Royals Activate Jesse Hahn, Add 3 Players To 40-Man Roster
The Royals have announced a series of transactions involving their 40-man roster. Righty Jesse Hahn was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and added to the active roster.
The club has also selected the contracts of three players — first baseman Ryan McBroom, utilityman Erick Mejia, and lefty Gabe Speier — who’ll also be active. Each will make his MLB debut with his first game action.
Hahn is a two-time Tommy John recipient who’ll be making his way back to the majors for the first time since 2017. He carries a 4.19 ERA in 286 lifetime innings at the game’s highest level. Hahn only completed 3 2/3 innings in four appearances before the minor-league season ended, so he’ll presumably be utilized as a reliever down the stretch.
McBroom was just acquired after a strong showing at Triple-A with the Yankees organization. He slashed .315/.402/.574 with 26 homers in 482 plate appearances, a big stat line even in the International League.
The 24-year-old Mejia will presumably be considered as a future utility infield candidate. He carried a .271/.339/.382 batting line through 556 plate appearances this year in the Pacific Coast League.
As for Speier, he has had some home run troubles at Triple-A and carries only a 5.63 ERA there over forty frames. But he was still able to compile a 45:17 K/BB ratio at the highest level of the minors and had been more effective in terms of results (2.42 ERA) earlier in the year at Double-A.
Cubs To Activate Willson Contreras
The Cubs will activate catcher Willson Contreras and install him in tonight’s lineup, skipper Joe Maddon (h/t Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, via Twitter). Veteran Ben Zobrist is also set to return to action for the first time since early May.
Contreras has been sidelined for about a month, leaving the team without a key regular. Jonathan Lucroy was added to partner with Victor Caratini and hold down the fort, but the club is well shy of full strength without its first-choice receiver.
The Cubs obviously feel that Contreras has recovered fully from the hamstring strain that forced him to the sideline. Otherwise, he’d presumably remain on ice. The club can ill-afford an aggravation of the malady, which might risk Contreras’s postseason availability. At the same time, he’s certainly needed to help the club as it attempts to chase down the Cardinals and hold off Wild Card contenders over the final month of the season.
Orioles Select Mason Williams, Designate Jace Peterson
The Orioles announced today that they have selected the contract of outfielder Mason Williams. To create roster space, infielder Jace Peterson was designated for assignment.
Williams was expected to come onto the active roster for the month of September, but needed to be added to the 40-man. A host of other players that already held 40-man spots are also heading for the big-league dugout: lefty Ty Blach, catcher Austin Wynns, and righties David Hess, Evan Phillips, and Chandler Shepherd.
Once a well-regarded Yankees prospect, the 28-year-old Williams got his first extended chance at the majors last year with the Reds. He produced at close to the league-average rate offensively but was outrighted at season’s end. Williams has spent the entire season to this point with the Orioles’ top affiliate, slashing .308/.371/.477 with 18 home runs in 494 plate appearances.
As for Peterson, he has struggled since the O’s summoned him to help fill out the position-player mix. The six-year MLB veteran carries a .220/.269/.330 batting line in 108 trips to the plate on the season.
Early Trade Deadline Re-Assessment: NL Central
It has only been four weeks, so it’s too soon to judge with finality how this year’s trade deadline maneuvers will play out. That said, we’re already half of the way through the period — the regular season portion, at least — for which rental players were acquired. Even players with future control are usually added first and foremost for their immediate contributions (though there are some exceptions). It’d be awfully premature to say anything conclusive about the prospect side of any deals, but we do now have some additional information with which to work.
So, that’s why we’re going to take a glance back over our shoulders at the moves (and major non-moves) that organizations made in the run-up to this year’s trade deadline. We already covered the AL Central; now we’ll go over to the National League’s middle division.
Cardinals
When the Cards dropped five of six games after the trade deadline, it looked as if they may be on the brink of a collapse. But the club recovered with a stirring, 19-5 run. So … what caused it? A big deadline blockbuster? Multiple, well-conceived additions? Not so much.
The only move the Cards made this summer was a roster-management swap in which they sent veteran infielder Jedd Gyorko to the Dodgers. He’s playing a limited role in L.A. and hasn’t yet done anything of note. Back in St. Louis, the Cards remain laden with position-player options. A deep September roster will help the club mix and match down the stretch, though cramming talent onto a postseason roster will be more difficult.
