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The Evolution Of Alec Bohm

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The Phillies are out to a strong 16-10 start here in 2024 and a portion of the credit has to go to third baseman Alec Bohm, who is out to a scorching-hot start at the plate.

The lanky corner infielder has taken 104 trips to the plate this year over 26 games and has a batting line of .333/.423/.556. That translates to a wRC+ of 170, indicating he’s been 70% better than the league average hitter so far this year. Among qualified hitters, that makes him the 12th best in the majors so far on the young season.

He probably can’t stay quite this hot over a longer stretch of time. His .386 batting average on balls in play this year is well above his career rate of .324 as well as the .290 league average. Since his exit velocity numbers are pretty similar to previous seasons, the BABIP will likely regress a bit going forward. However, he’s also made some gains in the plate discipline department that could perhaps be more sustainable, as they fit a pattern of growth that goes back a few years.

Bohm went through three minor league levels as a prospect in 2019, going from Low-A to High-A to Double-A. He walked in 10.6% of his plate appearances and only struck out 13.5% of the time. Prospect evaluators had praised his eye at the plate and those numbers tracked with that. He hit .305/.378/.518 that year across those minor league levels for a 161 wRC+.

In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Bohm shot onto the scene with a huge major league debut. He hit .338/.400/.481 for a 138 wRC+. His 20% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate weren’t quite as strong as in the minors the year prior, but that was fairly logical for a guy skipping Triple-A and getting to the big leagues for the first time.

But it seems the league adjusted the next year, as Bohm endured an awful sophomore slump in 2021. He took 417 trips to the plate that year and was punched out in 26.6% of them. His walk rate also fell to 7.4%. He only hit seven home runs on the year, leading to a paltry line of .247/.305/.342 and a 77 wRC+. He was optioned to the minors for a time, spending just over a month on the farm from late August to late September.

Since that awful season, however, Bohm has been gradually climbing in terms of his results and approach at the plate . In 2022, his walk rate dropped to 4.9% but he only struck out at a 17.4% clip, almost a ten-point drop from the prior season. His .280/.315/.398 batting line wasn’t amazing, leading to a 98 wRC+, but it was still progress relative to the prior year.

Last season, he continued down that path by dropping his strikeout rate even further to 15.4%, with his walk rate ticking up slightly to 6.9%. He also set a new career high with 20 home runs, leading to a .274/.327/.437 slash and 105 wRC+.

As mentioned up top, Bohm has a huge slash line this year, which is at least partly fueled by his strong BABIP. But he’s also drawn walks at a massive 13.5% clip, almost double where he was at last year. He’s swinging at just 27.8% of pitches outside the zone so far this year, whereas he chased at a 33.4% rate in prior seasons. Even when he does chase, his 79% contact rate on pitches outside the zone is far higher than the 71.2% rate he had coming into the year. On pitches in the zone, he’s making contact at a 93.6% rate, compared to his 86.7% rate coming into the year.

Looking at his swinging-strike rate, there is a direct downward trend from his sophomore slump year in 2021 to the present. It was 11.7% that year but dropped to 9.6% the year after, followed by 7.8% last year. He’s down to just 5.1% this year. Going forward, BABIP results will sway with luck as they often do. But the fact that he swings and misses less as time goes on suggests that he has been maturing in the areas he can control.

What’s also encouraging is that he’s been doing damage against both lefties and righties this year, whereas he had seemed to be leaning towards a short-side platoon role in previous years. He currently has a career 143 wRC+ against southpaws but just an 87 otherwise. As recently as last year, those figures were 142 against lefties and 92 against righties. So far this season, he’s at 205 and 149, still a big split but well above average regardless of who he has faced.

Defense is also important for Bohm, as he’s never been considered an especially strong third baseman, nor one who was destined to stay there for a long time. Going into 2020, the Baseball America scouting report on Bohm contained this passage: “Kris Bryant and Troy Glaus are the only players 6-foot-5 or taller to play more than 200 games at third base in MLB history. Bohm is unlikely to become the third.”

