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Guardians Designate Three Players For Assignment

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The Guardians added four players to their 40-man roster before tonight’s Rule 5 deadline: pitchers Franco Aleman, Nic Enright, and Doug Nikhazy and outfielder Petey Halpin. To open 40-man spots, Cleveland designated former top outfield prospect George Valera and relievers Peter Strzelecki and Connor Gillispie for assignment.

The most notable piece of news here is the club opting to part ways with Valera. The 24-year-old is just a couple of years removed from being a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport but has been plagued by injuries over the past two years. Valera underwent offseason hand surgery prior to the 2023 season and ultimately did not make his season debut until May of that year, ultimately playing just 11 games prior to June 17 of that year due to additional injury woes. Overall, he hit just .211/.343/.375 despite an excellent 16% walk rate last year.

Things improved in his age-23 season with the Guardians this year on offense, as he hit .248/.337/.452 with 17 home runs, a major step in right direction after slugging just ten the year prior. Unfortunately, Valera was once again limited by injury and played just 90 games in 2024 before going under the knife again back in September. That surgery came with a six-to-nine month recovery timetable, which left him poised to start 2025 on the injured list and likely not be available as a potential big league contributor until the second half of next year at the earliest.

Given the former top prospect’s injury woes and relatively modest production at Triple-A, the Guardians evidently decided to cut him from the 40-man roster. Now, Valera will be available for any interested club to claim off waivers. If he manages to clear waivers, the Guardians will have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues and retain him in the organization for 2025. Importantly, Valera does not have minor league options remaining so any acquiring club would either need to carry him on their active roster or sneak him through waivers themselves later in the offseason.

As for Strzelecki, the 30-year-old right-hander has appeared in the majors in each of the past three seasons but only arrived in Cleveland back in March. Prior to this year, Strzelecki made his big league debut for the Brewers back in 2022 and pitched quite well with a 2.83 ERA and 2.94 FIP in 35 innings of work. The right-hander suffered a down year in 2023, however, as he pitched to a 4.54 ERA in 35 2/3 frames for Milwaukee before being swapped to the Diamondbacks at the 2023 trade deadline in exchange for southpaw Andrew Chafin. Strzelecki made just one appearance in a Dbacks uniform last year where he threw 1 1/3 scoreless frames.

The righty was squeezed off of Arizona’s 40-man roster in the run-up to Opening Day this year in order to make room for the addition of Tucker Barnhart, and the Guardians pounced on the opportunity to bring him into the fold. He served as an up-and-down reliever for Cleveland this year and pitched quite well in a limited sample with a 2.31 ERA and 3.77 FIP in 11 2/3 innings of work, though that wasn’t enough to earn a more permanent spot in a loaded Guardians bullpen. With Strzelecki set to enter 2025 without any option years remaining, the Guardians opted to part ways with the right-hander, who could garner interest from rival clubs on the waiver wire now that he’s available.

Gillispie, meanwhile, made his big league debut with the Guardians just this year. He pitched to a 2.25 ERA in eight innings of work in the majors to go along with a rather pedestrian 4.05 ERA in 27 appearances (15 starts) at Triple-A. The 27-year-old will enter the 2025 campaign with options remaining, which could make him particularly attractive to a pitching-needy club as an optionable young arm with the ability to pitch both in the rotation and out of the bullpen.

As for the quartet of prospects, each will be protected from the Rule 5 Draft next month now that they’re on the 40-man roster. Aleman, 24, turned in a dominant season in relief at the Triple-A level with a 1.99 ERA and a 36.6% strikeout rate in 24 appearances. The 27-year-old Enright was picked in the Rule 5 draft one before by the Marlins but was eventually returned to the Guardians. A two-way player for much of his career, the right-hander turned to pitching full-time in 2024 and looked quite good in a small sample as he posted a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings of work with an incredible 49.2% strikeout rate. Nikhazy, a 25-year-old lefty, split 2024 between the Double- and Triple-A rotations and posted solid numbers with a 2.98 ERA and 25.4% strikeout rate in 123 2/3 innings of work, potentially putting him on the radar for big league starts in 2025. Halpin is the lone position player the Guardians protected, and the club’s third-round pick in the 2020 draft and slashed .233/.314/.399 in 90 games at Triple-A this year.