When the Cards held pat at the deadline, it was fair to wonder whether the team’s uncertain place in the standings was a significant factor. Now, there’s little question that the club has the inside track to a divisional appearance, if not more. It was arguable at the time that the club ought to cash in some of its many solid young assets in pursuit of a higher-end starter or center fielder. So far, the decision not to do so hasn’t hurt (far from it). We’ll see how it plays out over the final month and beyond.
Cubs
The Cubbies’ biggest mid-season acquisition came not via trade, but by way of signing. But closer Craig Kimbrel hasn’t had the biggest impact. That honor would go to outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, who burst to life after being sent to Chicago. He carries a 1.060 OPS through thirty games. The move did cost two pitchers (Paul Richan and Alex Lange) that now feature among the top thirty or so Tigers farmhands. The former has shown well since the deal, carrying a 29:2 K/BB ratio over five High-A starts.
Also more helpful to this point than Kimbrel is veteran reliever David Phelps, who has been excellent since coming over. He has allowed just two earned runs in 13 appearances. That deal could still cost in the long run. It cost the Cubbies Tom Hatch, a Double-A starter who has compiled 35 1/3 innings of 2.80 ERA pitching with an intriguing 34:2 K/BB ratio since the swap.
A low-risk shot on Derek Holland hasn’t really paid dividends, as he wasn’t terribly effective before hitting the injured list. But he could still return and provide an important pen presence late in the season. Brad Wieck, acquired when the club gave up on Carl Edwards Jr., has added a bit of lefty relief depth. Edwards was knocked around before hitting the IL, so there aren’t any regrets there.
There was also a sort of hot-stove miniseries regarding the Cubs catching situation. The team added Martin Maldonado but then sent him on to the Astros for Tony Kemp. When starter Willson Contreras went down with a significant injury, the club picked up Jonathan Lucroy. The club was simply acting on the needs it had before it, but this series of moves hasn’t really worked out. Maldonado would be preferable to Lucroy at this stage of their respective careers; Kemp has struggled badly at the plate and doesn’t seem all that necessary to a roster with a wide variety of infield/outfield-capable players.
While the Cubs are now staring at a three-game deficit in the NL Central, they’ve moved into strong Wild Card position. It’s hard to say they realistically could or should have done much more at the deadline.
Brewers
The Milwaukee org has fallen off the pace since the deadline, playing sub-.500 ball over the month of August. That drop coincided with the rise of the Redbirds … in spite of the fact that the Brew Crew front office was far more active on the trade market — and generally successful in unearthing value.
Adding Jordan Lyles, at the cost of pitching prospect Cody Ponce, has been a clear win to this point. The 28-year-old Lyles has a 2.51 ERA through six starts in Milwaukee. Ponce, a former second-round pick, could yet emerge but hasn’t done anything since the deal to suggest the Brewers made a big mistake by parting with him.
Improving the bullpen was also a key need and the Brewers accomplished that in their swap with the Giants. Lefty Drew Pomeranz has turned on the afterburners of late. Overall, he has allowed just four earned runs with a 22:7 K/BB ratio over 13 2/3 innings. Righty Ray Black has just two strikeouts in his 6 2/3 innings but has managed to keep opponents to just a pair of earned runs. It’ll be interesting to see whether former top prospect Mauricio Dubon makes the Milwaukee org pay for parting with him. He’d likely be playing a significant role there with Keston Hiura injured; instead, he’s getting a full MLB showcase with the Giants.
The Brewers’ other trade hasn’t yet added value but also hasn’t hurt much. Though Jesus Aguilar started out hot after the Brewers sent him to the Rays, he has fallen back to an unremarkable .279/.351/.412 overall slash with his new club. The hurler acquired in return, Jake Faria, has been knocked around a bit in three MLB appearances.
Reds
The Cincinnati front office turned in what was arguably the most interesting overall package of deadline moves. With only an outside chance at a postseason run this season, but a keen desire to contend as soon as possible, the focus was on the near-future.
First and foremost was the surprising move to bring in veteran righty Trevor Bauer. After picking up multiple short-term starters in the prior offseason, the Reds were in need of another reload entering 2020. In that respect, going for Bauer made for an early shopping trip. He has struggled quite a bit working to an 8.40 ERA in thirty innings, though he’s still sporting a 37:13 K/BB ratio. It just hasn’t been a great follow-up season for a pitcher who landed sixth in the Cy Young voting last year. The Reds are betting he’ll figure out how to return to dominance over the offseason.
