among the game’s very best prospects, Canario ranks 12th within the Cubs’ system at Baseball America, 14th at MLB.com and 24th at FanGraphs. He draws praise for his impressive raw power, above-average speed and strong throwing arm, but there are also concerns about Canario’s hit tool and penchant for strikeouts.
Shoulder and ankle injuries have limited Canario to 161 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year, but he’s slashed .276/.342/.524 when healthy. He’s swatted eight homers in that time and popped 37 long balls across three levels (High-A, Double-A, Triple-A) during the 2022 season. However, Canario also fanned in 27.5% percent of his plate appearances last year and has struck out at a 28% clip so far in Triple-A this season.
Mariners Designate Devin Sweet For Assignment
The Mariners announced that they have claimed righty Dominic Leone off waivers, a move that was reported on earlier today. They also announced that righty Devin Sweet has been designated for assignment to open a spot for Leone on their 40-man roster.
Sweet, 26, was just selected to the roster about six weeks ago. He made two appearances for the big league club, allowing two earned runs in two innings, before getting optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. He made seven appearances for that club with a 2.57 earned run average but has now lost his 40-man roster spot to make room for the veteran Leone.
An undrafted free agent who signed with the M’s in 2018, he climbed his way up to Double-A by the end of last year. Prior to his call-up to the majors, he tossed 35 Double-A innings this year with a 1.54 ERA, 34.6% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate.
The M’s will now have to put Sweet on waivers in the coming days, since the trade deadline has passed. He is using the first of his three option years here in 2023 but will still have two remaining for the future. He also has just a handful of service days, giving him at least six seasons of future control. Those factors and his strong Double-A work earlier this year should give him some appeal to other clubs around the league, especially with several spots opening up with expanded September rosters and various waiver claims being made this week. But if he were to go unclaimed, he would stick with the Mariners as non-roster depth, not having the right to elect free agency.
Reds Designate Michael Siani, Alejo Lopez For Assignment
The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve designated outfielder Michael Siani and utilityman Alejo Lopez for assignment. That pair of moves will open space on the 40-man roster for outfielders Harrison Bader and Hunter Renfroe, whose previously reported waiver claims have now been announced by the team.
Siani, 24, made his big league debut with the Reds last year and has briefly appeared this season as well, though he has just 25 MLB plate appearances under his belt overall. He’s 4-for-24 in that time (all singles). The 2018 fourth-round pick has never provided much offense in the minors, where he’s a .244/.338/.362 hitter (including .230/.337/.360 in Triple-A), but his glove and speed are his calling cards.
Siani once ranked as high as eighth among Reds prospects at Baseball America, but his bat hasn’t come around much as he’s progressed through the system. He still draws praise for 60-grade speed — which is made evident by last year’s 52 steals — and plus-plus defense in center field, where he has both ample range and a strong throwing arm. Siani has also walked in 11.4% of his minor league plate appearances, so while his hit tool and power are lacking, he can still post respectable OBP marks and provide value both with his glove (at all three outfield spots) and on the basepaths.
While Siani isn’t an impact bat, he has the makings of a glove-first fourth outfielder and has two minor league option seasons remaining beyond the current year. That could add up to some interest on the waiver wire. The Reds will place him on outright waivers within the next five days.
The 27-year-old Lopez was just selected to the big league roster two days ago but didn’t appear in a game before being removed. He’s seen big league time in each of the past two seasons with the Reds. Lopez has hit for a solid but empty .262 average in 179 career plate appearances, getting on base at a below-average .307 clip with just a .321 slugging percentage. He has big league experience at second base, third base and in the outfield corners. He’s fanned in just 14.6% of his career plate appearances but also walked at a well below-average 5% clip.
Like Siani, Lopez will be placed on waivers within the next five days. Unlike Siani, he’s been outrighted previously in his career, so if he clears waivers he’ll be able to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Guardians Designate Eric Haase, Peyton Battenfield For Assignment
The Guardians have designated catcher Eric Haase and right-hander Peyton Battenfield for assignment, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. Their removal from the 40-man roster will clear space for the addition of waiver claims Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Matt Moore. (Cleveland already had one open spot on the 40-man roster.)
Haase, 30, only recently returned to the Guardians, his original organization, after being claimed off waivers from the division-rival Tigers, who’d also designated him for assignment. He went 2-for-10 with a walk in three games in what looks like it’ll be a brief return to Cleveland.
From 2021-22, Haase turned in a .242/.295/.451 batting line with his hometown Tigers, swatting 36 home runs, 29 doubles and a pair of triples in 732 plate appearances. That offense clocked in about six percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+, and Haase showed some defensive versatility along the way. In addition to his work behind the plate, the Tigers frequently used him in left field (in addition to a pair of one-off appearances in right field and at first base).
The 2023 season has been a rough one for Haase, however. In 93 trips to the plate, he’s slashing .201/.247/.281. Haase has seen his ground-ball rate increase, while his exit velocity and hard-hit rate have both trended in the wrong direction. He’s also popping the ball up to the infield at a career-high rate. He’ll be placed on outright waivers or released within the coming days.
If Haase goes unclaimed on waivers, he’d remain with the Guardians and could yet be postseason-eligible if added back to the 40-man roster. He’d also have the right to reject the assignment in favor of minor league free agency. If he clears, stays with the Guards and is not added back to the 40-man by season’s end, he’ll be able to become a free agent, as is the case with all outrighted players who have three or more years of service time.
Battenfield, 26, was a ninth-round pick by the Astros in 2019 who’s since been traded to the Rays (for Austin Pruitt) and to the Guardians (for Jordan Luplow). He made his big league debut earlier this season and has appeared in seven games (six starts), pitching to a 5.19 ERA with an 18.5% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 43% ground-ball rate in 34 2/3 innings of work. He’s also struggled in 47 2/3 Triple-A frames this year, recording a 5.66 ERA with a 10.3% walk rate that’s nearly as high as his uncharacteristically low 11.8% strikeout rate.
While the 2023 season has been a rough one, Battenfield was quite solid in Triple-A just a year ago. He piled up 153 2/3 innings in Columbus during the 2022 season and notched a 3.66 ERA with a 17% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 39.1% ground-ball rate. Battenfield has never been regarded as one of the organization’s top prospects, but he has a nice minor league track record prior to the 2023 season and has a pair of minor league option years remaining beyond the current campaign. Teams in search of rotation depth could potentially give him a look on waivers in the coming days. If he goes unclaimed, he’d remain with the Guardians but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.