Cubs Designate Brennen Davis, Adbert Alzolay For Assignment

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The Cubs made a series of roster moves ahead of today’s deadline for protecting players from the Rule 5 draft. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X, the club has selected outfielder Owen Caissie and infielder Ben Cowles. To open roster spots for those two, outfielder Brennen Davis and right-hander Adbert Alzolay have been designated for assignment. It was reported earlier today that Alzolay was likely to be DFA’d. Kiley McDaniel reported on Caissie and Cowles (X links) prior to the full slate of moves being revealed.

Davis, 25, was once one of the top prospects in baseball. A second-round pick of the Cubs in 2018, he tore through the minors and Baseball America ranked him the #16 prospect in the league going into 2022. He had slashed .260/.375/.494 across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2021 for a 140 wRC+ and seemed to be on the cusp of an exciting debut.

Unfortunately, his stock has fallen since then and he still hasn’t cracked the majors. He required back surgery in the middle of 2022, which was followed by core surgery in 2023 and then a fractured ankle in 2024. Through those ailments, he has only played 179 games over the past three years, slashing a paltry .200/.319/.345 while on the field.

The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster two years ago, to keep him out of the 2022 Rule 5 draft, but the ongoing injury woes have nudged him off the roster. They will now have a week to figure out what’s next, whether that’s a trade or putting him on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so a trade would have to come together in the next five days. He does still have one option year remaining, so perhaps some club would be interested in taking a flier on him to see if he can stay healthy and get back on track.

Caissie, 22, is now in the position Davis was in a few years ago. A second-round pick from 2020, he is now ranked as one of the top 100 prospects in the league. He has slashed .278/.383/.470 over the past four years for a 129 wRC+. Given his prospect status and the fact that he has already played a full season at the Triple-A level, he is one of the most obvious roster additions of today.

His path to the big league club isn’t clear right now, as the Cubs have Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Mike Tauchman all in the mix for playing time in the outfield and the designated hitter slot. Perhaps an offseason move will change that picture or an injury will open some playing time, though time will tell on that.

Cowles, 25 in February, was a Yankee prospect until coming over to the Cubs a few months ago in the deadline deal that sent Mark Leiter Jr. to the Bronx. He produced a .077/.294/.077 line after that trade but the Cubs will be banking on what he did beforehand. He slashed .294/.376/.472 in 88 Double-A games before switching clubs, also stealing 14 bases while playing the three infield spots to the left of first base. He’ll give the Cubs some depth around the dirt but has just three games of Triple-A experience, so might be ticketed for more time on the farm.

Tigers Designate Three Players For Assignment

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The Tigers designated infielder Eddys Leonard and relievers Ricky Vanasco and Brendan White for assignment. Their spots on the 40-man roster will go to righties Chase Lee, Tyler Mattison and Tyler Owens. Detroit kept that trio out of next month’s Rule 5 draft.

Leonard has held a spot on Detroit’s 40-man roster since they acquired him in a minor trade with the Dodgers in August 2023. The 24-year-old infielder hit .253/.320/.435 between three minor league levels this year. He hasn’t appeared in the majors. Vanasco also landed in Detroit via a small trade with Los Angeles — this one coming this past July. He pitched two scoreless innings at the major league level and has four career appearances. White, who turned 26 yesterday, pitched to a 5.03 ERA across 40 2/3 innings as a rookie in 2023. He spent most of this season on the minor league injured list.