Well, Bohm has already gone past that 200-game threshold, having already played 388 contests at the hot corner. The results have not been great, however, as he has career tallies of -49 Defensive Runs Saved and -11 Outs Above Average.

Last year, the Phillies started playing Bohm at first base more with Rhys Hoskins injured, but Bryce Harper eventually took it over. Though Harper was previously an outfielder, he returned from Tommy John surgery as a designated hitter and then eventually moved into first base due to the lesser throwing demands at that position.

After the 2023 season, it was announced that Harper would stay at first base going forward and would not be returning to the outfield. Since Kyle Schwarber is effectively a full-time designated hitter now, Bohm is locked in at third.

It’s possible to see some evolution in his glovework at third as well, depending on which metric you trust. DRS has continued to be extremely pessimistic, with Bohm at -10 or worse in each of the previous three campaigns. He’s already at -3 DRS so far this year, not even a month into the season. But OAA is bit more hopeful, since Bohm bottomed out by that metric with a -9 in 2022, before getting to +1 last year. Though that was in a smaller sample size since he spent roughly half his time at first base, where OAA gave him a -6 on the year. He’s still at an even zero at third base so far in the early parts of 2024, meaning OAA considers him roughly average at the hot corner going back to the start of last year. Even if one buys into that more optimistic view, Bohm will likely have to move off third at some point.

Schwarber is a free agent after 2025, which could perhaps allow Bohm to share first base and designated hitter with Harper. On the other hand, Nick Castellanos is under contract through 2026 and is also considered a weak defender, so perhaps he becomes the DH when Schwarber’s contract is up. The club has had past interest in trading Castellanos and he’s currently hitting .177/.233/.198, so there’s definitely a chance he’s no longer with the team by 2026 (whether due to a trade or release).

Bohm is controlled via arbitration through the 2026 season and could perhaps be extended beyond that point if the club really believes in his bat. But it’s not a perfect roster fit even after Schwarber and Castellanos are gone. Harper’s contract goes all the way through 2031, and it seems he’ll stay a first baseman and designated hitter for the rest of his career. Having Harper and Bohm locked in at those two spots isn’t ideal roster construction, as clubs often like to have at least some ability to rotate their regular players through the DH spot for a bit of rest.

For now, Bohm will stick at third and the club will likely be happy to live with his defense as long as he’s good in the batter’s box. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said as much a few years ago. “His key is he has to hit. If he hits well enough, you’ll live with the defensive aspect of it,” said Dombrowski after Bohm’s rough 2021 campaign. With Bohm’s results so far this year, he’s making things easy on Dombrowski and the Phils, and will continue to do so if he can keep it up.

Anthony Rendon Diagnosed With Partially Torn Hamstring

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Testing has revealed a partial tear in Anthony Rendon’s left hamstring, the Angels third baseman told reporters (X link via Sam Blum of the Athletic). Although there’s no specific timetable for his return, Rendon indicated he anticipates an extended absence. The Angels put him on the 10-day injured list last week.

It’s the fourth consecutive season in which he has suffered a significant injury. Rendon had four separate injured list stints in 2021, the most notable of which came after he suffered a hip impingement requiring season-ending surgery. A torn tendon in his wrist necessitated another procedure the following June. Last season, it was a left leg injury that cut his year short on July 4. Rendon didn’t undergo surgery that time, though the absence wasn’t without controversy. While the Angels termed the injury a bone bruise, the veteran infielder said he’d fractured his tibia.

Rendon’s current injury came last week as he tried to beat out an infield hit. It’s the latest source of frustration amidst a seven-year free agent deal that hasn’t gone as he or the Angels envisioned. He has played in 219 games over parts of five years with the Halos. That’s 38.4% of the team’s schedule. That number will drop further as he embarks on this rehab process.

