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Brett de Geus

Diamondbacks Acquire Jordan Luplow From Rays

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The Rays have traded outfielder/first baseman Jordan Luplow to the D-Backs for infield prospect Ronny Simon, the teams announced. Arizona designated right-hander Brett de Geus for assignment to open space on the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster now sits at 39.

Luplow is a five-year big league veteran, although he’s spent the bulk of his time in a platoon capacity. The right-handed hitter has never tallied more than 261 plate appearances in any given campaign, as he’s instead been leveraged heavily against lefty pitching. That’s a role in which he’s had great success, as Luplow has a massive .245/.360/.539 showing against southpaws. While that batting average isn’t eye-catching, Luplow’s combination of a huge 14.3% walk rate and 23 home runs in 378 plate appearances (essentially a little less than two-thirds of a full season’s workload) when holding the platoon advantage has made him an impact player in those situations.

Yet Luplow’s struggles against same-handed hurlers have kept him from being an everyday regular. He’s a career .205/.291/.369 hitter in 358 trips to the dish against righties. The 28-year-old actually had reverse splits in fairly limited playing time this past season, but it’s likely the D-Backs put more stock in his career-long track record of mashing against southpaws and will continue to use in a platoon capacity next season.

Luplow has between three and four years of major league service, so he remains controllable through 2024 via arbitration (barring changes to the service time structure in the next collective bargaining agreement). MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to receive a salary in the $1.5MM range next year. That’s certainly not an onerous sum, but it might be more than the cost-conscious Rays would have been willing to spend since they’re already fairly deep in outfield options.

The D-Backs’ outfield is far less settled, particularly if the club tries to trade David Peralta this winter. Young options like Pavin Smith, Stuart Fairchild, Jake McCarthy and Daulton Varsho could all get some run in 2022, but Fairchild’s the only right-handed hitter of that bunch. Adding Luplow gives the D-Backs an affordable, proven righty bat to help balance out the group.

In exchange, the D-Backs will send back a switch-hitting infield prospect. Simon spent most of the 2021 campaign with Low-A Visalia, where he hit .249/.343/.475 with fifteen homers and twelve steals across 349 plate appearances as a 21-year-old. Simon, who was acquired from the Cubs last November as the player to be named later in the teams’ Andrew Chafin deal, spent the bulk of his time in the middle infield, in addition to a handful of starts at third base. He’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster next offseason or be made available in the 2022 Rule 5 draft.

de Geus split the 2021 campaign between the Rangers and D-Backs. Selected out of the Dodgers’ organization in last year’s Rule 5, the 24-year-old worked 47 innings across 50 outings. He posted just a 7.56 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk rates (17.2% and 10.5%, respectively). de Geus’ 7% swinging strike rate was the second-lowest mark among the 255 relievers with 20+ innings pitched, but he did rack up ground-balls at a strong 52.1% clip on the strength of his low-mid 90s sinker. Arizona will have a week to trade de Geus or try to pass him through waivers.

Diamondbacks Activate Brett de Geus, Option Corbin Martin

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After claiming right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Rangers yesterday, the Diamondbacks added him to their active roster today, the team announced. Because he was a Rule 5 pick, de Geus will need to remain on the active roster for the remainder of the season to stay in the Dbacks’ organization.

Arizona was 21-56 coming into today, owners of the worst record in baseball, and while that was hardly the plan for the Snakes, it does allow them to take a chance on a young player like de Geus. As a waiver claim, he’s a no-risk addition to the bullpen, which will also allow them to give more development time to other prospects.

Corbin Martin is one such arm. Martin was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the roster for De Geus. The 25-year-old Martin came to the desert from the Astros as part of the Zack Greinke deal.

Martin has appeared overmatched in five outings (three starts). The former second-round pick started yesterday’s game against the Padres, but he faced just seven hitters, recording one out while giving up four earned runs on three hits (two home runs), a pair of walks, and a hit batsman. He’s been tagged for 19 earned runs in 16 innings for a 10.69 ERA.

de Geus’ numbers with the Rangers don’t suggest he’s a huge upgrade — 8.44 ERA in 19 appearances — but an organization change always brings the possibility of a change in approach or mechanics that could spark something for de Geus, who’s still just 23 years old.

