Giants Notes: Perez, Sabol, Hjelle, Johnson, Haniger, Cobb, Bishop
The Giants’ 26-man roster is taking shape, as president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has indicated that the club will break camp with at least two players from outside the 40-man. In speaking with reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area) over the last couple of days, Zaidi hinted that catcher Roberto Perez and outfielder Bryce Johnson will each make the team. Perez signed a minor league deal with San Francisco this winter, while Johnson was outrighted off the 40-man back in November.
Perez has “done a great job, the pitchers love him,” Zaidi said. Since Perez only played 21 games last season due to hamstring surgery, Zaidi noted that “I think really the evaluation has just been from a health standpoint, how he’s moving around, how his shoulder feels, how his lower body feels…and how much of the catching would we think he can handle. He’s felt really good and he’s ready to catch more, so that part of the evaluation has been very positive.”
Because Perez is an Article XX(b) free agent, today marks the first of three automatic opt-out dates within Perez’s minor league contract, but that looks like it will be a moot point given the Giants’ apparent desire to put him on their Opening Day roster. Perez will be one of three catchers on the 26-man (along with Joey Bart and Rule 5 Draft pick Blake Sabol), though Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler have both intimated that the team probably isn’t likely to have a three-catcher formulation for all season, or perhaps even for very long into the season.
There’s plenty of uncertainty behind the plate for the Giants, given that former top-prospect Bart has yet to establish himself as a true regular at the big league level. As such, the Giants brought Perez and Austin Wynns into camp as non-roster invitees, and Slusser writes that Wynns isn’t yet out of the running either. Since Bart still has a minor league option remaining, it’s possible he could yet be moved down to Triple-A for more seasoning.
As a Rule 5 player, Sabol must remain on San Francisco’s active roster for the entire season or else be offered back to the Pirates, his original team. Sabol’s roster chances are improved by his positional versatility, since he can also play the outfield in addition to catching. With the Giants’ outfield thinned out by injuries, it has opened the door for both Sabol and Johnson to make the Opening Day roster, even if Zaidi said that the club is ultimately still prioritizing Sabol as a catcher.
“When Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater get back, Blake’s got to fit more firmly in the catching mix,” Zaidi said. “For us to get through the full season with Blake on the roster, he’s going to have to be able to prove himself to be a viable Major League catcher, and I think we’ve seen a lot of progress with that.”
Luis Gonzalez will miss at least half the season due to back surgery, while Slater will begin the season on the injured list due to a hamstring strain. Haniger suffered a Grade 1 oblique strain two weeks ago and the Giants had been hopeful that the outfielder would recover in time for Opening Day, but it now seems as if Haniger will need at least a brief IL stint to fully recover.
Gonzalez will be placed on the 60-day injured list prior to Opening Day, joining Thomas Szapucki and Luke Jackson as longer-term injury absences for the Giants. With three 40-man roster spots opened by these forthcoming 60-man placements, the Giants will have plenty of room to select the contracts of Perez, Johnson, and possibly Wynns or any other minor league signings. Given how actively Zaidi searches the waiver wire, it also wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco adds a player from outside the organization who becomes available when another team makes an end-of-camp roster cut.
As for spots on the 26-man roster, Alex Cobb isn’t yet a guarantee to avoid the injured list, as the veteran righty is still battling some knee soreness after being hit with a Miguel Vargas line drive on March 11. Cobb was able to pitch again five days later but hasn’t pitched since, so the Giants could perhaps place him on the IL to both provide more recovery time and to give the team more roster flexibility. San Francisco has two off-days within the first six days of the regular season schedule, thus delaying the club’s need for a fifth starter.
If Cobb is sidelined, it would make it a bit easier for San Francisco to fit right-hander Sean Hjelle onto the roster, though Zaidi said that “I think he could be on the team in either configuration” regardless of Cobb’s status. A second-round pick for the Giants in the 2018 draft, Hjelle has had unspectacular numbers in the minors as a starter, though he did climb the ladder and make his MLB debut with 25 relief innings in 2022.