The cost for Bauer was fairly steep. Outfielder Yasiel Puig is a pending free agent, but he could’ve been cashed in otherwise. Top prospect Taylor Trammell isn’t tearing up Double-A with the Padres organization, but remains a highly regarded player. And then there’s the other, least-known aspect of the swap. Lefty Scott Moss was pitching well before the swap but has impressed all the more since. He even overcame the treacherous International League in a late stint, allowing just four earned runs on a dozen hits with 23 strikeouts and eight walks in 18 2/3 innings.
Having picked up Bauer, the Reds proceeded to ship out pending free agent starter Tanner Roark. That helped cover the late-2019 salary of the new rotation piece and also landed the team a new prospect in recent second-round pick Jameson Hannah. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a shining season thus far for Hannah, who struggled to a .224/.325/.299 slash in 78 plate appearances after the deal.
Otherwise, the Reds don’t regret dumping Scooter Gennett, whose feel-good tenure in Cincinnati ended in bitterness. He didn’t last long in San Francisco. The club added righty Justin Grimm for depth, but he hasn’t been called upon.
Pirates
The Pirates were within 2.5 games of the division lead as late as July 7th, but it has been an unmitigated disaster ever since. It was already clear that this wasn’t going to be the team’s year by the time the deadline hit, but that didn’t set the stage for a sell-off.
The deadline period ended up being rather quiet. After the aforementioned Lyles deal, the Pirates swapped Corey Dickerson to the Phillies for some international bonus capacity and a PTBNL. Something may ultimately come of the acquired assets — Ponce seems like a good bet to appear in the majors at some point — but it was hardly a moment of note.
It could’ve been different. The Pirates discussed Felipe Vazquez with the Dodgers and could’ve come away with some serious talent for the high-end reliever. The club also could’ve held trade talks on Starling Marte, Josh Bell, or others. But it’s also plenty understandable that the organization decided against rushing into a decision on such significant assets. The pressure of the deadline might’ve spiked Vazquez’s value, but it could also be that the Bucs can get as much or more by shopping him over the winter (if they decide to do so at all). There’s always injury risk, but he has only continued to excel. While there is an argument to be made that the organization ought to pursue a different direction after another disappointing season, the club still has every opportunity to do so after holding tight this summer.
Report: Yankees Nearly Acquired Ken Giles At Deadline
The Yankees and Blue Jays almost pulled off a significant, intra-division deal involving closer Ken Giles at this year’s trade deadline, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). Three prospects would’ve headed to Toronto had the deal gone through, though their particular identities aren’t known.
This note is largely of historical import, though it’s interesting nevertheless. The Yankees were linked to Giles on deadline day, with Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeting that “deep” talks had taken place. Still, it wasn’t clear at the time just how far down the line the teams went. Rosenthal says the Jays actually informed other teams they expected a deal to go through, which made it impossible to pivot back and craft another agreement.
It’s still not entirely clear why talks collapsed at the last minute. No doubt health questions were a major factor, as he was dealing with elbow problems heading into the deadline. But the health records had already been exchanged and accounted for, Rosenthal notes.
Giles has continued to experience some trouble in the joint, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to rack up strikeouts. He’ll assuredly be discussed again in trade talks this coming winter, when he’ll be angling for a raise on his $6.3MM arbitration salary. The Toronto organization will hope it can generate more interest than it did at the deadline despite having only one season of control to market.
There’ll certainly be no shortage of ongoing interest — provided, at least, that teams get comfortable with the health situation. Giles has been excellent when available this year, throwing 44 innings of 2.05 ERA ball with 15.0 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.
Whether the Yanks will continue to push for Giles remains to be seen, and will no doubt involve quite a few other factors as well. The New York org will have to see how things proceed with closer Aroldis Chapman, who can opt out of his deal at season’s end, and also consider other priorities.
AL Notes: Tucker, Gallo, Hicks
Though Kyle Tucker was added to the Astros dugout prior to Monday’s matchup with Milwaukee, manager A.J. Hinch is making it clear that nothing will be handed to the well-regarded youngster. “We’ll make our assessment on where he can help us,” Hinch said to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (link). “But he’s going to be a complement player right now until he earns more at-bats.”
