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Tigers Recall Kody Clemens, Place Robbie Grossman On IL

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The Tigers have recalled second baseman Kody Clemens from Triple-A Toledo and placed outfielder Robbie Grossman on the 10-day IL with a neck strain, the team announced today. It’ll be the first taste of the big leagues for Clemens, the 26-year-old youngest son of long-dominant (and controversial) ace Roger Clemens.

Though the younger Clemens is primarily known for his bloodlines, he does come with at least a bit of prospect pedigree of his own, and the Tigers thought enough of him to place him on the 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. A third-round pick by the Tigers in the 2018 amateur draft after posting a 1.170 OPS in his junior season, the University of Texas product commanded a $600K bonus and a promotion to Double-A Erie by the end of his first full professional season. His career minor league numbers (.252/.320/.444) are hardly eye-popping, but he has the positional versatility to contribute around the diamond and is off to a strong start (.283/.316/.527 with 8 home runs in 197 plate appearances) at Triple-A Toledo.

The same can’t be said for Grossman’s start to 2022, which has seen him struggle to a .199/.311/.241 triple-slash behind an elevated strikeout rate (30.5% in 2022, 21.8% for his career) and a sudden loss of power; after logging 23 homers last year and 12 in only 51 games in 2020, Grossman hasn’t yet gone deep 167 trips to the plate in 2022. He exited yesterday’s game after popping out in his first at-bat of what became a 2-1 win over the Guardians.

Whether the move is as much to give Grossman a bit of time away from his struggles as to recuperate an injury is unclear, but it does help manager AJ Hinch avoid entering Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Twins short-handed. Still, even with Clemens’ promotion, between Grossman’s injury, Austin Meadows’ continued vertigo-related absence, and Akil Baddoo’s recent demotion, Hinch is left with only two players (Daz Cameron and Derek Hill) on his active roster listed as outfielders, though utility-man Willi Castro has primarily played left field since Baddoo’s demotion and Harold Castro has major-league experience at all three outfield spots.

Primarily a second baseman, Clemens also has limited experience in the outfield, logging 167 minor-league innings between left and right. In the short term, that might be his quickest path to big-league playing time, though he could put pressure on Jonathan Schoop’s hold on the second base job should he prove productive. The 30-year-old Schoop, who’s consistently posted batting lines in the vicinity of his career .258/.297/.441 mark, has joined many of his Tigers teammates in getting off to a slow start to 2022, posting a mark of only a .173/.218/.286 through his first 179 trips to the plate.

Cubs Select Matt Swarmer, Place Jonathan Villar On IL

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May 30: The Cubs announced the Swarmer move as part of a broader series of transactions, with various reporters relaying the slate, including Mark Gonzales. To make room on the 40-man roster for Swarmer, Ethan Roberts has been transferred to the 60-day IL. To make room on the active roster, Jonathan Villar was placed on the 10-day IL after suffering a mouth injury while working out. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune provides further context, saying that Villar had an exercise band snap back into his mouth, suffering an injury that will require significant dental work.

Furthermore, Anderson Espinoza has been recalled as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader. Nelson Velazquez, whose recall was reported yesterday, has also been added.

As for Roberts, he was placed on the IL May 2 with shoulder inflammation and won’t be eligible to return until early July. While there’s no timetable on his return, it seems the club isn’t expecting him back before then, based on today’s transaction.

May 29: The Cubs are going to select the contract of right-handed pitcher Matt Swarmer, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. He will start the first game of tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Brewers, making his major league debut. Swarmer isn’t on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required at some point between now and the start of the game.

It was reported earlier today that the Brewers will be promoting Ethan Small to make his major league debut in the same game, making it a battle of the debutants in tomorrow afternoon’s Memorial Day tilt. For those who like factoids, Jesse Rogers of ESPN relays that this will be the first time the Brewers have been involved in a game with two starters making their debuts, while the Cubs haven’t done it since 1944.