Hjelle was deployed as a long reliever and as a bulk pitcher behind an opener, so the Giants might be eyeing him as something of a piggyback option to keep starters’ arms fresh early in the season. Regardless of role, Hjelle has certainly looked the part of a big league-caliber pitcher this spring, with a 1.80 ERA and 18 strikeouts over 15 innings, with only two walks allowed.
The news isn’t good for another recent high draft pick, as Pavlovic reports that outfielder Hunter Bishop will require elbow surgery. It would seem that Bishop is facing either a full Tommy John procedure or the better-case scenario of an elbow-brace surgery, yet Pavlovic notes that Bishop’s status won’t be known until the surgery is actually underway. Bishop was the 10th overall pick of the 2019 draft and was still drawing top-100 attention as recently as the 2021 preseason, but he has been hampered by injuries. Between his health problems and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Bishop has played in only 134 minor league games since being drafted.
Reds Acquire Will Benson From Guardians
The Reds are adding to their outfield, announcing the acquisition of Will Benson from the Guardians. Cleveland receives outfield prospect Justin Boyd and a player to be named later in the deal. In order to clear a spot on their 40-man roster, Cincinnati designated infielder Alejo López for assignment.
Benson was the 14th overall pick in the 2016 draft out of a Georgia high school. Listed at 6’5″ and 230 pounds, the lefty-hitting outfielder drew praise from prospect evaluators for his massive raw power and exceptionally patient plate approach. That was always paired with questions about his propensity to swing and miss, as his size has led to concerns about the length of his swing path and bat control. That combination of huge physical upside with a number of strikeouts has been on display for the bulk of his minor league career.
He moved slowly up the ranks, not reaching Double-A until the 2021 season. That was in part attributable to the cancelation of the minor league schedule the year before but also reflected the three-plus years he spent at various A-ball levels. He topped 20 home runs in both 2018 and ’19 while drawing nearly as many walks as anyone in the affiliated ranks but consistently struck out at a rate approaching or exceeding 30%. That remained the case in his first Double-A action, though he hit 14 homers with an 18.1% walk rate to earn a brief Triple-A look late in the ’21 season.
Benson struggled in his first 27 Triple-A games, leading the Guardians to leave him unprotected in that offseason’s Rule 5 draft. The draft never transpired because of the lockout and he returned to their top affiliate in Columbus last year. The 24-year-old put together arguably his most impressive minor league showing, hitting .278/.426/.522 with 17 home runs through 401 plate appearances. He walked at his customarily excellent 18.7% rate and stole 16 bases in 20 attempts. Most encouragingly, he cut his strikeout rate to a league average 22.7% clip.
As a result, the Guardians selected him for his major league debut last August. He got into 28 games, hitting .182/.250/.200 with three walks and 19 strikeouts over his first 61 plate appearances. It wasn’t a strong start to his MLB career, though Benson’s Triple-A production clearly elevated his stock relative to where it had been at the opening of the season.
Benson has experience at all three outfield positions throughout his professional career. He’s long been considered best suited for right field given his size and above-average arm strength, though he’s a deceptively good athlete who’s at least capable of covering center field in a pinch.
The Reds will roll the dice on his upside, betting on him to sustain some of the contact gains he made while continuing to demonstrate excellent plate discipline and tapping into his power. He still has all three minor league option years remaining, meaning the Reds can freely move him between Cincinnati and Triple-A Louisville for the foreseeable future. Benson has just 66 days of major league service time under his belt. He won’t reach arbitration until after the 2025 season at the earliest and is under club control through at least the ’28 campaign. Future optional assignments to the minor leagues can push that timeline back further.
Cincinnati doesn’t have much certainty in their short-term outfield mix. Jake Fraley had a solid 2022 campaign and seems the favorite for left field work. Nick Senzel is penciled in as the starting center fielder, though he might be delayed in Spring Training as he recovers from offseason toe surgery. Senzel has struggled enough over the past few seasons his hold on the center field job probably isn’t very strong. There’d seem to be an open battle for reps in right field, with TJ Friedl, Stuart Fairchild, Michael Siani, Nick Solak and perhaps offseason signees Wil Myers and Chad Pinder — both of whom can play other positions — in the mix. Benson steps into that group and could vie for at-bats in Spring Training.