Considering the team’s 2019 success and the emergence of rookie Yordan Alvarez, it’s unsurprising to hear that the ‘Stros aren’t looking to endanger their status quo simply to accommodate a look at a 22-year-old prospect like Tucker. Still, as noted in the report, Tucker could theoretically be in line for more at-bats should the struggles of fellow outfielder Josh Reddick continue. Considered to be one of the two best prospects in the Houston system (along with hurler Forrest Whitley), Tucker hit .266/.354/.555 with 34 home runs in 536 PCL plate appearances this year.
More rumblings from around the league…
- Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo will be back to launching balls in batting practice this week, which will mark his first time in the cage since fracturing the hamate bone in his right hand on July 23rd. In a report from Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, Gallo admits that pain will still be a factor in determining whether or not the slugger should venture a 2019 return for an out-of-the-race club. “I don’t want to get on the field and not perform to capabilities and have to sit on that all winter,” Gallo said Monday. “We’re not in a playoff race, so I’m not worried about having to prove something.” Still, manager Chris Woodward projected that the club does expect Gallo to be good to go at some point in the next two weeks.
- Nary a day goes by on this site without an update regarding an injured Yankees player, and this Labor Day evening should be no different. YES reporter Meredith Marakovits passes along that outfielder Aaron Hicks was engaged in throwing exercises today–the first time he’s done so since being placed on the injured list with a flexor strain on Aug. 4 (Twitter link). Like most injuries involving the Yankees this year, Hicks’ injury really only opened the door for another, lesser-known player to open eyes with a surprising fill-in performance, as outfielder Mike Tauchman did with his solid August at the plate (.274 BA and 5 home runs in 84 at-bats). When healthy in 2019, Hicks has himself recorded a .235/.325/.443 line (100wRC+) in 255 plate appearances.
Robinson Cano Expected To Return Tomorrow
When Robinson Cano went down with a torn left hamstring on Aug. 5, appearances were that the accomplished infielder was likely going to miss the remainder of the 2019 season. Amazingly, at 36 years old, Cano has progressed well enough in his recovery that he will return to action for tomorrow’s game with the division-rival Nationals, according to Mike Puma of The New York Post (link). Cano concluded a two-game rehab appearance with the short-season Brooklyn Cyclones on Sunday.
With Cano out of action, the Mets have split keystone duties between Jeff McNeil and free agent pickup Joe Panik. Production hasn’t been powerful from the veteran Panik, who has offered a .265/.315/.338 line in a limited sample of 74 plate appearances. That said–as has been said before–it’s not as if Cano was his vintage self while wearing a Mets uniform this year, either.
In his first year in Flushing, the eight-time All-Star has hit .252/.295/.415 with 10 home runs in 346 plate appearances. That’s not what the Mets had in mind when they acquired him in an essentially franchise-altering trade this offseason, but even a shade of the Dominican’s former greatness would be greatly welcome as the Mets try to mount a 4.0 game deficit in the NL Wild Card race. After this season, Cano will have four years and $96MM remaining on the ten-year/$240MM contract he signed with the Mariners in 2013.
An Alternative Approach To Team Building
This afternoon, the Rays won a 5-4 decision against the Orioles, their latest effort in pursuit of an AL Wild Card appearance. Now in sole possession of the first play-in spot, the Rays managed a victory thanks to a solid bullpen effort and a clutch RBI knock from outfielder Tommy Pham. More notably, they took the field with an active roster unlike that of any other AL playoff candidate.
When manager Kevin Cash penciled in today’s lineups, he was working with a set of names that are, for most casual fans, unrecognizable. Players like Eric Sogard, Ji-Man Choi, and Willy Adames could all probably go unnoticed in a police lineup, but they’ve nonetheless been key contributors to Cash’s 81-58 Rays outfit. But, aside from their collective lack of renown, Cash’s players all share something else in common–nearly all of them arrived in Tampa via another club’s roster.
At time of posting, 27 of the players on Tampa’s 40-man roster were originally acquired by the club via trade or waiver claim.
Currently, there are only four players—Diego Castillo, Austin Pruitt, Nate Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier—on the Rays active roster who can claim that Tampa was their first professional stateside club. Every other player suiting up for Tampa these days was signed, drafted, or developed by a different MLB organization.