The three players joining the roster are all upper level bullpen arms. Lee, an Alabama product, came over from the Rangers at this year’s deadline in the Andrew Chafin trade. The 26-year-old righty turned in a 2.75 ERA across 36 innings between the two organizations. He punched out 30% of batters faced with a tidy 6.8% walk rate.

Mattison, a 6’4″ pitcher out of Bryant, posted excellent strikeout numbers this year. He fanned nearly 38% of hitters en route to a 2.41 ERA across 59 2/3 innings between High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie. While the 25-year-old was a bit more advanced than most hitters he faced, he pitched well enough that another team could’ve tried to stash him in the middle innings.

Owens, 24 in January, has been traded twice since entering pro ball as a 13th-round pick in 2021. Originally an Atlanta draftee, he went to the Rangers last offseason for outfielder J.P. Martínez. Texas dealt him to Detroit as part of the Carson Kelly deadline deal. The 5’10” hurler put up a 2.96 ERA while striking out just over a quarter of opponents in Double-A this year.

Rangers Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Rangers have selected the contract of right-hander Emiliano Teodo ahead of today’s Rule 5 Draft protection deadline, as first reported by Ari Alexander of KPRC2. The Rangers also announced that they’ve selected the contracts of infielder Max Acosta and right-hander Winston Santos. Texas’s 40-man roster now stands at 39 following the club’s decision to return 2024 Rule 5 Draft pick Carson Coleman to the Yankees.

Teodo, 23, has spent the past fours years in the Rangers system after making his pro debut back in 2021. The righty began his career pitching exclusively in relief but moved into a rotation in 2022. Despite rather pedestrian numbers in the lower minors including a 4.52 ERA in 61 2/3 innings at High-A last year, Teodo impressed in the Arizona Fall League that autumn with eight scoreless relief appearances where he struck out an eye-popping 48.7% of opponents faced. That exciting performance earned the right-hander a job in the Rangers’ Double-A rotation this season, where he has continued to excel. In 86 1/3 innings of work in 2024 spread across 20 appearances (19 starts), Teodo dominated during his first taste of upper minors action to the tune of a 1.98 ERA and a 30.7% strikeout rate with the club’s Frisco affiliate and even started the 2024 Futures Games for the AL.

Despite those fantastic numbers, he’s nonetheless struggled with his control throughout his time in the minors, and that only worsened this year as his walk rate reached an unsustainable 14%. While that’s not a figure that would play in the majors even when paired with a strikeout rate north of 30%, it’s not hard to imagine Teodo’s impressive stuff translating to success at the highest level as soon as 2025 if he were to move back to relief. Given that potential for near-term success in the big leagues, it’s hardly a surprise that the Rangers opted to protect Teodo from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Now that he’s on the 40-man roster, it’s possible he could find himself in the mix for a big league bullpen job at some point in 2025, though it’s also easy to imagine the Rangers deciding to try and iron out the righty’s control problems in hopes he may have a future in the rotation.

Acosta, meanwhile, is a 22-year-old who signed with the Rangers out of Venezuela and made his pro debut in 2021 as well. Primarily a shortstop, Acosta has also played plenty of second base throughout his time in the minors while posting solid but unspectacular offensive numbers. The infielder took a step forward with the bat at Double-A this year, however, slashing a respectable .288/.353/.425 in 104 games. Of particular note is Acosta’s dramatic reduction in strikeout rate, which dropped from 21.1% in 2023 to 13.4% this year. Acosta combines that improved contact ability with strong baserunning skills, as he’s swiped 96 bases over the past three years. That combination of speed and contact ability at a premium position may have been enough to earn Acosta consideration for the club’s 40-man roster already, but he sealed his case by catching fire during the Arizona Fall League this year with a .338/.413/.521 slash line in 80 trips to the plate.