The Guardians have a number of controllable outfield options who looked to be ahead of Benson on the depth chart. The presumptive regular outfield consists of Steven Kwan in left, Myles Straw in center and Oscar Gonzalez in right. While there are some questions about Straw’s offense and Gonzalez’s extremely aggressive plate approach, Cleveland also has Will Brennan on hand as a potential replacement. Top prospect George Valera isn’t far off big league readiness himself.
Considering that depth, the Guardians have now twice subtracted a promising young player from further down the depth chart for a prospect. Cleveland dealt Nolan Jones to the Rockies in November. The Benson trade is a similar move, this time also clearing a 40-man spot while bringing back a player who’s further from major league readiness.
Boyd, 22 next month, was selected with the 73rd overall pick coming out of Oregon State last summer. A right-handed hitting outfielder, he raked at a .373/.490/.577 clip during his final season in Corvallis. Boyd struggled over 21 Low-A games to close out the year but was an excellent college performer.
Baseball America placed him 133rd on their board before the draft, praising his athleticism and collegiate performance but raising questions about his power upside. He’ll likely start next season in either Low-A or High-A for Cleveland and won’t need to be added to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft until after the 2025 campaign.
To accommodate the one-for-one swap, the Reds also had to clear a 40-man roster spot. That comes at the expense of López, who has been an up-and-down infielder since June 2021. The 26-year-old has played in 75 big league contests, hitting .262/.307/.321 across 179 trips to the plate. He’s shown plus contact skills, only striking out 14.5% of the time. That hasn’t come with many walks or extra-base impact, though, as evidenced by his modest OBP and lone home run. It was a similar story in Louisville, where he hit .256/.330/.363 with three homers and an 11.5% strikeout percentage through 46 games last year.
López has primarily played second and third base but gotten brief looks in the outfield as well. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers in the next week. López has never been outrighted and doesn’t have the requisite service time to elect free agency if he clears waivers, so the Reds could keep him at Louisville as infield depth if he goes unclaimed.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Cardinals Sign Miles Mikolas To Two-Year Extension
The Cardinals have locked up one of their starters beyond this season. St. Louis announced Friday afternoon they’ve signed Miles Mikolas to an extension that runs through 2025. The deal reportedly tacks on two years and $40MM in guarantees and comes with potential awards bonuses.
Mikolas had been set to make $15.75MM this season, the final of a four-year extension he signed back in 2019. The new deal tacks on some money up front. He’ll receive a $5MM signing bonus to be paid by July 1 and sees his 2023 salary jump to $18.75MM. The Octagon client will then earn consecutive $16MM salaries in 2024-25.
The 34-year-old Mikolas is coming off one of his finest seasons, having logged a career-high 202 1/3 innings with a 3.29 ERA. His 19% strikeout rate was well below average, but the right-hander offset that with an exceptional 4.8% walk rate and a 45% ground-ball rate that checks in a bit above average. He also limited hard contact at a better-than-average rate, evidenced by an 87.8 mph average exit velocity and 35.4% hard-hit rate, which landed in the 65th and 66th percentile of MLB pitchers, respectively.
Locking up Mikolas is of particular importance for the Cardinals given the long-term outlook of their rotation. Adam Wainwright has already announced his intention to retire after the 2023 season, and Mikolas was set to be joined by Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty in free agency. That would’ve left Steven Matz as the only established starter under contract or club control beyond the 2023 season.
The Cardinals surely have hopes that some combination of young pitchers and prospects — Matthew Liberatore, Jake Woodford and Gordon Graceffo among them — will step up and stake their claim to rotation spots when opportunities present themselves this year. That’s a big bet for a team to make when facing the possibility of losing 80% of its rotation, however. Keeping Mikolas in the fold lessens some of the pressure on those young arms, retains a staff leader and proactively fills one 2024 rotation spot — health permitting, of course.
That last note shouldn’t simply be written off. While Mikolas was one of just eight MLB pitchers to reach 200 innings last year and has made 32 starts in three of the past five seasons, he’s had his share of recent injury troubles as well. He missed the entire 2020 season due to a torn flexor tendon that required surgery, and discomfort in that surgically repaired forearm/flexor area limited Mikolas to just nine starts in 2021.