Diamondbacks Claim Brett de Geus

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The D-backs announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Rangers, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. The 23-year-old de Geus was the No. 2 pick in this past December’s Rule 5 Draft, going from the Dodgers to the Rangers.

It’s been a rough debut for de Geus, who has totaled 26 2/3 innings for Texas but been tagged for 25 runs in that time. He’s yielded 31 hits, including three home runs, issued 13 walks and plunked an alarming six batters. De Geus has punched out 26 hitters in those 26 2/3 frames, but a straight K/9 is a little misleading for a pitcher who has walked and hit so many batters; his 20.5 percent overall strikeout rate is well shy of the 24.6 percent league-average for a reliever.

While his MLB debut hasn’t gone particularly well, that’s not much of a surprise considering the fact that de Geus is a 23-year-old making the jump from A-ball to the Majors on the heels of a canceled 2020 minor league season. In May 2020, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tabbed de Geus as the No. 35 prospect in a deep Dodgers system, noting that a velocity spike upon moving to the bullpen had create some optimism about his chances of emerging as a viable MLB reliever.

Back in 2019, de Geus split the season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, posting video-game numbers along the way. He combined for 61 2/3 innings of 1.75 ERA ball with a 29.8 percent strikeout rate, a 5.4 percent walk rate and a 56.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s maintained those impressive ground-ball tendencies in the Majors, inducing grounders at a 55.6 percent clip with Texas.

Because de Geus was a Rule 5 pick, he’ll have to stick on the Diamondbacks’ roster for the remainder of the season or else again be placed on waivers. Were he to theoretically clear waivers if the D-backs exposed him to them a second time, he’d then need to be offered back to the Dodgers organization. Given the catastrophic nature of the Diamondbacks’ 2021 season, however, it shouldn’t be too hard for them to hang onto de Geus through the remainder of the year if they indeed want to permanently secure his rights. Arizona is currently 21-56, making them the only team in Major League Baseball with a sub-.300 winning percentage.

Rangers Select Joe Barlow, Designate Brett de Geus

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The Rangers announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Joe Barlow. Fellow righty Brett de Geus has been designated for assignment to create 40-man roster space. Texas also recalled Wes Benjamin and optioned Demarcus Evans.

It’s a bullpen shuffle that’ll result in Barlow getting his first major league opportunity. An 11th-round pick out of Salt Lake Community College in 2016, Barlow has worked exclusively in relief throughout his pro career. Across parts of five minor league seasons, he’s pitched to a 2.64 ERA. Barlow’s missed bats in droves, striking out 34.2% of batters faced in the minors, but he’s also shown significant control issues. The 25-year-old has dished out free passes to 15.4% of opponents in his career.

To his credit, Barlow has walked a career-low 10.1% of hitters in 21 frames at Triple-A Round Rock this year. That’s right in line with the MLB average for relievers (exactly 10%), so the Rangers will give him an opportunity to try to carry over that passable strike-throwing against big league hitters. Barlow has continued to keep batters off balance as he’s climbed to the minors’ highest level, striking out 36.7% of opponents this season while managing a 2.57 ERA.

The Rangers selected de Geus from the Dodgers organization in last winter’s Rule 5 draft, meaning he needed to stick in the majors all season if the Rangers wanted to retain his contractual rights long-term. He made the Opening Day roster and has gotten a pretty long leash this year, tossing 26 2/3 innings across 19 appearances. de Geus has given up an 8.44 ERA with mediocre strikeout and walk numbers (20.5% and 10.2%, respectively), although he’s kept the ball on the ground at a fantastic 55.6% clip and managed a decent 4.00 SIERA. Nevertheless, the Rangers decided to remove him from the roster. He’ll be placed on waivers; if he clears, he’ll need to be offered back to the Dodgers, who won’t need to keep him on the 40-man roster.