Swamer, 28, was a 19th round selection of the Cubs in the 2016 draft. Since then, he has quietly crept towards the majors without garnering too much attention from prospect evaluators. He’s never appeared on Baseball America’s list of top Chicago farmhands, nor on that of FanGraphs, though he did get a brief honorable mention on the FanGraphs list going into 2019. Just over a year ago, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs did focus his radar on Swarmer, complementing the movement of his slider.

Last year, between Double-A and Triple-A, Swarmer made 20 starts and four relief appearances, logging 112 2/3 innings with a 4.79 ERA, 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. He seems to have taken a step forward this year, as he’s made five starts and four relief appearances, throwing 39 innings with a 2.08 ERA. He’s gotten his strikeouts up to 27.3% but is also getting more walks with a 9.1% rate. A .213 BABIP and 82.8% strand rate are surely helping to deflate that ERA somewhat, though there’s lots to like about his results nonetheless.

The Cubs’ rotation currently consists of Marcus Stroman, Drew Smyly, Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Keegan Thompson. But thanks to tomorrow’s doubleheader and another this Saturday, they are currently in a stretch of playing 11 games in 9 days. It’s possible that Swarmer will stick around for at least a couple of start to help the club get through that gruelling stretch. They then have a couple of days off in the following week, which should allow them to return to a five-man rotation, though health and performance issues can always change plans quickly.

Brewers To Promote Ethan Small

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May 30: The Brewers announced the selection of Small’s contract. The 40-man roster had a couple of vacancies, meaning no corresponding move was required in that regard. As for the active roster, Mark Mathias was optioned but then designated as the team’s 27th man for today’s doubleheader.

May 29: The Brewers are set to call up left-hander Ethan Small, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  It is the first big league promotion for Small, the 28th overall pick in the 2019 draft.  Small isn’t on the Brewers’ 40-man roster, so multiple other moves will be forthcoming to create a spot for Small before his official call-up.

Now that Aaron Ashby has lost his prospect status, Small is widely considered to be the best pitching prospect in Milwaukee’s farm system — MLB Pipeline ranks Small as the Brewers’ seventh-best minor leaguer overall, while Baseball America ranks him ninth.  Both outlets are particularly fond of Small’s changeup, a 60-grade pitch that nicely complements his lower-velocity (low 90s) but high-spin fastball.  Beyond these two plus offerings, however, Small doesn’t have a primary third pitch, as his curveball and slider are nothing special and thus not prominent parts of his arsenal.

Between the lack of a third pitch and some control problems, it remains an open question about whether Small can make it as a starting pitcher or if the bullpen is his ultimate destination.  That said, Small’s bottom-line results in his brief pro career have been impressive, as he has a 1.78 ERA and 31.95% strikeout rate over 136 2/3 innings in the minors, starting all 33 of his appearances.

This includes a 1.88 ERA over 38 1/3 innings at Triple-A Nashville this year, which was enough to convince the Brew Crew that Small was ready for the majors.  With a doubleheader coming up tomorrow against the Cubs, Small might receive just the one spot start before heading back to Nashville, though Brandon Woodruff is dealing with a bad ankle.

If Woodruff has to miss his next outing or has to be placed on the injured list, it could provide Small with a longer opportunity to show that he can do against MLB hitters.  Since Freddy Peralta is also going to be missing a big piece of the 2022 campaign, Small might now take over that “sixth starter” depth role, since Ashby has moved into the rotation.

Pirates Designate Cole Tucker For Assignment

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The Pirates have announced their acquisition of Yu Chang from the Guardians, which was reported yesterday. In order to create space for Chang on the 40-man roster, utility player Cole Tucker has been designated for assignment. A corresponding move on the active roster will be required once Chang reports to the team.

This potentially marks the disappointing end of the Tucker-Pirates relationship that was once so full of hope. Tucker was a first round selection of the Pirates in 2014, 24th overall. As he rose through the ranks of the minors, he was considered by Baseball America to be one of the club’s ten best prospects from 2015 to 2019.

