Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Trout, Archer, Kimbrel, M’s, Gore
This week in baseball blogs…
- theScore observes that opposing pitchers are starting to treat Mike Trout like Barry Bonds.
- The Point of Pittsburgh analyzes Chris Archer‘s two-seamer struggles.
- MLB & Fantasy Baseball Analyzed reacts to the Cubs’ Kimbrel signings and takes a look at other closer situations around the majors.
- Notes from the Sally recaps Mariners outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic‘s South Atlantic League stint.
- East Village Times delves into MacKenzie Gore‘s excellence in the California League.
- Chin Music Baseball (links: 1, 2) names the 10 best and worst players of May.
- Joker Mag focuses on the thriving Tommy La Stella.
- Infield Shift highlights La Stella and other players the Braves lost during their rebuild.
- Rising Apple looks at the Mets’ long-term center field options.
- Call to the Pen notes the Phillies have in-house bullpen reinforcements on the way.
- Chipalatta examines the Astros’ outfield logjam.
- Pinstriped Prospects interviews Yankees second-round pick Josh Smith.
- Phillies Nation talks to former coaches of Philly’s 2019 first-round pick, Bryson Stott.
- Baseball Prospect Journal previews the top prospects for the 2020 draft.
- Mets Daddy notes that, with respect to first-round drafting, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has a tough act to follow in predecessor Sandy Alderson.
- A’s Farm runs down the team’s top 10 picks in this year’s amateur draft.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2) responds to Max Kepler‘s three-home run game and writes about the Astros’ speed.
- Giants Cove and Complete Game Loss each share stat-centric pieces.
- Rox Pile opines on where Coors Field ranks among the major’s “gimmicky” ballparks.
Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com
Rangers Select Peter Fairbanks, Designate Nick Gardewine
The Rangers have selected right-hander Peter Fairbanks from Triple-A Nashville and designated fellow righty Nick Gardewine for assignment, executive vice president of communications John Blake announced. The team also optioned lefty Joe Palumbo.
Fairbanks joined the Rangers as a ninth-round pick in 2015. The 25-year-old has divided 2019 among the Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A levels and pitched to a 2.35 ERA with a whopping 14.1 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 23 innings. Gardewine, also 25, totaled 13 innings with the Rangers from 2017-18 but has spent this season with their Triple-A affiliate. The 2013 seventh-round pick has thrown 4 1/3 scoreless, three-hit innings this year with eight strikeouts against two walks.
Athletics Place Nick Hundley On IL, Select Beau Taylor
The Athletics have placed catcher Nick Hundley on the 10-day injured list with back spasms and selected the contract of fellow backstop Beau Taylor from Triple-A Las Vegas, per a team announcement.
Hundley, whom Oakland signed to a minor league contract in February, made its roster but got off to a miserable start prior to his IL placement. The 35-year-old hit just .200/.233/.357 (55 wRC+) in 73 plate appearances before landing on the shelf. Nevertheless, he and Josh Phegley are the only Athletics catchers who have logged playing time this season.
A fifth-round pick of the A’s in 2011, Taylor experienced a brief stint with the club in 2018 but only picked up six PA. The A’s then outrighted Taylor on Nov. 5, only to re-sign him to a minor league deal a week later. The 28-year-old slashed an excellent .297/.450/.492 (141 wRC+) with five home runs and 33 walks against 38 strikeouts in 151 PA as a member of the team’s Triple-A affiliate before it called him back up.
A.J. Puk, Jesus Luzardo Set To Begin Minor-League Rehab Stints
Per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, A’s lefties A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo will each begin a rehab stint on Tuesday with High-A Stockton. Puk will be making his first live-game mound appearance since undergoing Tommy John Surgery last April, while Luzardo, who’d been dealing with left shoulder soreness, will appear in an official game for the first time since last August.
Puk, a 6’7 lefty who was the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft, had laid waste to the minors before his injury in the Spring of last season. His “double-plus” fastball and “vicious” (adjectives per Baseball America) slider allowed him to post double-digit strikeout rates in each of his three minor-league stops, culminating in a 61-inning stint for Double-A Midland in which the U of Florida product set down 86 batters in just 64 innings. It’ll surely be a lengthy rehab process for the projected ace, though it appears the club will use him in relief should he crack the majors this season.
Luzardo, a 21-year-old Peruvian-born hurler, was acquired in mid-2017 from Washington with Blake Treinen for relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle. Little known at the time of the deal, Luzardo has rocketed up prospect lists after dominating performances of his own the last two seasons. Baseball America ranked him as the top lefty in the minors after 2018, waxing especially thorough on his changeup, which the site ranks as one of the minors’ best. Shoulder injuries are always cause for serious concern, but if Luzardo can make it through his first few outings unscathed, he’ll be a strong candidate to crack what’s been a middling A’s rotation thus far.
Twins Select Ryan Eades, Option Willians Astudillo
The Twins have selected the contract of righty Ryan Eades and optioned C/INF/OF Willians Astudillo to AAA-Rochester, the team reported.
Eades, 27, had appeared in 17 games as a swingman for Rochester, notching a 5.88 ERA despite excellent peripheral markers. The former second-rounder struck out 42 men over those 33 2/3 innings while walking just 12. After his second-round selection in the 2013 draft, Eades has never cracked the top 30 in Baseball America’s assessment of the Twins system, though pre-draft reports lauded his “power curve” and “athletic frame.” He’s been generally stellar since transitioning to a mostly-relief role following the 2016 season, and he’ll look to make his mark as a likely longman in an unsung Twins pen.