Santos, 22, signed with the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic and made his pro debut in 2021 alongside Acosta and Teodo. The righty turned in a brutal season at Triple-A last year, surrendering a 6.29 ERA in 98 2/3 innings of work. He managed to turn things around in his second taste of action at the level, however, as he posted a 2.80 ERA and a 30.5% strikeout rate in 12 starts (64 1/3 innings). That performance earned him the bump up to Double-A, where his struggles from the previous year resurfaced in his first taste of the new level. In ten starts, Santos posted a 4.89 ERA while maintaining an impressive 29.5% strikeout rate against a 7.2% walk rate. Santos’s struggles at Double-A came primarily from issues with the long ball, as he surrendered eight homers in just 46 frames. Despite those struggles, Santos’s high strikeout rates seemingly convinced the Rangers to play it safe and roster him rather than run the risk of losing him in next month’s Rule 5 draft.

Twins Select Marco Raya, Travis Adams

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The Twins have selected the contract of right-handers Marco Raya and Travis Adams. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN first reported Raya’s selection (on X). Minnesota’s 40-man roster count is up to 37.

Raya, one of the Twins’ top pitching prospects and coming off a solid 2024 showing, was an obvious add. The 2020 fourth-rounder spent most of the season pitching in Double-A as a 21-year-old and holding his own against much more advanced competition. He moved up to Triple-A for one start late in the season and fired five shutout frames. Overall, the 6’1″, 175-pound righty tossed 97 2/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

Raya finished the season ranked sixth or better among Twins prospects at each of Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs. He’s undersized relative to other right-handed starters but sits 96 mph with his four-seamer. Scouting reports on the right-hander praise the plus to elite spin rates on that four-seamer and his mid-80s slider, both of which are bat-missing offerings. He’ll also mix in a changeup, curveball and cutter, rounding out a deep arsenal to help him keep opponents off balance regardless of handedness. Raya isn’t likely to be a candidate for the Opening Day roster, but he’ll be in the mix if the Twins are looking for rotation help next summer.

Adams, 25, was a sixth-round pick out of Sacramento State. The 6’1″ hurler has worked out of the rotation in the minors. Adams started 22 of 26 appearances between the top two minor league levels this year. He turned in a cumulative 3.90 earned run average over 127 innings. Adams struck out a league average 22.6% of batters faced against a sub-7% walk rate. He’ll serve as rotation depth for Minnesota and could debut next season.

Royals Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Royals have selected left-hander Noah Cameron, right-hander Luinder Avila, and right-hander Eric Cerantola to their 40-man roster ahead of this evening’s Rule 5 Draft protection deadline, per a team announcement. No corresponding moves were necessary, and the club’s 40-man roster now stands at 37 players.

Cameron, 25, was a seventh-round pick by the Royals in 2021. A starter at every level of the minors so far, the southpaw struggled badly in his first taste of Double-A action last year but made significant strides this year. After seeing Cameron pitch to a solid 3.63 ERA in 16 starts at that level, the Royals promoted him to Triple-A where he really took off over nine starts down the stretch. In 54 1/3 Triple-A innings, Cameron posted a 2.32 ERA while striking out 29% of opponents and walking just 5.1%. That late-season breakout at the highest level of the minors surely made it an easy decision to roster the lefty ahead of today’s protection deadline.

Avila, 23, signed with the Royals out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2018. The righty moved to stateside ball in 2021 as a starting pitcher and has generally stayed in that role throughout his time in the minors. This year, Avila made 19 starts for the club’s Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, pitching to a solid 3.81 ERA in 82 2/3 innings of work with a 22.9% strikeout rate. That earned Avila a promotion to Triple-A, though he was shelled for five runs in 4 1/3 innings of work in his lone start at the level this year. Even so, the Royals evidently decided he was close enough to the majors to warrant protection from the Rule 5 Draft next month.