2020 Rule 5 Draft Update

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An abnormal number of picks from the 2020 Rule 5 Draft survived Spring Training and made the Opening Day rosters with their new clubs. The Orioles and Marlins both broke camp with a pair of Rule 5 picks on the active roster, while the Pirates opened the season with one Rule 5 pick on the roster and one on the injured list. Most clubs that are carrying a Rule 5 pick, unsurprisingly, have little in the way of postseason aspirations. There are a few October hopefuls among those still clinging to Rule 5 picks, however, and it’ll take some uncharacteristically strong Rule 5 showings for those players to survive the season.

We’ll take a look at how the surviving Rule 5 draftees are faring periodically throughout the year. Here’s the first glance…

Currently in the Majors

  • Brett de Geus, RHP, Rangers (via Dodgers): Injuries throughout the Rangers’ bullpen might have helped the 23-year-old de Geus crack the Opening Day roster in Texas. He’s out to a shaky start, having walked three batters and hit another three against just two strikeouts through his first 5 2/3 innings. On the plus side, 13 of the 15 balls put into play against him have been grounders.
  • Akil Baddoo, OF, Tigers (via Twins): Baddoo is one of the best stories (maybe the best) of the young 2021 season. The 22-year-old homered on his first swing in the big leagues as his family rejoiced in the stands, and in less than two weeks’ time he’s added a grand slam, a walk-off single (against his former organization) a 450-foot dinger off Zack Greinke and a fourth homer. Baddoo has a ludicrous 1.342 OPS through his first 29 plate appearances in the Majors, and while he obviously won’t sustain that, he’s forcing a legitimate audition in the Detroit outfield. Baddoo missed nearly all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and didn’t play in 2020. Despite that layoff and the fact that he’d never played above A-ball, the Tigers called his name in December. It may have seemed like a stretch at the time, but it doesn’t look that way now.
  • Garrett Whitlock, RHP, Red Sox (via Yankees): The Sox would surely love for Whitlock to stick, having plucked him from their archrivals in New York. So far, so good. Better than good, in fact. Through 6 1/3 scoreless innings, Whitlock has yielded three hits and punched out nine batters without issuing a walk. He’s sitting 95.6 mph with his heater and has posted a hefty 16.9 percent swinging-strike rate. Whitlock also had Tommy John surgery in 2019, so even though he’s previously been a starter, it makes sense to monitor his workload ease him into the mix as the Sox hope to get through the year with him in the ’pen.
  • Tyler Wells, RHP, Orioles (via Twins): Wells has allowed a pair of homers and surrendered three total runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 frames. The O’s aren’t trying to win in 2021, but their bullpen also has four arms that can’t be optioned (Cesar Valdez, Shawn Armstrong, Adam Plutko, Wade LeBlanc). Keeping both Wells and Mac Sceroler (currently on the IL) brings them  to six and will hamper their flexibility.
  • Zach Pop and Paul Campbell, RHPs, Marlins (via Orioles and Rays): Pop was technically the D-backs’ pick in the Rule 5, but Arizona immediately flipped him to the Marlins for a PTBNL. The 24-year-old didn’t allow an earned run in five spring frames but as I was finishing this post, he served up a three-run homer, bringing his season line to seven runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batters in 3 1/3 innings. Campbell has struggled to a similar extent. He’s surrendered five runs (three earned) and given up four hits and three walks in just 2 2/3 innings. With the Marlins out of tank mode, it’ll be tough to carry both all year.
  • Jordan Sheffield, RHP, Rockies (via Dodgers): Sheffield was the No. 36 overall pick in the 2016 Draft, but control issues prevented him from being protected on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen gives Sheffield three plus pitches in his scouting report (fastball, curveball, changeup) but also pegs his command at a 30 on the 20-80 scale. Sheffield has walked or plunked 15 percent of the hitters he faced in the minors. He’s yet to walk anyone 13 batters he’s faced with the Rockies, but he did hit one and has also tossed a pair of wild pitches. That said, he’s also sitting 95.5 mph with his heater and is unscored upon in 3 2/3 frames.
  • Luis Oviedo, RHP, Pirates (via Indians): Oviedo was the Mets’ pick at No. 10, but they had a deal worked out to flip him to the Pirates in exchange for cash. Oviedo has been hammered for six runs on six hits (two homers) and two walks with five strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings so far. Even pitching for a tanking club, Oviedo will need to show some improvement in order to stick on the roster all season.
  • Will Vest, RHP, Mariners (via Tigers): The Mariners kept last year’s Rule 5 pick Yohan Ramirez for the whole season, but it’ll be tougher to do with a full schedule in 2021. The Mariners’ young core is also beginning to rise to the big leagues, and Vest will need to fend off some intriguing young arms. He’s done a decent job so far, allowing a pair of runs (one unearned) on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.
  • Trevor Stephan, RHP, Indians (via Yankees): Stephan whiffed 16 of 44 hitters this spring to earn a spot on the Indians’ Opening Day roster, but he’s allowed four runs in his first four MLB frames. The 25-year-old has surrendered five hits (including a homer), walked a pair and hit a batter so far while facing a total of 21 hitters.
  • Ka’ai Tom, OF, Athletics (via Indians): Tom, 26, raked at a .310/.412/.552 pace with a homer, two doubles and a triple in 34 spring plate appearances. After that strong audition, however, he’s just 1-for-16 with six strikeouts through his first 16 trips to the plate with the A’s.

