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Blue Jays Select Vinny Capra

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The Blue Jays announced this afternoon they’ve selected infielder Vinny Capra. Right-hander Bowden Francis was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to create active roster space. Toronto already had a 40-man roster vacancy after placing Cavan Biggio on the COVID-19 injured list earlier in the week.

Capra, 25, gets a big league call for the first time. The 5’8″, 175 pound infielder was a 20th round pick in 2018 out of the University of Richmond. Despite lacking draft pedigree, the right-handed hitter climbed to the high minors by 2021 and had an impressive showing. In 282 plate appearances with Double-A New Hampshire, Capra hit .327/.396/.548 with ten home runs. That was inflated by a .428 batting average on balls in play that masked a 26.2% strikeout rate, but he’d made contact at a higher clip in previous seasons.

That solid Double-A showing earned him a five-game cameo in Triple-A late last year. Capra didn’t collect a hit, but he’s off to a nice start with Buffalo this season. Over 77 plate appearances, he’s hitting .304/.377/.478 with three homers. He has only fanned in 10.4% of his trips to the dish, earning him a spot on the MLB bench. Capra has a fair bit of minor league experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop, with brief stints in both left and center field.

Rays Claim Ben Bowden

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The Rays have claimed left-hander Ben Bowden off waivers from the Rockies, the teams announced. Tampa Bay had an open spot on its 40-man roster so no corresponding move is needed. Bowden has been optioned to Triple-A Durham. The Rays’ 40-man roster is now full, while the Rockies’ roster is now at 39 players.

The Rockies never formally designated Bowden for assignment or announced that he’d been placed on waivers, though it’s hardly uncommon for teams to simply try to clear a roster spot in this fashion without first announcing the player’s placement on waivers.

Now 27 years old, Bowden was the No. 45 overall draft pick by the Rockies back in 2016. Praised by scouting reports for a plus changeup, Bowden has regularly missed bats at a high level in the minors (34.4% strikeout rate) but has also yielded too many free passes over the years (11.1% walk rate). Heading into the 2021 season, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote about Bowden’s inconsistent fastball velocity, noting that when he’s in the mid-90s with his heater he looks like a viable big league reliever. However, Bowden doesn’t always maintain that velocity, evidenced by the 92.6 mph he averaged on his heater in last year’s MLB debut.

That 2021 debut wasn’t a pretty one for Bowden, who posted a grisly 6.56 ERA in 35 2/3 innings. True to form, he showed the ability to miss bats (23.7% strikeout rate, 11.4% swinging-strike rate) but also issued far too many walks (11.9%) and was uncharacteristically susceptible to home runs (1.51 HR/9). Bowden had a huge showing at Double-A in 2019 and fired 11 2/3 shutout frames in Triple-A last year. This season in Triple-A, however, he’s been tagged for seven runs on six hits and six walks in just 7 2/3 innings. He’s fanned 11 of the 34 hitters he’s faced, maintaining that impressive strikeout prowess, but he’ll need to improve his command and more consistently get the best out of his heater if he’s to emerge as a legitimate big league bullpen option.

Mariners Designate Matt Koch For Assignment, Reinstate Mitch Haniger

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The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve reinstated right fielder Mitch Haniger from the Covid-related injured list and designated righty Matt Koch for assignment in order to open a spot on the active and 40-man rosters.

Haniger, who paced the Mariners with 39 home runs in 2021, was out to a slow start in eight games before he tested positive for Covid-19 on April 16. Haniger missed nearly two weeks’ time and 11 games, and earlier this week told reporters that he was still not quite back up to 100% (Twitter link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). He’s apparently back in playing shape now and will return to the lineup and look to improve upon the .176/.200/.471 slash he posted through his first 35 trips to the plate.

The return of Haniger will only deepen a Mariners lineup that has been among the most productive collective units in Major League Baseball so far. The M’s rank eighth in the Majors with 88 runs scored and have the game’s third-best wRC+ at 123, indicating their lineup has been 23% better than average on the whole. Seattle hitters currently lead the Majors with an 11.1% walk rate, and they’re seven in home runs even without Haniger’s powerful bat. He’ll slot back into the outfield/designated hitter mix and ought to jump right back into the heart of the batting order.