For context, this is far more than most teams in the current AL playoff race. According to Roster Resource, the Red Sox (10), Yankees (18), Astros (15), Indians (19), and Twins (9) don’t even come close to the Rays in terms of trade-acquired 40-man roster players. The only other competitive team with a somewhat similar roster makeup is Oakland, with 25 such players.
That the Moneyball-grounded Athletics are the only other team with a similar roster construction is, obviously, not a detail to be overlooked. Though A’s executive Billy Beane is arguably the face of “value-oriented” baseball strategy, the employees at the controls of the Tampa war room seem to have just as much invested in the exploitation of market inefficiencies.
In November 2016, the Rays organization came under the control of three men: Senior VP and General Manager Erik Neander, Senior VP Chaim Bloom, and VP James Click. Since then, these men have directed a Baseball Operations department with a consistent ethos, which could be best described as a combination of payroll-cutting moves committed in concert with the acquisition of advanced (read: older) prospects and post-hype players on the fringe of other MLB rosters.
As you might expect, this strategy has welcomed its share of detractors. When the team traded All-Star outfielder Corey Dickerson to the Pirates in 2017 for pitcher Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and cash considerations, many were quick to decry the monetarily motivated decision–among the critics was former franchise icon Evan Longoria, who said that he “felt bad” for Rays fans in the wake of the trade.
Of course, that trade was perhaps a table-setter for another, more successful trade with Pittsburgh. At the 2018 deadline, the team dealt pitcher Chris Archer to the Pirates in exchange for pitcher Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows. In terms of Baseball References WAR, Tampa has already received more value from Glasnow and Meadows (3.9 combined WAR) since the trade than Archer has provided Pittsburgh (1.4 WAR). And that’s before accounting for the massive gains the club earned in terms of controllable years, or contractual savings (Archer has identical club options for 2020 and 2021 worth $8.25MM, while Glasnow and Meadows are both still pre-arb players).
There have been other “hits” for Tampa on the trade market along the way. This past offseason, the club sent former top-100 prospect Jake Bauers to Cleveland in exchange for infielder Yandy Diaz and minor league pitcher Cole Sulser (with cash going to Seattle to help facilitate the deal). Though Bauers was the younger, more widely renowned chip in the deal, Diaz ended up providing a solid 1.7 WAR campaign in limited action for Tampa before being felled by injury, while Bauers has struggled to a 78 wRC+ with the Tribe in 2019. This deal, though not a franchise-altering move by any means, is a perfect exemplar of the small, near-term wins the Tampa front office has continually milked out of trading partners.
This organizational inclination toward wheeling-and-dealing has obvious economic roots for the Rays, who have been locked in a roller coaster stadium saga that, in its most recent episode, saw the org announce plans for the team to split time between Tampa and Montreal in coming years. The Rays rank 29th in 2019 game attendance and are dead-last in organizational payroll with a $62,367,745 outlay (a figure which would account for less than 30% of Boston’s league-leading 2019 payroll).
Even if they will never be big spenders, per se, the Rays did at least loosen the purse strings with this offseason’s signing of starter Charlie Morton to a 2-year/$30MM deal–an organizational exception-to-the-rule that has paid massive on-field dividends in 2019. At 35, Morton is in the midst of his best season, with a 5.4 WAR valuation underscored by his 3.06 ERA, 2.80 FIP, and 11.04 K/9 through 170.1 innings of work. The Rays may not dip into free agency much but, in the case of Morton, they threaded the needle with aplomb.
It’s quite easy to be judgemental of the machinations of a baseball ops department so clearly constrained by the financial realities of working in a small market. Still, despite any prescriptive beliefs one might hold about how baseball teams should use their revenue, it’s important to recognize what Neander and Co. have been able to pull off in constructing their third consecutive 80-plus win ballclub this year.
In a game where much is often made of the culture-building aspects of draft-and-develop philosophies, the Rays have been able to squeeze wins out of a roster constructed more like a Lego set, where pieces are matched, assembled, and deconstructed again with purely modular logic.
These are not players that have come up through the ranks together; they are not players who have developed camaraderie over years of minor league bus rides and minor league meetings.
Today’s Rays are, simply, players who have come from everywhere but Tampa, to somehow steer themselves within arm’s reach of October.