New manager Ron Washington penciled Rendon in at the hot corner for 19 of their first 21 games. The two-time All-Star has hit .267 with a reasonable .325 on-base percentage but didn’t hit for any power. He only has three extra-base hits (all doubles) and is slugging .307. That profile — decent on-base marks with minimal power — has been Rendon’s general production when he has been able to play going back to 2021.

Miguel Sanó has taken over third base in recent days. That’s not ideal from a defensive standpoint but does allow Washington to rotate a few players through the designated hitter spot. Sanó has gotten off to a nice start to his first year with the Halos, running a .271/.362/.373 slash in 69 plate appearances. That is driven by a .441 average on balls in play which Sanó clearly won’t maintain, but he’s hitting the ball exceptionally hard and figures to run into a few more home runs as the season progresses.

Red Sox, Sal Romano Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Sal Romano, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll head to Triple-A Worcester.

Romano, 30, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since the 2021 season but joins the Red Sox with 275 1/3 frames of MLB experience to his credit. He had a nice debut campaign with the Reds back in 2017, making 16 starts and pitching to a respectable 4.45 ERA in 87 innings that year. The 6’5″, 250-pound righty fanned 19% of his opponents against a somewhat elevated 9.4% walk rate and also kept the ball on the ground at a 50.4% clip. It was hardly a dominant debut, but Romano looked the part of a potential back-end starter whose ground-ball tendencies would be beneficial in one of the game’s most homer-friendly stadiums.

His sophomore campaign in 2018, however, didn’t go as hoped. The big righty soaked up 145 2/3 innings in 25 starts and 14 relief appearances but stumbled to a 5.31 earned run average. His walk rate improved to 8.2%, but that was accompanied by a dip in strikeout rate (16.3%), ground-ball rate (45.5%) and sinker velocity (95.7 mph in 2017, 94.3 mph in 2018). Romano moved to the ’pen in 2019 but struggled even more. He only threw 1 1/3 innings during the shortened 2020 season despite not hitting the injured list, and the Reds cut him loose after 14 appearances in ’21. He had brief stints with the Yankees and Brewers that season but didn’t stick in either setting for all that long.

Since that 2021 season, Romano has pitched sparingly. He didn’t pitch at all in 2022 and made just two appearances in the Venezuelan Winter League in the ’22-’23 offseason. He spent last year with Gastonia Honey Hunters of the independent Atlantic League, pitching to a 4.91 ERA in 84 frames.

Though Romano doesn’t have a great big league track record and hasn’t pitched in affiliated ball in nearly three years, he’ll join up with a Red Sox organization that is severely lacking rotation depth at the moment. Eighty percent of the team’s projected Opening Day rotation is on the injured list, with Lucas Giolito done for the season (internal brace surgery). Garrett Whitlock (oblique strain), Brayan Bello (lat discomfort) and Nick Pivetta (flexor strain) are all on the shelf, as is depth starter Chris Murphy — who required Tommy John surgery earlier this year.

With that slate of injuries, the Sox are going with Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Cooper Criswell, Chase Anderson and Josh Winckowski in the rotation. Depth options beyond that quintet include Naoyuki Uwasawa, Vladimir Gutierrez and non-roster righty Jason Alexander. Romano may not have much big league success, but he does carry a 3.87 ERA in parts of three Triple-A seasons. He’ll give the Sox some extra depth while they navigate a rough patch for the rotation.

Josh Naylor Just Keeps Getting Better

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There have always been fairly high expectations for Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor. He entered the 2015 draft considered one of the 60 or so best talents available and instead vaulted to the No. 12 overall selection when the Marlins took him and cut an under-slot deal with him, signing him for a $2.25MM bonus that clocked in shy of his $3.05MM slot value.

