The Rockies announced they have designated catcher Jorge Alfaro for assignment. The move clears a spot on the active and 40-man rosters for left-hander Ty Blach, who was selected onto the MLB club. Colorado also placed reliever Matt Carasiti on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder and reinstated Kris Bryant from the 10-day IL.
Alfaro spent a little over two weeks on the Colorado roster. The Rockies signed the veteran backstop to a minor league deal on June 10 and selected his contract five days later. Colorado has run a three-catcher system since then, keeping Austin Wynns and Alfaro on the bench behind Elias Díaz. Alfaro picked up 32 plate appearances, slumping to a .161/.188/.387 line with 12 strikeouts and zero walks.
Colorado will stick with Díaz and Wynns as the MLB tandem. Brian Serven is also on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado will trade Alfaro or put him on waivers within the next week. If he clears waivers, he’ll have the ability to head back to free agency based on his MLB service time.
That seems the likeliest outcome. Alfaro hasn’t had much major league success of late, hitting .239/.279/.360 with a 34.2% strikeout rate through 717 plate appearances since the start of 2020. The Colombian-born backstop has had an excellent season in Triple-A, though, putting up a .323/.366/.524 line between the Red Sox’s and Rockies’ top affiliates.
Bryant returns to the MLB roster, which the club had suggested yesterday. The former MVP is hitting second and back in right field tonight against Detroit righty Michael Lorenzen. He missed a month with a left heel contusion, the second straight season he’s been bothered by a foot issue. Bryant is hitting .263/.346/.374 in his second season in Denver.
Blach returns to the big leagues two months after clearing waivers. The 32-year-old made six relief appearances in April, allowing 13 runs in 11 innings. He has pitched reasonably well in Albuquerque, working to a 4.40 ERA over 30 2/3 innings in an extraordinarily tough environment for pitchers. Blach doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats; he’s a control specialist who induced grounders at a quality 54.6% clip for the Isotopes this season. He’ll offer skipper Bud Black a long relief option for the middle innings.
Back to the Red Sox, do it Bloom!
For what? He couldn’t hit in Denver i doubt he’d do any better in Fenway
And he’d still outhit anyone on the Red Sox except for Yoshida and Verdugo.
Devers?
RSox – You think Wong is a much better hitter?
And guess who in MLB is #70 out of 72 in pitch framing.
Wong is not the second coming of Tek or even Mirabelli, not even close.
Alfaro can’t be a primary catcher, defense and controlling a game are huge red flags
Catching is a problem but Alfaro is not a solution
When Reese went down, my first thought was “What’s Alfaro doing?” Lol
I give it 15 days before Kris Bryant is on the injured list again.
Scott Boras clients are known for having the best years of their career right before free agency; and once they get their big money, they pretty much shut it down and just collect their money from the “injured” list. Bryant is exhibit “A” on this list and Anthony Rendon is exhibit “B”.
Bryant didn’t have his best year right before FA, he always had a nagging injury when he wasn’t hitting… so it seems
He’s had injuries since he was on the cubs, almost always to his back. He’d miss six weeks, come back for a week or two, then back on the IL. I know this one was a foot injury, but the Rox should have him fitted for a truss now because his back is due to go out in about a week.
That’s the Kris Bryant I know. A lot of his apologists will tell you that none of that ever happened as if the records don’t exist. Those of us who see him for the IL denizen he is remember his time with the Cubs when it seems like he was constantly at least day-to-day with a tweaked hair follicle.
Mean while Gerrit Cole is Like “I work for my biggest payday for a pitcher in history, thank you very much”
Matt Wieters has to be somewhere in that top 5. Boras conned Lerner into signing him. Someone who looked like Wieters showed up, and the similarities ended there.
I never thought of it that way. It’s quite possible Watt Mieters showed up instead.
Well, so much for that.
I feel like if they had given him 100 abs he may have found the swing and given them some nice production. He was mashing in the minors and is still a reasonably young guy with some ability at the plate.
Contending teams can’t afford to give a player 100 ABs before…never mind.
In a corresponding move the Rockies placed Bryant back on the injured list after he got hurt putting on his uniform
Yet another “damaged goods” Scott Boras client.
Rockies Designate Kris Bryant.
And some other sucker will pick him up, just like Jake Lamb.
Bryant played in 143+ gms his contract year and after the big contract, hasn’t played in that many gms in the 2 years since. That’s typical of Boras clients, they’re either juiced up on PEDS, “damaged goods” with hazy, dubious medical histories or only motivated to play in their contract years.
Who is next in Alfaro’s tour of MLB?
I see a pattern where Alfaro is concerned. Teams he’s played for in the past don’t seem to want him back even if they have a screaming need at C (see SD & MIA). My pick would be LAD because this year they’re only buying low, and Austin Barnes is batting .102 for the season which can no longer be ignored. At this point the Dodgers could just let the pitchers hit for themselves when Barnes catches and sign MadBum to strictly DH for him. I guarantee you they’d get better results. Any way, Alfaro to LA.
Good call. Guess we will see in a few days.