Tucker often impressed with his defense and speed, stealing over 30 bags in the minors in both 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, his bat never provided enough for him to earn any kind of extended look in the big leagues. This is his fourth season seeing MLB action, yet he’s never played more than the 56 games he got in his 2019 debut.

Tucker exclusively played shortstop that first season, when it was hoped that he could take the position and run with it for years to come. But after a tepid .211/.266/.361 batting line on the year for a wRC+ of just 60, the club tried transitioning him into a super utility type, slotting him in at each infield position as well as center and right field at times. He never really seemed to settle into a good home anywhere on the diamond, and the bat never did anything to justify his roster spot. He’s now played 154 games over the past four seasons with 469 plate appearances, roughly a full season’s worth. His career batting line is .211/.259/.314 for a wRC+ of just 53. He has a 6% walk rate and 27.5% strikeout rate, both of those being a bit worse than league average. Despite his speed, he only has four steals on his ledger.

The Pirates will now have a week to try and trade Tucker or put him on waivers. Despite all those struggles, Tucker is still just 25 years old and is in his final option year. Some rival team could put in a claim and send him to Triple-A for the final few months of the year and see if he can get into any kind of a groove. But he’ll be out of options next year, meaning he’ll need to keep his roster spot or else be designated for assignment again. Should he clear waivers, the Pirates can keep him in the minors without him taking up a spot on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Acquire Yu Chang

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The Pirates are acquiring infielder Yu Chang from the Guardians for cash considerations, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Chang had been designated for assignment by the Guardians on Thursday.

This will be the first new organization for Chang, who has spent the entirety of his professional career with Cleveland so far. A native of Taiwan, Chang was signed as an international free agent in 2013 for a signing bonus of $500K and started playing Rookie ball before his 19th birthday. As he rose through the ranks of the minor leagues, he often hit well, especially for power. Baseball America considered him to be one of the top 30 prospects in Cleveland’s system for seven straight years from 2015 to 2021.

Unfortunately for Chang, he’s struggled to translate his skills to the major league diamonds thus far, in limited opportunities. Over the past four seasons, he’s gotten into 131 games and hit 10 home runs, producing an overall slash line of .208/.265/.372, 71 wRC+. The 26-year-old was designated for assignment last week, after exhausting his option years and his time with the Guardians.

Pittsburgh should be able to give Chang more opportunities to get into a groove than he saw in Cleveland, as they have a number of position players currently on the injured list. Ben Gamel just went on the IL today, joining Roberto Perez, Jake Marisnick, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Daniel Vogelbach, Kevin Newman and Greg Allen among hitters currently out of action due to injury. Chang has played all four infield positions during his time in the big leagues but is likely to get consideration for extended time at first base. Up until yesterday, every Pirates’ game this season had featured either Tsutsugo or Michael Chavis starting at first. With Tsutsugo on the IL and Chavis day-to-day with forearm discomfort, the club has put Josh VanMeter into the starting lineup yesterday and today, who has played first before but is much more experienced elsewhere. Shortly before the trade, Mackey relayed word from assistant general manager Kevan Graves, who said the club was looking to supplement the first base situation. With Vogelbach on the IL, the club is also missing its primary DH, freeing up more at-bats for whoever the club deems most worthy.

Orioles Outright Anthony Bemboom

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Today: Bemboom has accepted the outright assignment, per an announcement from the team.

May 27: Anthony Bemboom has cleared waivers and been outrighted by the Orioles to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The catcher had been designated for assignment last week as the corresponding move to the promotion of star prospect Adley Rutschman.

Bemboom was outrighted by the Dodgers last year, thus making him eligible to reject this outright assignment, like all players who already have one outright on their ledger. At this point, there’s no indication whether Bemboom has accepted or rejected, though there would be some logic either way.