The extension is a clear bet that those forearm issues are behind him and that he’s back to his workhorse ways. All signs since Opening Day 2022 have pointed to that being the case, and with Wainwright slated to open the season on the injured list, Mikolas has been announced as the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter in his place.
From a payroll vantage point, there was ample room for the Cards to make this move. They’ll open the 2023 season with a payroll of nearly $188MM (including Mikolas’ signing bonus and 2023 salary bump) but had just shy of $107MM on next year’s books prior to this deal. That doesn’t include their arbitration class, but it’s a relatively small group of eight players: Tyler O’Neill, Dakota Hudson, Tommy Edman, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Knizner, Genesis Cabrera, Dylan Carlson and Anthony Misiewicz. No one from that group is making even $5MM in 2023, and there are a handful of plausible non-tender candidates in the group as well.
A $16MM salary for Mikolas next season will bump that 2024 commitment to about $123MM. Overall, the contract’s $20MM average annual value is a bump over the $17MM AAV of his current four-year, $68MM contract — an increase that’s reflective of the contract’s shorter nature, the rising price of starting pitching on the open market and of Mikolas’ strong results in 2022. The $20MM AAV on the deal is comparable to that of fellow mid- or even late-30s veterans like Chris Bassitt ($21MM) and Charlie Morton ($20MM).
The new contract covers Mikolas’ age-35 and age-36 seasons. He’ll have the opportunity to return to the market in advance of his age-37 season, and as pitchers like Morton and Zack Greinke have illustrated in recent years, there’s still ample earning power for non-ace pitchers at that juncture of a career so long as they remain healthy.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported the Cardinals and Mikolas had agreed to an extension. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported it was worth $40MM over two years, as well as the salary structure. The Associated Press reported the bonus was to be paid by July 1 and the presence of award bonuses.
Tigers Notes: Lorenzen, Wentz, Vest, Haase, Rogers
Tigers right-hander Michael Lorenzen is going to start the season on the 15-day injured list, manager A.J. Hinch indicated this afternoon (relayed by Chris McCosky of the Detroit News). The offseason signee is dealing with a left groin strain. Hinch indicated it’s not expected to be a serious issue but will require Lorenzen to miss a couple turns through the rotation.
Detroit brought the veteran in on a one-year, $8.5MM guarantee over the winter. He and fellow free agent pickup Matthew Boyd were added to take the final couple rotation spots beyond Eduardo Rodriguez, Spencer Turnbull and Matt Manning.
While that’s on hold, Detroit is likely to turn to Joey Wentz as a starter, McCosky adds. The 6’5″ southpaw was first called up last May. He got into seven games during his debut campaign, working to a 3.03 ERA with a slightly below-average 20% strikeout rate. Wentz had a solid 3.17 mark across 48 1/3 frames with Triple-A Toledo. He’s gotten hit hard this spring, allowing 13 runs in 14 2/3 innings in spite of a respectable 19:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
No pitcher had a tougher go in Detroit camp than reliever Will Vest, however. The righty managed four innings over five appearances, giving up a staggering 13 runs on as many hits with only three strikeouts. That knocked him out of consideration for a season-opening bullpen job, as Detroit optioned him to Toledo this afternoon.
Vest looked to have a bullpen spot more or less sewn up entering camp. The 27-year-old worked 63 innings over 59 outings last season. He allowed exactly four earned runs per nine but posted average or better strikeout (23.2%), walk (8.1%) and ground-ball (49.7%) marks. Vest could certainly factor into the bullpen as the season goes along but will first have to earn his way back up.
Alongside Vest, Detroit optioned catcher Donny Sands this afternoon. Hinch told reporters that non-roster backstops Andrew Knapp and Michael Papierski were being reassigned to minor league camp (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). That leaves Eric Haase and Jake Rogers as the season-opening catching duo. Haase always looked assured of a roster spot. He was one of Detroit’s most productive hitters last season and is out of options. Rogers earns the backup job as a defensive specialist, setting him up for his first MLB action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2021.
Pirates Have Continued Interest In Extending Bryan Reynolds
The Pirates are making a renewed effort to work out a long-term deal with Bryan Reynolds, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). According to Heyman, the club would prefer to have an agreement in place by Opening Day, though it’s unclear how likely that is.