As if the draft stock wasn’t enough, Naylor was soon included in a pair of relatively high-profile trades. Miami sent him to the Padres alongside Carter Capps, Jarred Cosart and, ahem, Luis Castillo (whoops) in exchange for Andrew Cashner, Colin Rea and Tayron Guerrero. Naylor ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects heading into the 2019 season and made his debut with San Diego that season before being packaged with Owen Miller, Austin Hedges, Joey Cantillo, Gabriel Arias and Cal Quantrill to acquire Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen and Matt Waldron from Cleveland (again… whoops).

For the first three seasons of Naylor’s career, he was an up-and-down first baseman/outfielder/designated hitter who didn’t do much hitting. In his first 633 plate appearances, he posted an anemic .250/.306/.389 batting line (88 wRC+). His 19.1% strikeout rate was lower than the league average, but so was his 7% walk rate. Naylor hit the ball on the ground at a huge 51.6% clip, which is far from ideal for a hitter who drew 20- and 30-grade marks for his speed as a prospect. He was borderline passive at the dish, only swinging at 48% of pitches thrown.

In what amounted to roughly a full season’s worth of plate appearances (603) over that three-year span, Naylor was more or less a replacement-level player. He made plenty of contact but didn’t do much damage with it and didn’t really contribute defensively. Naylor posted below-average grades from both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average in the outfield corners and only saw sparse action at first base (106 innings).

In 2022, the Guardians moved Naylor to first base full time. Whether he felt more comfortable there and thus at the plate, or whether he simply adapted to big league pitching after getting a few hundred plate appearances under his belt, a corner was clearly turned. Naylor took a huge step forward at the dish, smacking a career-best 20 homers while hitting .256/.319/.452 in 498 plate appearances. His walk rate crept up from 5.6% to 7.6% His strikeout rate dipped from 18% to 16.1%. Things continued trending in a positive direction in 2023, with Naylor cutting the strikeout rate all the way to 13.7% as he turned in an even better .308/.354/.489 slash.

This season, Naylor’s gone from a solid middle-of-the-order hitter behind star teammate Jose Ramirez to a star-caliber bat himself, however. He’s out to a blistering .295/.366/.557 start, and it’s not the type of early-season fluke that’s propped up by a .400-something average on balls in play. Naylor’s .274 BABIP is actually 21 points lower than the .295 mark he carried into the season, in fact. So what’s changed?

For starters, the K-BB profile has only continued to get better. He’s walking at an 8.9% clip that’d be right in line with his 9% career-best mark from back in his rookie season. His 10.9% strikeout rate isn’t just a career-best — it’s tied with Mookie Betts for the eighth-lowest in MLB. Naylor has always been a free swinger who’s chased off the plate a lot; he swung at 38.4% of pitches off the plate in his career prior to 2024. This year, he’s at 32.6%. His overall contact rate is actually down a tick, but that’s easier to stomach when he’s laying off more bad balls and working himself into better counts.

It’s also in part due to what appears to be a conscious effort to do more damage at the plate. More than half of Naylor’s batted balls (50.4%) were hit on the ground through his first four seasons. He lowered his ground-ball rate in each of his first four MLB seasons but took a major jump in 2023, cutting that grounder rate from 48.9% in ’22 to 42.7%. This year, Naylor is only putting 40.5% of his batted balls on the ground. Both his 22.8% line-drive rate and 36.7% fly-ball rate are career-high marks.

As one would expect, elevating the ball more regularly is leading to considerably more damage. Naylor may be sacrificing a bit of contact, but he possesses such strong bat-to-ball skills that you’ll rarely see him swing through multiple pitches in the same at-bat. And the extra oomph in his swing is producing better results not just in his rate stats but in the under-the-hood numbers as well. Naylor’s 90.7 mph average exit velocity, 12.7% barrel rate and 44.3% hard-hit rate — as measured by Statcast — are all easy career-highs. He’s seen 20.7% of his fly-balls clear the fence for home runs — a major improvement over his career 13% mark and the single-season career-high of 15.9% he established in 2022.