Koch, 31, appeared in four games with Seattle and pitched 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs on five hits (two homers) and a walk, striking out three hitters along the way. Koch has appeared in parts of five big league seasons, all coming with the D-backs prior to his Mariners debut this season. He was a serviceable arm out of the Arizona bullpen from 2016-18, pitching to a 4.04 ERA — albeit a mark that was not supported by the underlying metrics. Koch’s 13.9% strikeout rate and 1.72 HR/9 mark during that time were both considerably worse than the league average.

The Mariners will have a week to trade Koch, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Patrick Kivlehan Signs With NPB’s Yakult Swallows

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Infielder/outfielder Patrick Kivlehan has signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The well-traveled corner bat will be paid $600K and can boost that total via incentives. He’s represented by Pro Agents Inc. and Agency 1.

Kivlehan, 32, has seen action in parts of four big league seasons, most recently appearing in five games with the Padres in 2021. He also played with Team USA during last summer’s Olympics. A fourth-round pick by Seattle back in 2012, Kivlehan has bounced from the Mariners to the Padres, Reds, D-backs and, earlier this year, the White Sox, with whom he opened the season in Triple-A. He logged a career-high 105 games with the 2017 Reds but hit just .208/.304/.399 in 204 plate appearances. All told, he’s a .208/.308/.398 hitter in 250 big league plate appearances.

Tepid track record in the Majors aside, Kivlehan has a solid minor league track record, including a .263/.325/.488 batting line in more than 2200 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He mashed 32 home runs between the Pirates and Blue Jays’ minor league systems in 2019, slugged 21 long balls in just 91 games with the Padres’ Triple-A club in 2021 and was 5-for-12 with a pair of homers in three games with the ChiSox’ top affiliate this year before this NPB opportunity presented itself.

Braves Activate Ronald Acuna Jr., Designate Alex Dickerson

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Ronald Acuna Jr. is back. The Braves announced this morning that they’ve reinstated their star outfielder from the 10-day injured list — the culmination of a nine-and-a-half-month rehabilitation process following an ACL tear sustained last July. It’s a bit of a surprise, as the Braves had been targeting a May 6 return according to manager Brian Snitker, though Snitker acknowledged at the time of that statement that the date was not set in stone. In a corresponding roster move, Atlanta has designated outfielder Alex Dickerson for assignment.

The 24-year-old Acuna is one of the game’s most dynamic talents and effectively has been since the moment he reached the Majors as a 21-year-old in 2018. Shaking off a rough couple of weeks to begin that original MLB promotion, Acuna went on an absolute tear and finished out the ’18 campaign as the near-unanimous Rookie of the Year winner, claiming 27 of 30 first-place votes (with two going to Juan Soto and one going to Walker Buehler).

Acuna slugged 26 homers and swiped 16 bases as a rookie, hitting at a .293/.366/.552 clip along the way. He’s kept that pace in the three seasons since that time, and will come off the injured list looking to build on a .281/.376/.549 career batting line and add to his already impressive total of 105 big league home runs (to say nothing of 78 doubles, seven triples and 78 steals).

While some fans may worry that Acuna is being rushed back to the big leagues, he certainly hasn’t shown any rust in his limited work with Triple-A Gwinnett so far. It’s only six games and 25 plate appearances, but Acuna is 7-for-19 with a double, six walks and three stolen bases (in three tries), which certainly paints the picture of someone whose major knee injury is firmly behind him. And, given that the Braves’ outfield is producing — or rather, failing to produce — at an alarming level, Atlanta brass has opted to proactively make a move to inject some life into the offense.