Reynolds addressed the situation briefly this afternoon, saying there wasn’t any major development on the extension front (via Justice delos Santos of MLB.com). The two-time All-Star indicated he shares a desire to not have talks linger into the regular season.
Whether the Pirates would extend or trade Reynolds has been a question for quite some time. He’s come up in offseason and deadline trade rumors for over a year. Pittsburgh has held firm on a huge ask in discussions with other teams but hasn’t seemed to make much progress about keeping him past their allotted window of arbitration control, which runs through 2025. There appeared to be a tipping point in early December. Extension discussions stalled and Reynolds requested a trade around the Winter Meetings.
Pittsburgh brass reiterated they weren’t planning to lower their trade price in response to Reynolds’ wish to move. They ended up him holding him throughout the offseason — without any public indication they came particularly close to a deal — and the switch-hitting outfielder walked things back as camp approached. In mid-February, he told reporters he was still open to extension talks, saying he’d “been pretty open the past few years that (his) No. 1 choice would be to sign an extension in Pittsburgh.”
While it doesn’t seem there’s been any substantive movement, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the sides’ relationship has generally improved over the past couple months. Mackey suggests there’s at least some optimism among those involved that a deal could come together, though it’ll obviously depend on the extent to which the parties budge on financials.
Previous reports have suggested the Pirates offered a six-year deal that’d guarantee somewhere in the $75-80MM range. Meanwhile, Mackey writes that Reynolds’ camp had sought an eight-year deal worth $134MM. That leaves a gap in the $50-60MM vicinity to bridge. A six-year deal would run through Reynolds’ age-33 season, assuming it overwrote the $6.75MM salary he’s presently set to receive. An eight-year pact would take him through age 35.
Angels Option Andrew Velazquez, Jo Adell, Mickey Moniak
The Angels announced Friday evening that infielder Andrew Velazquez and outfielders Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak have been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. None of that trio will be on the major league team out of camp.
Velazquez was the Halos’ primary shortstop last year, picking up 100 starts at the position after being claimed off waivers from the Yankees over the 2021-22 offseason. A glove-first infielder, he rated highly over his 906 shortstop innings but provided almost nothing at the plate. The switch-hitter posted a .196/.236/.304 line while striking out in 34.1% of his 349 plate appearances. Los Angeles brought in Brandon Drury via free agency and Gio Urshela in a trade with Minnesota to upgrade the infield.
While neither Drury nor Urshela will necessarily see much action at shortstop, they provide general infield depth that could push David Fletcher or Luis Rengifo to shortstop more frequently. That relegated Velazquez back to Triple-A for now.
Adell and Moniak are each one-time top prospects who have struggled in multiple big league looks. The former played in a career-high 88 MLB games last season but only managed a .224/.264/.373 line with a massive 37.5% strikeout rate. He also struck out at a concerning 31.1% clip over 40 Triple-A contests but paired that with a strong 11.1% walk rate and 13 home runs in 180 trips to the plate.
Moniak came over from the Phillies in a deadline trade that sent Noah Syndergaard to Philadelphia. The former first overall pick managed only a .200/.226/.417 line over his first 60 plate appearances with the Halos. He’s a career .157/.218/.268 hitter over parts of three MLB seasons.
Both Adell and Moniak have one minor league option year remaining. If they spend 20+ days in the minors this season, they’ll exhaust that final year and be out of options next spring. That puts pressure on both players to take a significant step forward in 2023 if they’re to carve out long-term roles in Anaheim.
Dodgers Option Michael Grove, Name Ryan Pepiot Fifth Starter
The Dodgers optioned Michael Grove to Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That brings to an end the battle for the fifth starter’s role, which had been down to Grove and Ryan Pepiot. Los Angeles also optioned lefty reliever Victor González.
Manager Dave Roberts indicated the Dodgers felt Pepiot outperformed Grove this spring (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). Pepiot certainly did a better job keeping runs off the board, allowing five runs in 13 2/3 frames. Grove was tagged for ten runs across 16 2/3 innings, albeit with a quality 17:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Pepiot also fared very well in that regard, punching out 19 while walking five.