For years, the Guardians have forged an identity as a team full of pesky, tough-to-strike-out hitters who put the ball in play but also generally lacked pop. Ramirez was a true heart-of-the-order slugger who managed to embody that contact-driven focus while still hitting for power, but Cleveland lacked anyone else who fit that profile. It’s early in 2024, but Naylor looks to be figuring out the recipe for toeing that same line. The six homers he’s hit in 101 plate appearances is already one shy of his 2021 total in 250 plate appearances and already 30% of the way to his career-high in only 20% the playing time.

Still just 26 years old, Naylor remains in his physical prime and is refining an already strong approach and plan at the plate in a way that’s letting him tap into the 60- to 70-grade marks that scouts put on his power during his prospect days. In doing so, he appears on the cusp of breaking out as a potentially elite hitter.

Heading into the season, with questions about how the Guardians would fare coming off a disappointing 2023 season, it was reasonable to view Naylor as a possible summer trade candidate. Multiple clubs expressed interest him over the winter. He’s expensive by Cleveland standards, earning $6.55MM this year, and will very likely command a raise to north of $10MM in 2025 — his final season of club control. The Guardians have a habit of trading players before the get to the point where they could test free agency.

But Cleveland’s excellent start to the season, even in the midst of a severe slate of pitching injuries, should have fans of other clubs pumping the brakes on the idea of prying Naylor from the Guardians’ grasp. If the wave of pitching injuries proves to be too difficult to withstand and the Guards eventually fall out of the race, it could still be a possibility. But right now, Naylor is one of the driving factors in Cleveland’s hot start to the season and breaking out as a critical cog in a lineup that’s vastly exceeding expectations.

Cody Bradford Diagnosed With Rib Stress Fracture

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Rangers starter Cody Bradford has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his rib, manager Bruce Bochy informed reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The left-hander will be out of action for at least another month. He has been on the injured list since April 14 with what the team initially indicated was a lower back strain.

The injury interrupted what had been a strong start to the season. The Baylor product secured the fifth starter spot out of camp. He’d done everything in his power over his first three outings to keep hold of that job. Bradford allowed only four runs (three earned) in 19 1/3 innings. He punched out 17 against two walks. After working five innings of two-run ball against the Cubs in his season debut, he tossed consecutive quality starts against the Astros and A’s.

Bradford had an up-and-down rookie season in 2023. He started eight of 20 appearances, allowing a 5.30 earned run average over 56 innings. He showed excellent control and decent swing-and-miss ability, but opposing hitters jumped on him for 1.77 home runs per nine. Bradford had allowed just one longball (to Dansby Swanson) in his three starts this season.

He’s one of four Texas starters on the injured list. Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle are still months away from completing rehab processes from Tommy John surgery. Max Scherzer should be back on the Globe Life Field mound in the next few weeks. The future Hall of Famer began a rehab stint with Triple-A Round Rock on Wednesday as he recovers from an offseason back procedure. He worked 2 1/3 innings in his first game action of 2024, getting to 52 pitches.

It now looks like Scherzer will be back well before the Rangers anticipate Bradford’s return. In the interim, they’ll proceed with a starting five of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, Michael Lorenzen and Andrew Heaney. Heaney has been rocked for a 6.26 ERA over his first five starts. If Bradford were healthy, that would likely have pushed Heaney to the bullpen. Texas called up former #2 pick Jack Leiter for a spot start last week but optioned him back to Round Rock a day later.

White Sox Designate Bailey Horn For Assignment

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves, many of which were previously reported. Outfielders Rafael Ortega and Tommy Pham have been selected to the roster. Two more outfielders were removed, as Kevin Pillar has been designated for assignment and Dominic Fletcher has been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. To open one more spot on the 40-man, left-handed pitcher Bailey Horn was also designated for assignment.

Horn, 26, was just acquired from the Cubs in February. The latter club was looking to open a 40-man spot for Cody Bellinger and flipped Horn across town for minor league right-hander Matt Thompson. That sent Horn back to his original organization, as he was drafted by the Sox but traded to the Cubs in 2021 for Ryan Tepera.