Marcell Ozuna has gotten out to a nice start in left field, hitting .257/.291/.486 with four homers and five doubles on the year. It’s a bit light in the OBP department, but the power production has generally offset Ozuna’s lack of walks. The rest of the Atlanta outfield, however, has been nothing short of a disaster. Adam Duvall is hitting .197/.250/.258 in 72 plate appearances. Eddie Rosario batted .068/.163/.091 in 49 plate appearances before undergoing an eye procedure that’ll sideline him for up to 12 weeks. Guillermo Heredia is hitting .158/.273/.368 in 22 plate appearances. The Braves have gotten some production in small samples from infielder-turned-utilityman Orlando Arcia and former prospect Travis Demeritte, but it’s clear that the current group wasn’t sufficient for a team with designs on defending a World Series championship.

Dickerson, at whose expense Acuna is returning, was also a notable culprit when it comes to the Braves’ general lack of offense. Signed late in spring to a one-year deal, he’s been used primarily as a designated hitter against right-handed pitching but has gone just 4-for-33 with one extra-base hit (a homer) while punching out in a quarter of his 36 plate appearances.

The 31-year-old Dickerson has generally been a productive hitter in his big league career when healthy, though that health caveat has loomed large. Dickerson was out for the entirety of the 2017-18 seasons thanks to Tommy John surgery and back surgery, and he’s spent considerable time on the injured list even during his active seasons. Dating back to the 2019 campaign, he’s been sent to the injured list with wrist, shoulder, oblique, hamstring and back injuries.

Dickerson was a revelation for the 2019-20 Giants after going from San Diego to San Francisco in exchange for minor league reliever Franklin Van Gurp. In 341 plate appearances with the Giants over those two seasons, he raked at a .294/.361/.552 clip, mashing 16 home runs, 23 doubles and four triples while walking at a solid 8.5% clip and striking out in 19.1% of his plate appearances (a good bit south of the league average). Dickerson’s 2021 season, however, included a trio of IL stints due to a shoulder strain, a back strain and a hamstring strain. He posted a diminished .233/.304/.420 slash last season and has yet to right the ship so far in 2022.

The Braves will have a week to trade Dickerson, place him on outright waivers or release him. Given his track record and an affordable $1MM salary on his 2022 contract, it’s possible another club will take a look. It’s equally, if not more plausible, however, that teams will simply wait for Dickerson to clear waivers and hope to sign him as a free agent. Because he has more than five years of MLB service time, Dickerson can reject an assignment to the minors upon clearing waivers and still retain his salary.

Outrights: Murphy, Riddle

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A pair of players recently designated for assignment have cleared waivers and will stick with their organizations:

  • The Nationals announced yesterday that right-hander Patrick Murphy has been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. He’ll remain in the organization following last week’s DFA but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old Murphy, claimed off waivers out of the Blue Jays organization in 2021, appeared in six games with the Nats this year but was tagged for six runs (four earned) on eight hits and eight walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He struggled in D.C. last year as well and now carries a 5.55 ERA and 27-to-14 K/BB ratio in 24 1/3 innings of work since that waiver claim. The 2013 third-rounder sits north of 96 mph with his heater and has a solid minor league track record, so the Nats will hope that he can right the ship in Rochester and return to the big leagues at some point.
  • Reds infielder JT Riddle cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Louisville, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic. Riddle has previously been outrighted in his career, giving him the right to refuse a minor league assignment. However, the 30-year-old has elected to report to Louisville, where he started the season with a .258/.333/.516 line in 36 plate appearances. Riddle, selected while the team was dealing with injuries to Jonathan India and Mike Moustakas, appeared in a pair of games with Cincinnati.

Diamondbacks Select Tyler Holton

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The D-Backs announced they’ve selected left-hander Tyler Holton onto the major league roster. Arizona placed reliever J.B. Wendelken on the injured list without a designation, recalled Luis Frias and optioned Tyler Gilbert to Triple-A Reno. The team also announced that veteran southpaw Oliver Pérez, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has been released.

