Infielder Travis Blankenhorn, who was designated for assignment by the Twins over the weekend, is headed to the Dodgers on a waiver claim, tweets SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson. Leroy Boyer of Blankenhorn’s hometown Pottsville Herald first reported that the 24-year-old was headed to the Dodgers. To make room for Blankenhorn, the Dodgers transferred injured righty Dustin May (Tommy John surgery) to the 60-day IL, per a team announcement.
A third-round draft pick in 2015, Blankenhorn appeared in only two games with the Twins — one last year and one in 2021. He’s tallied just four plate appearances in that time and collected one hit, a double. Blankenhorn has also totaled a mere 13 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level, though he has otherwise produced solid numbers in the minors.
Blankenhorn made his Double-A debut during the most recent full minor league season, 2019, and slashed .278/.312/.474 (125 wRC+) with 18 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 410 PA. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Blankenhorn as the Twins’ 29th-best prospect coming into this season, writing that the 24-year-old is “a situational bat-first piece who might need a change of scenery to carve out the sort of bench role I think he’s capable of playing.”
Blankenhorn now has that change of scenery with the reigning World Series champions, whose infield depth has taken a couple shots in recent weeks. Zach McKinstry has been on the IL since April 20 with a strained oblique, and Edwin Rios needs season-ending surgery on a partially torn labrum in his shoulder.
wait, why did they designate him? wasnt he still well regarded within their system.
I agree, he was a decent prospects d solid bench piece.
Hey. He Had two games!
He’s an absolutely awful defender and appears to be a league average bat at best. Twins needed a 40 man spot for Larnach
He’ll be DFA’d again by the dodgers when they get healthier
He’ll probably give more competitive at bats than Luke Raley or DJ Peters
This but also can play 3b. Our current backup is also our starting CF right now.
It is so frustrating watching Raley and Peters take such bad ABs. Case in point tonight. Peters lets a 92 mph fastball just below middle of plate go by for a strike and chases two pitches out of the zone to strike out. Just a horrible AB. Guy is clearly not ready for MLB. Why Roberts used him as a pinch hitter over Beaty is a mystery. I’ll take Beaty lefty lefty any day over Peters. Just tells you that the Dodgers aren’t as deep as years before. Raley weak grounder to 1B. It’s at a point where you just celebrate if either of these guys can put the ball in play. Neuse is another guy with a terrible approach at the plate. Some success but I really don’t like a lot of his ABs. Just flailing away chasing pitches out of the zone. Way too aggressive.
In hindsight Beaty probably gives the better AB and Peters could have run for pollock. No one knew pollock would get hurt of course
Kike’s departure has been felt, but that’s in large part due to McKinstry being one of the first hitters to go down+he’s still not back. La has 2 Swiss Army knives and both have been banged up & at times, simultaneously(Taylor)
And tbf, Peters and Raley are 6th and 7th on the OF depth chart, if not lower. The injures have been very focused on the outfield. Teams are only so deep. I do wonder if there’s some strength and conditioning thing they need to adjust
They actually DFA’d him for Derek Law. Yikes.
They had other 40-man options that wouldn’t have required a DFA. Like Shaun Anderson. It’s even worse since they’re very thin with IF options on the 40.
Derek Law!
Oops
Technically yes, but it’s just that: a technicality. They designated pitcher Brandon Waddell on the 7th with buxton injured to promote larnach, but needed to add a pitcher for the 8th since they had lost one the day before. They essentially replaced Brandon Waddell with law and blankenhorn with larnach, it was just a day apart.
Wait until you watch blankenhorn try to play defense, he’s a first baseman that’s pretending to be something else. He’s a fine waiver claim for a depleted dodgers roster but he’s nothing special.
Derek Falvey and the Twins have an obvious bug or virus in their sabermetrics and algorithms that they use, because they’ve lost or traded some players over the years they had no business letting go, like trading a hometown-player in Nick Anderson for some minor-league bum that nobody even remembers. With the Dodgers advanced access to different advanced statistics than other teams, Blankenhorn seems like the type of player that will thrive with them, even in a bench role.
Sounds like my one of my favorite South Park characters Nathan
“Did I do good computer”?
Smart organizations do smart things.
Kind of a wild DFA, kid seems like he just needs a chance
I called it a panic DFA.
Where were the Pirates on this claim? I realize that they have several young infield prospects but Blankenhorn shows some promise. Especially if they trade Frazier at the trade deadline.
Frazier is a free agent.
Adam Frazier, not the Twitter bully Todd Frazier.
Seems like a claim for a redundant piece to replace an actual utility guy is not really the move.
I wonder why the twins haven’t given this guy a shot? He’s got decent pop for a middle infielder and can swipe a bag or two when needed. Doesn’t seem like a bad player to have on the bench.
they did give him a shot….and a ground ball thru his legs started the team collapse this year.
@wjf010
Ahh, how could I forget those 4 plate appearances, silly me. Nah, I’m just joking with you. I’d his defense really as bad as people are saying?
Even if it is. They’re 12-24 and 10.5 GB. Weird they’d cut someone who seemingly can hit after nothing of a real look
I know it’s easy to cite how good the Dodgers are at “bottom feeding”, but I’ve watched the guy on tv, and he’s REALLY, really terrible defensively…totally clueless. OTOH, so was Muncy, so who knows.
Dodgers pickled up another Ginger
Really? That’s your comment?
@ Joe
Nothing wrong with Red Heads
I’d choose Ginger because I already have Mary Ann at home.
I think Ginger-haired players are more injury-prone than normal ones. Didn’t Dustin May just have major elbow surgery?
Bet Frazier wouldn’t be too expensive from NYY atm
I kid I kid, sorta