The southpaw has long shown big strikeout potential but also a concerning lack of command, trends that have continued into 2024. He has thrown 10 1/3 innings at Triple-A Charlotte so far this year, striking out 15 opponents but also giving out 10 walks. Four home runs allowed have also led to 13 runs crossing the plate, leading to an 11.32 earned run average.

Those poor results have bumped him off the 40-man and the Sox will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Despite the rough start to his season, he could perhaps garner interest based on his previous work. Over 2022 and 2023, he tossed 113 2/3 innings between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He had a 3.56 ERA in that time, striking out 30.5% of batters faced but also issuing walks at a 13.3% rate.

The Cubs only just added him to their 40-man in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, meaning he has a full slate of options. If any club felt they had a way to harness the control going forward, they could acquire Horn and stash him in the minors for years to come.

Jesus Luzardo Place On Injured List, Will Undergo Testing Due To Elbow Tightness

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2:25pm: The Marlins have now formally placed Luzardo on the 15-day injured list with left elbow tightness and recalled Maldonado from Jacksonville. Luzardo tells Christina De Nicola of MLB.com that he feels this IL stint is precautionary and that he’ll only miss one or two starts.

9:35am: Right-hander Anthony Maldonado is being recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville to start tonight’s game, the team has now announced. It’ll be his major league debut. Maldonado is a reliever who’s only pitched 11 2/3 innings over eight appearances this season, so while he could probably give the club multiple innings, it seems the Fish will go with a bullpen game today.

9:22am: The Marlins announced Friday that lefty Jesus Luzardo has been scratched from his scheduled start today and will instead undergo testing on his left elbow. The 26-year-old southpaw experienced discomfort in his most recent bullpen session.

It’s an ominous development for Miami’s Opening Day starter, who’s gotten out to a dreadful start to his season. Through his first five trips to the mound, Luzardo carries a 6.58 ERA in 26 innings. His velocity has held up from last year, but his strikeout rate is down four percentage points (from 28.1% to 24.1%) and his walk rate is up by roughly the same amount (from 7.4% to 11.6%). It’s a far cry from Luzardo’s 2022-23 form, wherein he pitched to a combined 3.48 ERA in 279 frames.

The news is all the more worrisome when considering Luzardo’s injury history. Although he made 32 starts and tossed a career-high 178 2/3 innings last year, that’s hardly been the norm for the talented southpaw. Luzardo had Tommy John surgery during his senior year of high school. The Nationals selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft anyhow and ultimately traded him to the Athletics as part of the package to acquire relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle. Luzardo continued to climb the minor league ranks and draw considerable prospect fanfare, but he also missed nearly two months of the 2019 season in the minors with a shoulder strain. Oakland flipped him to the Marlins in a 2021 trade for Starling Marte. Luzardo wound up being limited to 18 starts in 2022 because of a forearm strain.

Miami’s rotation has already been devastated by injury. Ace Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner, underwent Tommy John surgery in October and won’t pitch this season. Top prospect Eury Perez, who debuted last season with 91 1/3 innings of 3.15 ERA ball at just 20 years of age, had Tommy John surgery earlier this month. Left-hander Braxton Garrett, who broke out with a 3.63 ERA in 247 2/3 innings from 2022-23, has yet to pitch this season due to a shoulder impingement.

Luzardo now joins that growing list of injured arms, leaving a Miami rotation that projected to be the team’s strength in tatters. Right-hander Edward Cabrera and lefties Ryan Weathers and Trevor Rogers are the team’s three healthy big league starters at present.