If he were to opt for rejecting, he would become a free agent and look for the best opportunity around the league. However, based on his clearing waivers, that illustrates no team is currently willing to give him a 40-man roster spot and he would only find minor league deals anyway. If he were to accept, he’d likely stay third on the Baltimore catching depth chart behind Rutschman and Robinson Chirinos. The team also has Jacob Nottingham in Triple-A, though that was also the case earlier this year when Bemboom was selected to the big league roster while they waited for Rutschman to recuperate from injury. Although Nottingham is off to a blazing start in Triple-A this year, hitting .268/.417/.607, 168 wRC+.

In his 22 MLB games so far this year, Bemboom has hit .115/.207/.212, though that might be weighed down by a .147 BABIP. On the more encouraging side of things, he did walk in 10.2% of his plate appearances, something that’s not totally without precedent, as he’s often posted good walk rates in Triple-A, as well as in 21 MLB games in 2020 with the Angels, when he walked 11.7% of the time.

Pirates Place Ben Gamel On IL With Hamstring Strain

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The Pirates announced that Ben Gamel has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. The outfielder left last night’s game holding the back of his left leg. Infielder Hoy Park has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

Claimed off waivers from Cleveland in May of last year, Gamel has been a bright spot on a struggling Pirates team. He started last season in a miserable funk, going .071/.235/.143 while in Ohio. After being claimed by Pittsburgh, he righted the ship and hit .255/.352/.399 the rest of the way for a wRC+ of 105. Through 45 contests this year, his line is .257/.350/.386 for a wRC+ of 113. (Those extra eight points on his wRC+ with a very similar batting line are likely due to the deadened offense around baseball so far this season, as the statistic compares a player’s production to everyone else in the league.)

With Gamel now out of action, this will put a dent in a lineup that was already facing its share of challenges. The team as a whole is hitting .223/.295/.352 for a wRC+ of 86, a mark better than just three teams in the majors (Reds, A’s, Tigers). They’ve also seen many position players head to the injured list, including essentially all of their veterans. Gamel joins Roberto Perez, Jake Marisnick, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Daniel Vogelbach, Kevin Newman and Greg Allen as non-pitchers on the shelf. That leaves the active roster as almost entirely composed of younger and still-developing players. Excluding pitchers, backup catcher Tyler Heineman is the only guy on the team who has been on the planet more than 30 years, while starting catcher Michael Perez is the only one who began this season with more than three years of MLB service time.

Gamel came into this season with over five years of MLB service time, meaning he’s heading into free agency this winter. That gives this injury implications both for him and the team. The Bucs have been in rebuilding mode for years now, meaning that any short-term asset is a potential trade chip, with Gamel certainly fitting that bill. The trade deadline is still two months away, which gives him some time to recuperate and get back on the field before then, though the severity of his injury isn’t clear at this time. For him personally, he will surely be motivated to return to the field and demonstrate his health and abilities before hitting the open market in search of free agent dollars.

Twins Call Up Royce Lewis, Option Jose Miranda

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2:28PM: In an unfortunate turn of events for Lewis, he had to leave today’s game with what the Twins described as right knee soreness.  Lewis made a tremendous catch of an Emmanuel Rivera fly ball in the third inning but awkwardly collided with the outfield wall in the process.  The Twins removed Lewis from the game an inning later, and he is currently undergoing more tests.  A right knee injury is particularly ominous, as Lewis missed the entire 2021 season due to a torn ACL.

11:51AM: The Twins announced that star prospect Royce Lewis has been called up from Triple-A St. Paul for another taste of the big leagues.  Infielder Jose Miranda was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

When Carlos Correa was on the 10-day injured list earlier this season, Lewis received his first MLB promotion and started 11 games at shortstop in Correa’s absence.  Lewis made the most of his opportunity, hitting .308/.325/.564 with two home runs over 40 plate appearances, and flashing some of the potential that made him the first overall pick of the 2017 draft.