L.A. will turn to Pepiot as the #5 starter behind Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Dustin May to open the year. The Dodgers will be without Tony Gonsolin for a few weeks due to an ankle sprain, opening the path for the two younger hurlers to battle for a starting job.
Pepiot, a fairly recent top prospect, made his big league debut last season. The 25-year-old started seven out of nine appearances, working to a quality 3.47 ERA. He punched out an above-average 26.3% of batters faced but issued walks at an untenable 16.9% clip. He’d kept the walks to a more manageable 9.8% rate while striking out over 30% of opposing hitters in 91 1/3 innings in Oklahoma City.
Dombrowski: Darick Hall Favorite For Majority Of First Base Reps
The Phillies were dealt a huge blow yesterday when Rhys Hoskins went down with an ACL tear that’ll require surgery. They’ll now have to patch things together at first base unexpectedly.
Darick Hall appears the next man up. The left-handed hitter got into his first 42 MLB games last season. He connected on nine longballs and slugged .522 in 142 plate appearances. That’s a promising start but a meager 3.5% walk rate and elevated 31% strikeout percentage contributed to a .282 on-base mark. Hall had hit .254/.330/.528 with 28 homers, a 9.5% walk percentage and a 22.6% strikeout rate in 101 games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer today that Hall looks like the favorite to take the bulk of the first base reps. That could come in a platoon capacity, as the 27-year-old had dramatic splits last year. Between the majors and Lehigh Valley, Hall mashed at a .280/.344/.601 clip over 436 plate appearances against right-handed pitching. He limped to a .175/.242/.314 line over 149 trips to the dish against lefties — all but 12 of those coming against Triple-A arms.
“We have not made that decision yet,” Dombrowski said of a possible platoon. “I know he’ll get the majority of playing time, but of course the majority of playing time we’ll face righties. But I don’t know what we’re going to do in that regard. We haven’t discussed that part of it yet.”
Philadelphia could slide the righty-swinging Alec Bohm over to first base on days when there’s a left-handed opposing starter. That’d leave third base to a more defense-oriented player, likely one of Edmundo Sosa or Josh Harrison. The Phils could also take another look at Scott Kingery, who isn’t on the 40-man roster but has played well this spring. If they wish to look outside the organization, Miguel Sanó remains unsigned while Keston Hiura will be traded or waived within the next week.
As for Hoskins, Dombrowski noted the surgery comes with a recovery timetable of seven months. The Phils haven’t officially ruled him out for the entire season, with the baseball ops president telling Coffey they’re uncertain if Hoskins has a chance to return if the club makes a deep playoff run.
Keston Hiura Will Not Make Brewers’ Roster
The Brewers have informed infielder Keston Hiura he will not be on the active roster, general manager Matt Arnold told reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Since he’s out of minor league option years, Milwaukee will have to trade him or place him on waivers in the next few days.
Arnold also indicated that outfielder Tyler Naquin — who is in camp on a minor league deal — won’t be on the team either (relayed by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). Naquin will have a chance to opt out of his contract and retest free agency if he doesn’t plan to accept an assignment to Triple-A Nashville.
The tougher call for the Milwaukee front office was to cut bait with Hiura. The ninth overall pick in the 2017 draft, he entered pro ball as one of the game’s top offensive prospects. Hiura flew through the minor leagues and was in the majors within two seasons. He hit the ground running, connecting on 19 home runs with a .303/.368/.570 line in 84 games as a rookie at age 22. That came with a somewhat concerning 30.7% strikeout rate, but it seemed fair to anticipate Hiura making strides from a contact perspective as he gained more experience against big league arms.
Unfortunately for player and team alike, that’s not how things have played out. While he hit 13 more homers in 59 games during the shortened season, his strikeouts jumped to 34.6%. That led to a meager .212/.297/.410 slash. The swing-and-miss concerns continued to mount the following year, as he punched out just under 40% of the time in 61 big league contests. That led Milwaukee to yo-yo between him the majors and Nashville, where Hiura hit for a ton of power and drew plenty of walks but continued striking out at an alarming clip.