On the Major League injured list

  • Jose Soriano, RHP, Pirates (via Angels): It wasn’t a surprise to see Soriano open the year on the injured list. He’s still recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in Feb. 2020 and didn’t pitch in a game with the Pirates this spring. He’ll be sidelined for at least the first two months, as the Bucs put him on the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot when they signed Tyler Anderson. Soriano hasn’t pitched above A-ball, but the Pirates aren’t exactly a win-now club, so they can afford to stash him as a seldom-used bullpen piece in order to secure his rights beyond the 2021 season.
  • Mac Sceroler, RHP, Orioles (via Reds): Sceroler fanned six hitters in 3 2/3 innings early in the season but also yielded three runs on five hits (two homers), three walks and a hit batter. The Orioles recently placed him on the 10-day injured list due to tendinitis in his right shoulder, although it’s not expected to be too lengthy an absence.
  • Dedniel Nunez, RHP, Giants (via Mets): Nunez was hit hard in the Cactus League, surrendering four runs in 3 1/3 innings. He’ll now miss the entire 2021 season after sustaining a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery this spring. Nunez will spend the season on San Francisco’s 60-day injured list and receive a year of MLB service, but he’ll still be subject to Rule 5 restrictions in 2022 once he’s healthy. He’ll need to spend at least 90 days on the MLB roster before he can be sent to the minors; if he doesn’t last that long, he’ll have to pass through waivers and, if he clears, be offered back to the Mets.

Returned to their original club

  • Jose Alberto Rivera, RHP, Angels (via Astros): The Angels didn’t take much of a look at Rivera, returning him to Houston on March 24 after just one inning of official work in Cactus League play.
  • Kyle Holder, SS, Reds (via Yankees): The Reds weren’t sure who their shortstop was going to be heading into Spring Training, but they ultimately settled on moving Eugenio Suarez back to that spot, sliding Mike Moustakas back to third base and giving prospect Jonathan India the nod at second base. A strong spring from Holder might have at least given him a bench spot behind that trio, but he hit just .219/.359/.250 in 39 plate appearances. The Reds returned him to the Yankees on March 30.
  • Gray Fenter, RHP, Cubs (via Orioles): The Cubs returned Fenter to the Orioles on March 12 after just one spring appearance. He hasn’t pitched above A-ball yet.
  • Dany Jimenez, RHP, Athletics (via Blue Jays): The 27-year-old Jimenez was a Rule 5 pick in consecutive offseasons — once by each Bay Area club. The A’s returned him to the Jays on March 15, however, after he yielded four runs (two earned) in three innings of work this spring.

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