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Cal Mitchell

Padres, Cal Mitchell Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Padres are signing outfielder Cal Mitchell to a minor league deal, reports Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic (X link). He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

It’s a homecoming for the San Diego native. A product of Rancho Bernardo high school, he was a second round pick of the Pirates in 2017. Mitchell hit well enough in the low minors to hold a spot among the top 30 prospects in the Pittsburgh system for a few years. He carried that offensive success as high as Triple-A, where he posted a .339/.391/.547 line in 63 games in 2022.

That earned the left-handed hitter his first MLB opportunity. Mitchell didn’t produce much in that initial look, posting a .226/.286/.349 showing across 232 trips to the plate. The Bucs kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis for the majority of 2023. He didn’t find the same kind of success as he had there a year ago.

Mitchell hit .261/.333/.414 over 78 Triple-A contests this past season. His strikeout rate doubled, ending at an alarming 29.4% clip. He played in only two big league games and was designated for assignment in September. Mitchell cleared outright waivers and became a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Still just 24 (25 in March), Mitchell will battle for a spot in the San Diego outfield in exhibition. He’s limited to the corners. San Diego has Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. there but limited depth otherwise. Taylor Kohlwey occupies a 40-man roster spot after hitting .276/.390/.437 in Triple-A.

Pirates Outright Cal Mitchell

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The Pirates sent outfielder Cal Mitchell outright to Triple-A Indianapolis this afternoon, tweets Justice delos Santos of MLB.com. He cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Mitchell and Yohan Ramirez were each DFA last Friday. Ramirez was claimed by the White Sox this afternoon. Mitchell went unclaimed and will stick in the organization. Since this is his first career outright and he has under three years of major league service, he doesn’t have the ability to decline the assignment.

A second round pick in 2017, Mitchell attracted some prospect attention throughout his time in Pittsburgh’s system. He performed reasonably well through Double-A before raking at a .339/.391/.547 clip in 63 Triple-A contests a year ago. That earned him a major league look in late May, but Mitchell didn’t found much success against big league pitching.

Over 232 trips to the dish, the lefty-swinging outfielder put up a .226/.286/.349 line. As a result, Mitchell has spent almost all of 2023 in Indianapolis. He hasn’t recaptured last year’s success at that level. He’s hitting .264/.338/.426 while striking out at a lofty 29.3% clip through 300 plate appearances. That eventually squeezed him off the roster.

Mitchell will try to work his way back onto the 40-man over the last month of the season. He’d qualify for minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason if the Bucs don’t reselect his contract.

Pirates Designate Calvin Mitchell, Yohan Ramirez For Assignment

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The Pirates announced some roster moves today, including the previously-reported selection of Miguel Andujar. They also reinstated righty Carmen Mlodzinski from the 15-day injured list to take the second extra spot on today’s expanded roster. Additionally, right-hander Max Kranick was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. To open spots on the 40-man for Andujar and Kranick, right-hander Yohan Ramirez and outfielder Calvin Mitchell were designated for assignment.

Mitchell, 24, was selected to the Pirates’ roster last year after a strong performance in Triple-A. He hit just .226/.286/.349 in his first 69 major league games and got optioned back down to the minors, but finished 2022 with a Triple-A batting line of .339/.391/.547. He’s only played two major league games this year, spending the majority of his season at Triple-A, where he’s had an unfortunate step back. He is hitting .264/.338/.426 for a wRC+ of 90 while striking out in 29.3% of his plate appearances, more than double the 14.6% rate he had in Triple-A last year.

Ramirez, 28, was acquired from the Guardians in a cash deal last summer. He had a tidy 1.25 earned run average through June 6 of this year but allowed 11 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings since then. In 22 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year, he has a 4.43 ERA. Control has generally been an issue for him, walking 12.5% of hitters in his major league career. He kept that to 9% in the majors this year but it’s been 12.4% in Triple-A.

The Bucs will place both players on waivers in the coming days. Mitchell is a former second-round pick who had a strong campaign last year. He still has another option year remaining after this one and less than a year of service time. Ramirez has been able to pair strikeouts with ground balls for much of his career but has struggled with the free passes. He can be optioned for the rest of this year but will be out of options next year. He can be retained for four seasons beyond this one but will have less roster maneuverability going forward.

Every Team’s Initial September Call-Ups

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Each season as the calendar flips to September, we see a flurry of transactions around Major League Baseball. Active roster sizes jump from 26 to 28 for the season’s final month, with teams permitted to bring up no more than one additional pitcher. We’ve already covered a host of transactions with 40-man roster implications throughout the day at MLBTR. Here’s a full round-up of teams’ initial September roster moves.