It was a similar story in 2022. The UC-Irvine product got into 80 MLB games and drilled 14 homers. His .226/.316/.449 line was 15 percentage points better than last year’s league average offense, as measured by wRC+. Yet it came with a personal-high 41.7% strikeout percentage, the second-highest rate among the 358 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. Any regression in his .355 batting average on balls in play could’ve left him around the Mendoza line with a sub-.300 OBP unless he took a step forward with his bat-to-ball skills. He’d been off to a rough start this spring, striking out in 15 of 32 at-bats while hitting .156/.229/.219.
Unlike in prior years, the Brew Crew didn’t have the luxury of sending Hiura to Nashville to try to figure things out. Without any remaining options, they had to determine whether it was worth carrying him in a bench role. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored a couple weeks ago, the decision was complicated by the presence of another right-handed first baseman, Luke Voit, who’s in camp on a minor league deal. Milwaukee parting ways with Hiura would seem to bode well for Voit’s chances of cracking the roster, though the club hasn’t yet indicated whether he’ll make the team.
The Brewers will take the next few days to evaluate their options with Hiura. It seems likely another team will have some interest in a change of scenery trade. He’s under arbitration control through the 2025 campaign and playing this year on an affordable $2.2MM salary. A win-now team like Milwaukee might not have room on the roster but a club with a less immediate contention window like the Nationals or Rockies could take a look. The Phillies are an immediate contender but just lost Rhys Hoskins to a likely season-ending ACL tear and could look for a righty bat to supplement the first base mix.
If Milwaukee were to place Hiura on waivers, any other team could grab him while assuming the salary. Should he go unclaimed, he’d almost certainly stick with the organization in Nashville. Hiura has between three and five years of service time, which gives him the right to refuse an outright assignment but would require relinquishing his salary to do so.
As for Naquin, he seems likely to explore his options on the market. The left-handed hitter is a career .274/.326/.468 hitter against righty pitching. He’s not a great defender and is best served in a platoon capacity but he could find immediate interest elsewhere. Naquin hit .194/.278/.258 in 12 games this spring.
With Tyrone Taylor set to open the season on the injured list, Milwaukee has a decision to make in right field. Christian Yelich will be in left and Garrett Mitchell seems a virtual lock for center. Right field time could fall to Brian Anderson or utility player Owen Miller but Milwaukee also has a pair of highly-regarded prospects in Sal Frelick and Joey Wiemer. Neither has yet played in the majors but both hit well in Triple-A last year. Arnold said that either of Frelick or Wiemer breaking camp is “definitely in play” (via Hogg).
Guardians, Daniel Norris Agree To Minor League Deal
The Guardians are in agreement with reliever Daniel Norris on a minor league contract, tweets Mandy Bell of MLB.com. He’ll report to minor league camp and likely open the season with Triple-A Columbus.
Norris had been in camp with the Reds but was released on Monday. That came on the heels of a tough Spring Training, as he’d allowed six runs (five earned) over 6 2/3 innings with seven walks and five strikeouts. That predictably wasn’t enough to earn a season-opening roster spot in spite of a Cincinnati bullpen that only has one lock for left-handed relief (Reiver Sanmartin).
A veteran of parts of nine big league campaigns, the 29-year-old Norris split last season between the Cubs and Tigers. He threw 58 2/3 innings over 41 outings, pitching to a 5.22 ERA with an above-average 26.4% strikeout rate and a lofty 11.6% walk percentage. It was a tail of two seasons, as Norris had plenty of punchouts and walks in Chicago before trimming both numbers later in the year with Detroit.
The Guardians will be without top southpaw Sam Hentges to start the season, as he’s battling shoulder inflammation. That thinned the left-handed bullpen depth. Cleveland informed reporters this afternoon that 26-year-old Tim Herrin will break camp in the MLB bullpen (relayed by Zack Meisel of the Athletic). He’ll be the only southpaw in Terry Francona’s Opening Day relief corps.
Herrin, a 29th-round draftee out of Indiana in 2018, split the 2022 campaign between Double-A Akron and Columbus. He worked 69 1/3 frames, allowing a 4.02 ERA. Herrin’s strikeout and walk numbers were much more eye-catching than the run prevention. He fanned 34.1% of opponents against a 7.8% walk percentage. Cleveland added him to the 40-man roster over the offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’s now going to get a chance to make his big league debut after striking out 11 with two walks in 9 2/3 frames of five-run ball in camp.