Right-hander Sixto Sanchez just made his first start since 2020 but lasted only 2 2/3 innings after opening the season in a bullpen role. He once ranked as an elite pitching prospect but has seen his career derailed by a series of shoulder injuries. He pitched one minor league inning from 2021-23 and is surely on an innings cap this year as a result. Top prospect Max Meyer, who was recently optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville despite a dominant start to the season, will also have his workload managed in 2024 — his first season back from his own Tommy John procedure. It stands to reason that he’ll be back in the Miami rotation at some point — likely sooner than later now — but it’s unclear how many innings can be expected of the former No. 3 overall draft pick.

The Marlins’ season already looked to be effectively over before the first month had drawn to a close. The team currently sits with a 6-20 record and a -47 run differential. The offense ranks 27th in the majors in batting average, 28th in on-base percentage and 29th in slugging percentage. They’ve gotten just five hits from their catchers all season. Any small chance of the Fish climbing out of this hole would’ve required things to break just right for them — including and arguably led by a return to form for their top starter. The obvious hope is that Luzardo will receive a clean bill of health and miss minimal time, but a lengthy absence would only serve as a further nail in the coffin on a catastrophic 2024 season in South Florida.

Mets Designate Zack Short For Assignment

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The Mets announced that outfielder J.D. Martinez has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, with infielder Zack Short designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Martinez, 36, signed a one-year deal with the club last month. That deal came about very late in the offseason, not being made official until March 23, when Spring Training was effectively done. Players with at least five years of service time cannot be optioned to the minors without their consent, but Martinez agreed to be sent down since he missed the spring and needed to get some at-bats.

His return should bolster the Mets lineup, as he is a .287/.350/.524 hitter in his career and is coming off a strong season with the Dodgers. He seemed to be selling out for power last year, as his 31.1% strikeout rate was a career high by four points, but he also hit 33 home runs and slashed .271/.321/.572. Manager Carlos Mendoza indicated earlier this week that the club was planning to activate Martinez today, which was now come to fruition.

Martinez was already on the 40-man roster but the Mets had limited options in terms of getting him onto the active roster. The only optionable position players currently on the squad are Brett Baty and DJ Stewart. Baty has been the club’s everyday third baseman this year while Stewart has been great at the plate. Going back to his time with the club last year, he’s hit 14 home runs in 240 plate appearances. He has struck out at a hefty 28.7% clip but also drawn walks 10.4% of the time.

That left the Mets having to cut someone who is out of options and they decided on Short. The infielder, who turns 29 next month, was claimed off waivers from the Tigers in November. He took 12 plate appearances with the Mets this year and produced a line of just .111/.273/.111 in that time.

He spent the past three years with the Tigers and has a career batting line of .172/.266/.304 in 462 plate appearances. He’s been better in Triple-A, having slashed .226/.361/.397 since the start of 2021 while drawing walks in 16.2% of his appearances at that level. Since he’s played all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base, he could be a solid utility piece if his major league offense were a bit more like his minor league work.

The Mets will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In his absence, Joey Wendle will be the backup infielder, with a regular alignment of Baty, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso on the dirt.

White Sox To Select Rafael Ortega, Option Dominic Fletcher

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In addition to their previously reported promotion of Tommy Pham and DFA of Kevin Pillar, the White Sox will select the contract of veteran outfielder Rafael Ortega and option fellow outfielder Dominic Fletcher to Triple-A Charlotte, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. They’ll need a second 40-man move to open a spot for Ortega.

The 32-year-old Ortega has appeared in parts of seven big league seasons between the Rockies, Angels, Braves, Marlins, Cubs and Mets, hitting .247/.324/.352 in 1284 plate appearances. That includes a strong 2021-22 showing with the crosstown Cubs, wherein he played a semi-regular role and hit .265/.344/.408 with 18 homers, 24 steals, a 10.6% walk rate and a 20.5% strikeout rate in 701 plate appearances. He appeared in 47 games for the Mets last season and batted .219/.341/.272.

Ortega inked a minor league deal with the Sox over the winter and has gotten out to a .241/.378/.431 slash in Charlotte. He’s homered three times, swiped six bags and drawn a walk in 18.7% of his plate appearances on the young season. He’s a left-handed hitter who can handle all three outfield spots.