NL Notes: Eaton, May, Maeda, Weaver
Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton exited today’s game, a 7-3 loss to the Mets, after the second inning. Following the defeat, Manager Dave Martinez told Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post that he’s concerned that the veteran Eaton may be dealing with a hamstring issue, after experiencing “back of the knee pain”(link). Eaton has been sent for MRI testing.
It’s inopportune timing for the Nats and troublesome altogether for Eaton. Though the Nats hold a comfortable 3.5-game lead for the primary NL Wild Card spot, a September hamstring injury could preclude Eaton from postseason usage–especially considering the way injuries have dogged the outfielder since his arrival in D.C. via a 2016 trade with the White Sox. That deal, which saw Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Dane Dunning go to the South Side from Washington, was largely debrided as an overpay for the Nationals at the time and, with distance, has only come to seem even more lopsided in Chicago’s favor. Though Eaton provided the Pale Hose with a cumulative 13.5 WAR from 2014-2016, he has struggled to stay on the field with the Nationals, with his 2019 representing his high watermark in terms of games played at just 127. Eaton holds a strong .288/.377/.436 line on the year and was coming off of an August that saw him hit .329 with 5 HRs and 26 runs scored in 23 games.
More items of note from around the National League…
- Redhaired Dodgers rookie Dustin May was nailed by a vicious line drive off the bat of Arizona’s Jake Lamb on Sunday, but, fortunately, appears to have avoided serious injury. Manager Dave Roberts told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick that May is dealing with some neck stiffness but “feels fine” after his intimate encounter with a fast-moving baseball (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Gurnick also relays that pitcher Kenta Maeda will be performing in a bullpen capacity in tonight’s game with the Rockies–which is the same capacity he will be expected to function in moving forward (link). This is a similar usage timeline for Maeda as we saw in 2018, when the Japanese vet moved into a high-leverage relief role beginning on Aug. 14 of that year. In 2019, Maeda’s fourth season with the Dodgers, the righty has logged a 4.11 ERA, 3.96 FIP, and 9.72 K/9 across 26 starts.
- With Zack Greinke wearing Astros colors these days, the Diamondbacks will likely be looking to youngster Luke Weaver to lead their pitching staff in coming seasons. After arriving in Phoenix along with catcher Carson Kelly in the deal that sent Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis, the 26-year-old Weaver flummoxed opposing hitters in his first 11 starts as a D’Back this year. His 9.82 K/9 rate and 2.02 BB/9 rate pairing were fuel for a solid 3.03 ERA over 62.1 innings, but many feared the worst when the righty went down with an elbow injury in May. Since being diagnosed with a mild right flexor pronator strain and a mild right UCL sprain, Weaver has been working on a rehab regimen that, on Monday, called for him to throw a 21-pitch simulated game before his team’s game with the Padres. MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert passes word from manager Torey Luvollo regarding that sim game, with the skipper saying that Weaver’s pitches “had life” and that this episode in Weaver’s rehab represents “extremely encouraging news”. The team is expected to determine next steps depending on how the pitcher feels following today’s exercise.
Christin Stewart Among Slew Of Tigers Call-Ups
Several new faces will be joining the Tigers on a flight to Kansas City this evening, as MLive’s Evan Woodbery was among those to report that outfielder Christin Stewart, third baseman Jeimer Candelario, pitcher Tyler Alexander, catcher Grayson Greiner, pitcher Zac Reininger, and pitcher Daniel Stumpf will be called up to the big club in short order (Twitter link).
It would be an exercise in tedium to review the records of each player joining the Detroit dugout this week, so individual focus will instead be paid to Stewart, a player that prior to the season ranked as the team’s sixth-best prospect according to Fangraphs. Cited as being in possession of raw power and a solid batting eye, the Tennessee alum has been nonetheless seen as a work in progress, at best, on the outfield grass.
The 25-year-old was handed a substantial crack at playing time for the rebuilding Tigers this season but failed to make an impact in 327 at-bats. His .239/.321/.393 output was disappointing considering the outfielder’s solid output with Triple-A Toledo in 2018, a campaign that saw Stewart hitting .264/.364/.480 (138 wRC+) in 522 at-bats with the Mud Hens. He has been with Toledo for the entirety of this August following his demotion at the end of July.