Arizona selected Holton in the ninth round of the 2018 draft out of Florida State. The Tallahassee native was one of the top pitchers in Division I ball in 2017, but he suffered a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery early the next year. That kept him out of action until July 2019. Holton made 13 appearances between rookie and short-season ball that year, then didn’t pitch in games due to the canceled 2020 minor league season.

The D-Backs pushed Holton to Double-A to open 2021. He posted a 6.33 ERA in 48 1/3 innings but had above-average strikeout (26.2%), walk (6.1%) and ground-ball (53.3%) marks. He earned a late-season bump to Reno last year, and he’s made five appearances with the Aces thus far in 2022. Over eight innings, he’s allowed six runs on 12 hits (including a pair of homers) and five walks, but he’s punched out ten. Holton has never appeared on an organizational prospects list at Baseball America; Brendan Gawlowski and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs included him as an honorable mention in their write-up of the Arizona farm this past offseason, noting that he throws an 88-90 MPH fastball and has a promising changeup.

Holton will join Joe Mantiply and Kyle Nelson as left-handed relief options for skipper Torey Lovullo. Pérez had been in that mix to open the year, but the D-Backs removed him from the roster on Monday. He’ll have the option to explore offers from all 30 teams now that he’s a free agent if he wants to continue playing in affiliated ball. Pérez had been set to play the 2022 campaign — which he’s already announced will be his last — with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League before he landed with the D-Backs.

Mariners Select Penn Murfee

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Prior to this afternoon’s game against the Rays, the Mariners selected reliever Penn Murfee onto the major league roster. Catcher Cal Raleigh was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while first baseman Evan White was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list in corresponding moves.

Murfee was selected as a COVID substitute last week when Paul Sewald went on the injured list. He stayed on the active roster for seven days but was returned to Tacoma yesterday without making an appearance. Because he’d been designated as a substitute, Murfee could be taken off the 40-man roster without being designated for assignment.

That won’t be the case this time around, as Seattle brought him back to the big league club quickly. He figures to get an opportunity to make his MLB debut this time around, although the M’s are still free to option him back to Tacoma if they’d like. Taking him off the 40-man roster again would require exposing him to waivers, though. Seattle likely wouldn’t have selected Murfee back up if they had plans on doing that, so it seems he’ll hold his 40-man spot for longer than his previous stint.

Murfee, 28 next month, has made five appearances out of the Rainier bullpen thus far in 2022. The Santa Clara product hasn’t allowed a run in eight innings, and he’s surrendered just four baserunners (two hits, a walk and a hit batter) while striking out ten. The righty punched out an impressive 28.2% of batters faced in 78 2/3 innings between Double-A Arkansas and Tacoma last season, although that came with an elevated 10.2% walk rate.

Raleigh has been part of a three-person catching group in Seattle thus far. His eight starts behind the dish lead the team, but he’d been more or less alternating games with Tom Murphy in the early going. Raleigh had reached base in just six of his first 28 plate appearances. Murphy, on the other hand, is off to a blistering 10-24 start with six walks and eight strikeouts.

Neither Murphy nor Luis Torrens, who returned from a stint on the COVID list this week, can be optioned to the minor leagues. Particularly with active rosters set to shrink from 28 to 26 next Monday, carrying three catchers could’ve been challenging over the long haul. Rather than expose either of Torrens or Murphy to waivers, it seems the M’s will turn to that duo behind the dish while getting Raleigh some more work in the minors.

The switch-hitting Raleigh has been one of Seattle’s more highly-regarded prospects in recent years. He’s yet to produce in 176 MLB plate appearances, hitting .166/.222/.294 with a sky-high 34.7% strikeout rate. The 25-year-old had a much more impressive .324/.377/.608 mark while fanning in just 12.6% of his 199 trips to the plate in Triple-A last season, though. Between his high minors performance and a general belief among prospect evaluators he’s an adequate defensive catcher, Raleigh figures to get another opportunity before too long. For now, however, his slow start and three remaining option years make him the odd man out.