Fletcher, 26, was acquired in an offseason swap that sent pitching prospect Cristian Mena to the Diamondbacks. The hope for the Sox was that he’d give them an MLB-ready outfielder with solid defensive skills who could build on an impressive rookie showing with the ’23 D-backs. Fletcher hit .301/.350/.441 with a pair of homers, five doubles and a triple in his first 102 MLB place appearances with the Snakes last season. He didn’t walk much (6.9%) but also posted a 21.6% strikeout rate that was lower than average.

Unfortunately, Fletcher hasn’t been able to sustain that pace or anything close to it following his change of scenery. He’s appeared in 20 games and taken 66 turns at the dish, hitting just .203/.277/.271. Though last year’s strikeout rate was solid, he’s fanned in more than 30% of his plate appearances on the young season. He’ll head down to Triple-A just one day after older brother David Fletcher was sent to Triple-A by the Braves (albeit David via outright assignment rather than optional assignment).

The younger Fletcher brother already has a strong track record in the upper minors, which lends some hope that he can right the ship in a lower-pressure setting. If he’s able to get back on track, the current state of the White Sox’ roster should rather easily afford him another opportunity to prove that he can stick at the big league level. The White Sox can control the former No. 75 overall draft pick for six full seasons, and Fletcher has a minor league option remaining beyond the current year as well.

White Sox To Select Tommy Pham, Designate Kevin Pillar For Assignment

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The White Sox are set to select the contract of veteran outfielder Tommy Pham, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Fellow outfielder Kevin Pillar will be designated for assignment as the corresponding move, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. Pham had an out clause in his minor league contract that he could exercise if not added to the roster heading into this weekend. He’ll earn a prorated $3MM salary on his deal with the South Siders.

Pham, 36, only got into four games with the White Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte but handled himself well, going 5-for-17 with a double, two steals, one walk and just three strikeouts in 18 total plate appearances. The veteran corner outfielder is coming off a season where he slashed a combined .256/.328/.446 with 16 homers, 27 doubles, three triples and 22 stolen bases in 481 plate appearances between the Mets and Diamondbacks. If he can come anywhere close to that level of production, he’d immediately become one of the most productive bats in a punchless White Sox lineup that ranks dead last in Major League Baseball in runs scored, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Given the White Sox’ disastrous start to the season, Pham seems likely to be afforded fairly regular playing time. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi is out to an astonishingly bad .165/.202/.188 start through his first 89 plate appearances and could see his playing time take a hit. That’s particularly true given that right fielder Gavin Sheets has been the team’s best offensive player at .246/.361/.464. Sheets came up as a first baseman though, so it’s also feasible that he could see some extra reps there, considering Andrew Vaughn’s own woeful .170/.255/.216 output on the season. Designated hitter Eloy Jimenez has a grim .200/.280/.333 line in 50 plate appearances, but he’s been swinging the bat well over the past week.

Pillar, 35, also signed a minor league pact with a $3MM base salary. He made the big league roster out of camp but — like the majority of Chicago’s offense — has sputtered to begin the season. He’s only received 32 plate appearances but has turned in a tepid .160/.290/.360 batting line with a homer and two doubles in that time. With Pillar and Pham both being right-handed hitters, their simultaneous presence on the roster apparently was deemed redundant.

Once one of the game’s premier defensive center fielders, Pillar has settled into a bench role in recent seasons. He spent the 2023 campaign with the Braves, hitting for decent power but struggling to get on base — evidenced by his .228/.248/.416 slash and nine round-trippers in 206 plate appearances. That’s right in line with Pillar’s overall production over the past four seasons; he’s a .224/.265/.408 hitter in 598 turns at the plate during that span.

The White Sox will have a week to trade Pillar, pass him through outright waivers or release him. A release is most common for veterans in situations like this one. That’d put Pillar back on the open market and allow him to field interest from the other 29 teams around the league.

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