With Correa holding down everyday shortstop duty, Lewis told The Athletic’s Dan Hayes and other reporters today that he has four different gloves with him, indicating the 22-year-old’s readiness to play all over the diamond.  At St. Paul this season, Lewis has seen action at third base, left field, and center field in addition to his usual shortstop duties, and Lewis also played a little second base earlier in his minor league career.

Lewis is in today’s starting lineup as a center fielder, with Byron Buxton getting a partial rest day as the DH.  Having Lewis occasionally fill in center field would be a logical way to keep the oft-injured Buxton fresh, and the right-handed hitting Lewis could also complement left-handed hitting left fielder Trevor Larnach.  There figures to be enough playing time available for Lewis in the majors, since obviously the Twins wouldn’t have interrupted his development at Triple-A just to park Lewis on the bench.

Miranda is a notable prospect in his own right, as his breakout 2021 minor league season earned him some top-100 prospect attention heading into 2022.  Minnesota promoted Miranda for his debut in the Show earlier this month, though he hit only .164/.200/.284 in 70 PA.

Mets Acquire J.T. Riddle

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The Mets have acquired infielder JT Riddle from the Reds, according to Doug Gray of the Redleg Nation blog (Twitter link).  Riddle has mostly played at Triple-A Louisville this season, but also made two appearances with Cincinnati at the big league level.

A veteran of six MLB seasons, Riddle received most of his playing time as a semi-regular with the Marlins from 2017-19, with 223 of his 252 career games coming during those three seasons.  After playing 23 games with the Pirates during the shortened 2020 season, Riddle got into just four games with the Twins in 2021.

Riddle has mostly played shortstop during his career, but has expanded his defensive repertoire to become a super-utility type over the last three years.  He’ll provide the Mets with a Triple-A depth option in the event of an injury to one of their regular infielders.  Known more for his glove and his versatility than his bat, Riddle has hit .233/.261/.354 over 797 career plate appearances in the majors.

Cubs To Promote Nelson Velazquez

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The Cubs are set to call up outfield prospect Nelson Velazquez prior to tomorrow’s doubleheader with the Brewers, as Velazquez revealed his first MLB promotion via his Instagram page (hat tip to Tim Stebbins of NBC Sports Chicago).

A fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft, Velazquez is ranked 15th on Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Cubs prospects, and 16th on MLB Pipeline’s list.  Velazquez broke out by crushing Double-A pitching in both 2021 and 2022, while in between starring in Arizona Fall League play.  Earning his first promotion to Triple-A just earlier this month, Velazquez has slowed down at the plate, batting only .214/.291/.414 over 79 plate appearances for the Iowa Cubs.

This modest production at Triple-A hints at Velazquez still being an unfinished product as a hitter, as he has struck out in 29 of those 79 PA.  The BA and Pipeline scouting reports each observe that Velazquez is prone to strikeouts and chasing pitches, but when he does make contact, the 23-year-old has shown plenty of raw power and exit velocity.  Flattening out his swing last season was one of the key factors to his improvement in Double-A ball.  Defensively, Velazquez seems big league-ready, capable of playing at least a decent center field but perhaps more suited to right field given his strong throwing arm.

That right field capability could hint at Velazquez’s role with Chicago, as Seiya Suzuki has been bothered by a sprained ring finger on his left hand.  The injury forced Suzuki to make an early exit from Thursday’s game and he hasn’t played since, so a trip to the injured list might create a vacancy in the Cubs’ outfield.

If Suzuki doesn’t require the IL, Stebbins notes two other roster possibilities for Velazquez, including the open roster spot created when Chris Martin was placed on the bereavement list earlier today.  As well, Velazquez might also just be a temporary call-up as the 27th man for Monday’s pair of games.  A 40-man roster adjustment isn’t necessary, as the Cubs already added Velazquez to their 40-man last November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

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