Astudillo, also 27, rose to prominence with one of baseball’s most bizarre offensive profiles. The squatty backstop swings at nearly everything – his 63% swing rate was far and away tops in the majors this season – and makes contact nearly every time (his 4.1% strikeout rate was easily MLB’s lowest). The approach hasn’t worked for him so far this year, though, as the Venezuelan slashed just .250/.273/.357 (62 wRC+) in 120 plate appearances for the club. He’ll look to regain the magic-wand touch he brought to the majors last season in what hopes to be a brief stint with the Red Wings.
Cardinals Select Tommy Edman, Designate Merandy Gonzalez
The Cardinals have selected the contract of infielder Tommy Edman, the team reported. He’ll replace Jedd Gyorko, who was placed on the 10-Day IL with a lower back strain. Righty Merandy Gonzalez was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man.
Edman, a 24-year-old Stanford product, is a switch-hitter who’d slashed .305/.356/.513 in over 200 plate appearances for Triple-A Memphis this season. The 5’10 utilityman didn’t crack the team’s top ten prospects on most major outlets, though the organization certainly has a history of turning players of this ilk into valuable contributors.
This’ll be the third designation this season for Gonzalez, 23, who was also cut loose by the Giants and Marlins. The six-foot righty threw 25 innings for AA-Springfield this season, striking out 21 and walking an unsightly 20 more. He’ll have to sharpen his command to work his way back to the big leagues, though his upside does remain high.
Pirates Designate Nick Kingham For Assignment
Among a slew of roster moves this afternoon, the Pirates have designated former top-100 prospect Nick Kingham for assignment. The 27-year-old, who established residence on Pirates top ten lists for much of the decade, has been largely ineffective in 110 big-league innings since his MLB debut last summer.
Kingham’s main issue has been the gopher ball – he’s allowed over two per nine over that stretch – but the 6’5 righty’s also struggled to command the ball and keep it on the ground. His 91.4 average fastball velocity is down from the 92-94 MPH reported range in which he sat before his 2015 Tommy John surgery, and Kingham’s swinging strike rates and overall contact percentage against have also been trending in the wrong direction of late. He still sports some affinity for bat-missing, though, so it’s likely another organization will swoop in and attempt to nab the potential reclamation project.
The Pirate staff, currently minus Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams, Keone Kela, Nick Burdi, and Chris Stratton, was thin to begin and is now almost in shambles. Both Chris Archer and Joe Musgrove have been hammered in recent weeks, and the S.O.S. calls for Kingham, Steven Brault, and Rookie Davis were met mostly with deaf ears. The club may need to turn for good to top prospect Mitch Keller, who’s lately been lights out for AAA-Indianapolis, and hope for unlikely production from any number of sources if it’s to stay afloat in a very competitive NL Central.
Yankees Sign Erik Kratz To Minors Deal
The Yankees have signed catcher Erik Kratz to a minor-league deal, Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune has reported. Kratz has already reported to AAA-Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
This’ll be the third organization this season for the 38-year-old Kratz, who was released by Tampa yesterday morning. Oft-lauded for his staunch defense behind the plate, Kratz has never much hit at the MLB level. In 921 plate appearances with ten teams over the last decade, the righty’s slashed just .205/.252/.354 (61 wRC+).
Kratz will provide experienced depth on the farm, should backup Austin Romine or force-of-nature Gary Sanchez be again shelved with injury. The veteran did accumulate a very respectable 0.8 fWAR in just 219 plate appearances with Milwaukee last season, so he should at least be a steadying force behind the dish if duty calls.
Padres Agree To Terms With First-Rounder C.J. Abrams On Below-Slot Deal
1:27 PM: Abrams’ bonus will be $5.2MM, per Jim Callis of MLB.com, over $500K fewer than the $5.74MM slot value for the selection.
1:02 PM: The Padres have agreed to terms with their first-round (sixth overall) selection C.J. Abrams, per a team report.
Abrams, a 6’2 shortstop from Roswell, GA, is said to have top-of-the-scale speed and a legitimate chance to stick at the position as he progresses through the minors. MLB.com reports the lefty swinger “controls the bat very well” and could settle in between the 10-15 homer mark annually. Abrams was a fixture on top-10 draft boards all spring, with many outlets ranking him anywhere between the second and sixth best prospect in the ’19 draft.
With the selection, the Padres add to their embarrassment of blue-chip riches on the farm. Even with the graduations of Fernando Tatis Jr., Chris Paddack, and perhaps Josh Naylor and Francisco Mejia (should they accrue the necessary number of at-bats) the club still boasts, depending on the source, anywhere between five to eight top-100 prospects, with a glut of high-upside talents of all kinds in the wake.
Cubs Sign First-Rounder Ryan Jensen To Below-Slot Deal
Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Cubs and first-round selection (27th overall) Ryan Jensen have agreed on a $2MM signing bonus, a deal over $500K south of the $2.57MM slot value for the pick (Andersen Pickard was first with the agreement).
Jensen, a right-hander from Fresno State, was projected by many outlets as a second-to-third round pick in the weeks leading up the draft, a fact reflected in his comparatively modest bonus. The six-foot righty dominated in late-season action, though, often flashing upper-nineties heat in the latter stages of his college starts. Jensen’s second-tier pre-draft status can be explained by his inconsistent array of secondary pitches, which often lagged behind his hard-to-ignore heat.
The pick is a departure from recent-year philosophy in Chicago’s high-level picks, as senior VP of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod explained Wednesday. After a mid-decade eruption of star-level talent graduating from the system, the Cubs farm has sputtered in recent seasons: by some accounts, the team doesn’t have a single top-100 prospect on its current ledger, though last year’s first-rounder Nico Hoerner has impressed in his first professional taste.