September 1 marks the date on which regular-season rosters expand from 25 to 40 in Major League Baseball. While the merit of that rule and its impact on games are a source of debate — MLB games tend to increase considerably in length in September as managers can more freely make pitching changes with deeper bullpens — the fact remains that there could be more than 100 players promoted to the big leagues today as the first wave of call-ups arrives.
Many September call-ups are players that have experience already under their belt. Journeyman big leaguers with exceptionally specific roles (e.g. pinch-running and defensive specialists) become a luxury that teams can now afford, and many teams will bring up a third catcher or additional bullpen arms for depth, even if a long-term MLB role isn’t likely for said players.
Some promotions, though, are more notable than others. Big league teams will often use the month of September to get a look at their top organizational prospects, and in some instances September can provide a potential audition for former stars seeking to reestablish themselves. (The Orioles, for instance, were reported last night to be bringing slugger Pedro Alvarez up from Triple-A for the season’s final month.)
All that said, here are some of this year’s more notable September promotions (we’ll update throughout the day as more moves are announced)…
- Four new youngsters are joining the Cardinals, the team announced. Outfielder Harrison Bader and infielder Alex Mejia were already on the 40-man, but the team has also gone ahead and added righty Sandy Alcantara and backstop Alberto Rosario. Alcantara is an interesting pitcher to keep an eye on, as he reputedly comes with a big arm and could contribute from the bullpen — though he’s still ironing things out as a starter after spending the year pitching to a 4.31 ERA at Double-A.
- The Indians announced that they’ve recalled top catching prospect Francisco Mejia from Double-A Akron and selected the contract of outfielder Greg Allen from Akron, thus adding him to the 40-man roster. The 21-year-old Mejia is commonly regarded as one of the top 25 prospects in all of Major League Baseball and was reportedly the would-be centerpiece to the Jonathan Lucroy trade that Lucroy vetoed in 2016. Allen, too, was set to be a part of that trade but has instead remained in the Indians organization and will now join Mejia in donning a big league jersey for the first time this month.
- Right-hander Fernando Salas will return to the Angels, who announced last night that his contract has been selected from Triple-A Salt Lake. Salas spent parts of three seasons as a useful bullpen arm for the Angels before a trade to the Mets last August. While he dominated for New York down the stretch, Salas was torched for a 6.00 ERA this year after re-signing with the Mets. He tossed three scoreless innings in Salt Lake City and will hope for a strong finish to bolster offseason interest.
- The Blue Jays, too, will be getting another look at an old friend. Outfielder Michael Saunders is joining the Jays as a September call-up, tweets MLB.com’s Greg Johns. While Saunders is merely looking to show well in his return to the Majors after struggling badly with the Phillies earlier this season, another outfielder is looking to carve out a long-term role in Toronto; trade acquisition Teoscar Hernandez is also on his way to the Majors, per Johns. The 24-year-old Hernandez was acquired in the Francisco Liriano swap and has posted a combined .265/.351/.490 batting line in 456 Triple-A plate appearances this season.
- The Mets are promoting right-handers Jacob Rhame and Jamie Callahan, tweets MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. While neither reliever is considered to be among the game’s best prospects — they rank 23rd and 30th, respectively, on MLB.com’s list of the Mets’ top 30 prospects — both were recently acquired on the trade market. Rhame came to the Mets from the Dodgers as the return for Curtis Granderson, while Callahan arrived in Queens by way of the Addison Reed trade with the Red Sox. Both will be looking to make a strong impression as they seek to secure a long-term spot in the Mets’ bullpen.
- The Tigers are getting their first look at left-handed reliever Jairo Labourt, per a team announcement. The 23-year-old was acquired alongside Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd in exchange fo David Price back in 2015. He’s turned in an excellent 2.17 ERA across three minor league levels this season and averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings, albeit with some shaky control (4.5 BB/9).
lesterdnightfly
Now nobody can say that the Mets organization has no Rhame nor reason for what they do….
JayJayXV
Get out
Starrchild45
Oh that’s good, lmfao
CubsRule08
You deserve a well earned clap for that one, my friend. Well done
Steve Adams
Slow clap.
ExileInLA 2
We Met fans look at the world through Rose(ario)-colored glasses!
0428April
Golf clap
EndinStealth
Either my sense of humor sucks or some ppl are easily amused. 🙂
sufferforsnakes
Yay, we now have a catcher who can hit.
windians
yeah but Gomes is a defense god
TheGreatTwigog
I may be thinking of someone else, but I think I heard Mejia will play mostly third base. Still get fantasy catcher eligibility tho
Polish Hammer
A catcher that can hit…AA so far, I’d be very surprised to see him come in and hit better than Gomes/Perez. They also wouldn’t be playing him at 3B in the fall league if he was the immediate answer behind the plate.
24TheKid
Mariners have no prospects to call up.
bravesfan
Viera, Povse Vogelbach are all good people to call up. Even Ian Miller wouldn’t be a bad call up. I’m sure there are a few things I simply don’t know about the M’s as to why they shouldn’t or won’t call these guys up. But the prospects are there. and are preforming just fine at their respective levels.. minus maybe Povse, who I still believe would be a nice bullpen piece for mop-up duties while he figures it out this year. Good learning experience while he continues to develop. I really wanted the braves to hold on to him…
jimmertee
If they don’t do well in the playoffs, the Mariners may not have a GM either.
captainobvious
DiPoto is fairly well respected, and I think it would be a shock if the leash was that short.
24TheKid
Maybe respected by ownership, but other unnamed gms were trashing him according to Ken Roethanthal at the deadline.
dirkg
I like Jerry Dipoto and am not here to trash him, but I even tell my 7-year-old to always see commitments through and don’t quit. Call it a power struggle, but he quit on the Angels. Also word is that there was a genuine disconnect between he and the players. I was trying to find the article, but I recall reading Trout’s take on Billy Eppler was that he actually came into the clubhouse and spoke with the players (eluding to Dipoto never doing that). Bottom line: both the Angels and Mariners have solid GMs, but Dipoto did not win many fans after he packed his bags and quit on the 2015 season.
old ranger
Why would a GM who rapes and pillages his farm system be respected? Dipoto is a snake oil salesman, the Madoff of MLB.
lesterdnightfly
Mike Scioscia drove DiPoto away. Can’t blame DiPoto just because Iron Mike had to have things his way in his fiefdom.
JKB 2
When you are hired to do a job then not allowed to do it you resign. Teach your kids that. When ownership hired him ro be GM they mad a commitment to him. They did not see it through and let the manager dictate. They did not honor their commitment
jimmertee
Anyone signing CJ Wilson or Josh Hamilton to that much term and money needs to be terminated.
davbee
You lose 4/5ths of your starting rotation for a good chunk of the season and you’re still in the playoff hunt, your GM is doing a good job.
windians
Mejia hype
Priggs89
The Indians are so lucky Lucroy doesn’t like Cleveland. That trade would’ve turned into a disaster for them.
Solaris611
Yes, Mejia has torn it up at every level in the minors and looks to be a superstar in the making. The only way that trade wouldn’t look horrific for CLE right now is if Lucroy would have had the game winning RBI in last year’s World Series.
acarneglia
WHERE IS TEBOW!!!
thegreatcerealfamine
College game day…
acarneglia
Not gonna lie that was pretty damn good
werfighting
J.p Crawford!?
wkkortas
Are Rhame and Callahan on the DL yet?