Cerantola, 24, was selected by Kansas City in the fifth-round of the 2021 draft. The right-hander has mostly acted as a multi-inning reliever throughout his time in the minors and posted big strikeout numbers in Double-A this year, punching out 31.7% of opponents faced. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by an untenable 16.2% walk rate. The right-hander’s 2.78 ERA in 58 1/3 innings at the level earned him a midseason promotion to Triple-A, but those underlying issues remained following the promotion. In 14 1/3 frames at the minors’ highest level, Cerantola walked 12.5% of opponents but made up for it with a 31.3% strikeout rate while posting a 3.77 ERA for the Royals’ Omaha affiliate. As an upper-minors relief prospect with impressive stuff, it’s hardly a surprise the Royals decided to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft rather than risk a team attempting to stash him in their bullpen next year.

Yankees Select Caleb Durbin, Jesus Rodriguez

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The Yankees announced that they have selected infielder Caleb Durbin and catcher/infielder/outfielder Jesus Rodriguez to their 40-man roster, protecting both players from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Additionally, the Yanks announced that right-hander Carson Coleman has been returned to them by the Rangers. Coleman had been selected in last year’s Rule 5 draft but spent all of 2024 on the injured list.

Durbin, 25 in February, was drafted by Atlanta but came to the Yankees in the December 2022 trade that sent Lucas Luetge the other way. Since then, he has taken 697 plate appearances across multiple levels, drawing walks at an 11.3% rate while only striking out 8.3% of the time. He has slashed .287/.391/.440 for a wRC+ of 127 while stealing 67 bases in 79 tries. He has done so while playing the three infield positions to the left of first base while also spending a bit of time in the outfield.

Last week, manager Aaron Boone spoke glowingly of Durbin, saying he expected him to play a big role on next year’s team. With Gleyber Torres becoming a free agent, the club has a vacancy at second base. Perhaps Jazz Chisholm Jr. could move over there but he could also stay at the hot corner. Time will tell if Durbin can carve out a regular role or perhaps be in a utility gig or be in the minors as depth. Either way, given that he has opened some eyes, it’s not surprising that he’s getting a roster spot today.

Rodriguez, 22, is likely further from contributing to the big league club. He hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and only has 23 games at the Double-A level. Still, it’s understandable that the Yanks wanted to protect him, given his strong offensive numbers. In 1,168 minor league plate appearances, he has struck out just 14.3% of the time and walked at a strong 11.6% clip. His combined batting line of .311/.397/.477 leads to a 143 wRC+.

He will likely still need some more time in the minors but should eventually factor in at the big league level. He has spent some time behind the plate but also in left field and the three non-shortstop infield positions.

As for Coleman, the Rangers took him in the 2023 Rule 5 draft even though he had undergone Tommy John surgery a few months earlier. The Rangers put him on the 60-day injured list early in the year but were likely hoping to activate him at some point. Unfortunately, he was never able to come off the injured list during the 2024 campaign.

They could have kept him on the roster but the Rule 5 restrictions would have carried over into next year. He also would require a 40-man roster spot throughout the winter, as there is no injured list again until spring training. Instead, the Rangers decided to move on and sent him back to the Yankees, who do not need to add him to their 40-man roster today.

Orioles Select Kade Strowd, Brandon Young

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The Orioles announced that they have selected right-handers Kade Strowd and Brandon Young to their 40-man roster, protecting them being available in next month’s Rule 5 draft. The 40-man roster now has 39 players on it.

Strowd, 27, was a 12th-round pick of the Orioles in 2019. He has posted some intriguing numbers in the minors in terms of strikeouts and grounders, but also with a notable amount of walks. Over the past two years, he has thrown 106 2/3 innings with a 5.32 earned run average. His 12.3% walk rate in that time is certainly high but he’s also struck out 28.4% of batters faced while getting grounders on more than half of the balls in play he’s allowed.

Young, 26, signed with the O’s as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He missed decent chunks of both 2022 and 2023 due to elbow surgery but seemed to get back on track this year. He tossed 111 innings over 27 appearances between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.57 ERA. He struck out 28.5% of batters faced while giving out walks just 8% of the time.