White underwent sports hernia surgery during the final week in March. The team didn’t provide a timetable on his return, and he’ll now be out of action until at least the first week of June. It’s yet another setback for White, who missed most of the 2021 campaign after undergoing left hip surgery. Even when he returns to health, he figures to be optioned to Tacoma, as he’s been surpassed by the hot-hitting Ty France on the depth chart at first base.

Astros Release Pedro Baez

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The Astros informed reporters (including Jake Kaplan of the Athletic) this afternoon that reliever Pedro Báez has cleared waivers and been unconditionally released. This was the anticipated outcome after the team designated the right-hander for assignment on Tuesday.

Báez’s tenure in Houston comes to a disappointing end. Signed to a two-year, $12.5MM guarantee in January 2021, he wound up making just seven appearances in an Astros uniform. His tenure was set back by an early positive COVID-19 diagnosis, which delayed his season debut. During his attempt to ramp-up after recovering, Báez came down with shoulder soreness that necessitated a lengthy stay on the injured list. Houston didn’t activate him for his team debut until the second week of August.

His return lasted just two weeks. Báez’s results were fine, but his fastball velocity — which had been in the 94-96 MPH range during his two prior seasons with the Dodgers — had plummeted south of 91 MPH. Báez went back on the IL in late August with more shoulder soreness and didn’t return last year. He returned to the mound to open the 2022 campaign, but he averaged just north of 90 MPH on his heater through three outings. Báez was tagged for six runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings.

Paired with his diminished arsenal, those subpar results convinced the front office to pull the plug. At the time of his designation, Houston general manager James Click praised Báez’s work ethic and attempts to rediscover his velocity but conceded the team hadn’t gotten “the progress we had hoped to see to get him back to the form he was in when we signed him” (via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com).

The Astros will remain on the hook for the approximate $4.9MM still due to Báez for the rest of this season. They’ll also owe him a $2MM buyout on a 2023 club option. Any other team can now take a look on a low-cost deal. A team that signs Báez would owe him only the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary, which would be subtracted from Houston’s expenditures, for any time he spends in the majors.

Red Sox Claim Jaylin Davis Off Waivers From Giants

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The Red Sox have claimed outfielder Jaylin Davis off waivers from the Giants, according to announcements from both clubs. San Francisco had designated him for assignment last week. Boston had a temporary vacancy on their 40-man roster, but they’ll need to make room once Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford are activated from the restricted list and Jonathan Araúz returns from the COVID IL. (Returning John Schreiber and Rob Refsnyder, who were selected as COVID substitutes, would clear two of three necessary openings). Davis has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester.

Davis, 27, is a righty-hitting outfielder with 26 games of big league experience. He suited up briefly at the major league level in each season from 2019-21, with 47 of his 68 plate appearances to date coming during his debut campaign. Davis only owns a .159/.221/.270 line in that limited time, but he’s been a prospect of some regard for the past few years.

Drafted by the Twins out of Appalachian State in 2015, Davis moved fairly slowly through the minors, in part owing to a shoulder injury that cost him the entirety of his post-draft summer. He reached Double-A by the end of the 2018 season and got off to an excellent start at the minors’ top two levels the following year. Minnesota dealt him to San Francisco at the 2019 deadline, and he made his MLB debut as a September call-up.

Baseball America slotted him as the #16 prospect in the Giants’ organization entering the 2020 season, praising his athleticism, arm strength and raw power. BA noted some questions about his hit tool, though, a concern also echoed by Kevin Goldstein and Tess Taruskin at FanGraphs this February. Davis has struck out in 27.9% of his plate appearances in the minor leagues, and he owns a subpar 62.6% contact rate thus far in the majors.

That said, Davis has overcome his swing-and-miss issues to post massive numbers at Triple-A. Over parts of three seasons, he’s a .293/.371/.612 hitter at the level. The Triple-A hitting environment has been very favorable in recent years, which no doubt helps, but Davis’ 38 homers in 523 plate appearances are eye-catching even in a supercharged offensive league. He’s in his final option year, so the Sox can keep him at Worcester as outfield depth for the rest of this season if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

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