Both players have reached Triple-A and will give the O’s some immediate depth in 2025, Strowd in the bullpen and Young in the rotation. The starting staff just lost Corbin Burnes to free agency while Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are going to start the season on the injured list after undergoing surgeries this year. The club will presumably be making some moves to alter their staff in the coming months, but they didn’t want these two to be plucked away by another club in the Rule 5, so they get roster spots today.

Angels Designate Jordyn Adams, Eric Wagaman For Assignment

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The Angels made a couple changes to their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Los Angeles designated outfielder Jordyn Adams and infielder Eric Wagaman for assignment. That opens a pair of 40-man roster spots for infielder Matthew Lugo and left-hander Jack Dashwood, both of whom are now ineligible for next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Adams, 25, is perhaps the most well-known of the group. He was the 17th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The Halos bet on his speed and power potential, but the bat hasn’t progressed as hoped. Adams has a middling .252/.333/.377 batting line over six minor league seasons. That includes a .261/.333/.386 showing across 549 Triple-A plate appearances this year. That’s well below-average production in the Pacific Coast League. Adams has appeared in 28 big league games over the last two seasons, hitting .176 with a near-36% strikeout rate in sporadic playing time.

Wagaman had a nice season in the upper minors. Selected out of the Yankees organization in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, he hit .274/.339/.469 between Double-A and Triple-A. That earned Wagaman, an Orange County native, a cup of coffee with the Halos. He hit a pair of homers with a .250/.270/.403 slash in 18 games. As a 27-year-old rookie who has never had much prospect fanfare, he had an uphill battle to holding his 40-man roster spot all winter.

Lugo, 23, is a former second-round pick of the Red Sox. He went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 before a breakout showing in the minors. The Puerto Rico native hit .287/.376/.578 with 17 homers in 79 games between the top two minor league levels. He’s one of four players the Angels acquired in the deadline deal sending veteran reliever Luis García to the Sox. Two others, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Zeferjahn, already made their MLB debuts late last season. Lugo could join them in Anaheim next year.

Dashwood, who turned 27 this week, was a 12th-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara in 2019. The 6’6″ southpaw spent most of this season on the minor league injured list. He ran a 15:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 innings at the Double-A level and punched out 17 batters in 10 frames during the Arizona Fall League. The Halos were concerned that another team would skip him past Triple-A and jump him to the majors, so they’ll give him a roster spot. He’ll probably open next year in the Triple-A bullpen.

Red Sox To Select Hunter Dobbins, Jhostynxon Garcia

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The Red Sox are adding a pair of players to their 40-man roster ahead of tonight’s Rule 5 protection deadline. Right-hander Hunter Dobbins is having his contract selected, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier adds that Boston will also select outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia. Those are the only two players the Sox are adding, per Speier. They’ll need to open a pair of 40-man spots in order to make them official.

Boston selected Dobbins, now 25, with their eighth-round pick in 2021. He started 21 Double-A games and another four in Triple-A this past season, logging a combined 3.08 ERA with a 22.9% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Dobbins was the organization’s minor league starting pitcher of the season and ended the year ranked 26th among the team’s farmhands, per Baseball America. He’s 93-94 mph with his heater on average and pairs the pitch with a slider, splitter and curveball.

The 21-year-old Garcia (first name pronounced yos-TIN-son) split this past season between Low-A, High-A and Double-A. He laid waste to pitchers at the former levels (.258/.365/.517, five homers in 104 plate appearances in Low-A; .311/.371/.627, 16 homers in 229 plate appearances in High-A) before posting more modest results at the most advanced of his three stops (.263/.320/.386, two homes in 126 plate appearances).

Garcia is a power-over-hit prospect who’s played center field but seems likelier to settle into a corner. He walked in just 7.2% of his plate appearances this season against a 21.7% strikeout rate. That marks an improvement over the 30.4% strikeout rate he logged in 2022 and the 25.5% mark he posted in 2023, but the increased contact has come at the expense of his formerly plus walk rates.

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