American League West

Houston Astros:

Los Angeles Angels:

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

  • Reinstated LHP Matthew Boyd from 60-day injured list
  • Recalled OF Taylor Trammell from Triple-A Tacoma
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Texas Rangers

  • Selected contract of RHP Jesus Tinoco from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Recalled OF Nick Solak from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Corresponding move: Transferred RHP Josh Sborz to 60-day injured list

American League Central

Chicago White Sox

  • Recalled OF Adam Haseley from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Recalled RHP Matt Foster from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Corresponding move: None required

Cleveland Guardians

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

  • Selected contract of RHP Daniel Mengden from Triple-A Omaha
  • Recalled OF Nate Eaton from Triple-A Omaha
  • Corresponding move: None required

Minnesota Twins

  • Added LHP Austin Davis (previously claimed off waivers from Red Sox) to active roster
  • Selected contract of OF Billy Hamilton from Triple-A St. Paul
  • Corresponding move: Transferred OF Trevor Larnach to 60-day injured list

American League East

Baltimore Orioles

  • Selected contract of 1B Jesus Aguilar from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Recalled LHP DL Hall from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Corresponding move: Designated INF Richie Martin for assignment

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

  • Recalled SS Oswald Peraza from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
  • Activated INF Marwin Gonzalez from paternity list
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Tampa Bay Rays

  • Reinstated RHP Matt Wisler from the 15-day injured list
  • Recalled INF Jonathan Aranda from Triple-A Durham
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Toronto Blue Jays

  • Recalled RHP Casey Lawrence from Triple-A Buffalo
  • Added OF Bradley Zimmer (claimed off waivers from Phillies this week) to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

  • Recalled INF Alan Trejo from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Recalled RHP Chad Smith from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Reinstated LHP Clayton Kershaw from 15-day injured list
  • Recalled 3B Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Diego Padres

  • Recalled INF Matt Beaty from Triple-A El Paso
  • Recalled RHP Reiss Knehr from Triple-A El Paso
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Francisco Giants

National League Central

Chicago Cubs

  • Selected contract of RHP Jeremiah Estrada from Triple-A Iowa
  • Recalled INF David Bote from Triple-A Iowa
  • Corresponding move: Transferred Wade Miley from 15-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Cincinnati Reds

Milwaukee Brewers

  • Recalled RHP Luis Perdomo from Triple-A Nashville
  • Recalled OF Esteury Ruiz from Triple-A Nashville
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Pittsburgh Pirates

  • Recalled RHP Johan Oviedo from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Recalled OF Calvin Mitchell from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

St. Louis Cardinals

  • Selected contract of OF Ben DeLuzio from Triple-A Memphis
  • Recalled RHP James Naile from Triple-A Memphis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League East

Atlanta Braves

  • Reinstated IF Orlando Arcia from 10-day injured list
  • Added recently-claimed RHP Jesse Chavez to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Miami Marlins*

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

  • Selected contract of RHP Vinny Nittoli from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Recalled C Donny Sands from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Washington Nationals

  • Recalled C Tres Barrera from Triple-A Rochester
  • Recalled RHP Mason Thompson from Triple-A Rochester
  • Corresponding moves: None required

*Marlins moves reported by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link)

Pirates Designate Anthony Banda For Assignment, Release Heath Hembree

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The Pirates announced a series of roster moves Monday, reinstating utilityman Josh VanMeter from the injured list, recalling righty Miguel Yajure from Triple-A Indianapolis, optioning outfielder Cal Mitchell to Triple-A and designating lefty Anthony Banda for assignment. Pittsburgh also released righty Heath Hembree after he cleared waivers, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link) and assigned righty Jerad Eickhoff to Indianapolis after he cleared outright waivers.

Banda has been in Pittsburgh for a bit shy of a year, having been claimed off waivers from the Mets last August. He made 25 appearances down the stretch, tossing 26 1/3 frames of 3.42 ERA ball. That came with middle-of-the-road strikeout and walk numbers, but Banda was successful enough to hold his roster spot over the winter. He broke camp this season and went on to make 23 more appearances, but the 28-year-old didn’t have nearly as much success keeping runs off the board.

Through 19 2/3 innings, Banda owns a 6.41 ERA. He’s posted slightly below-average marks in both strikeout rate (22.4%) and swinging strike percentage (9.4%), although that’s come with career-best control. Banda has walked only around 5% of opponents, and he’s averaging a personal-high 95.3 MPH on his fastball. Opposing hitters have an unsustainably high .463 batting average on balls in play against him in spite of a general lack of hard contact.

Those better underlying traits could entice another club to roll the dice on Banda over the coming days. The Bucs will have a week to trade him or try to run him through waivers. He’s out of minor league option years, so any team that acquires him would have to keep him on the active roster or DFA him themselves.

Hembree heads to free agency after being designated for assignment himself last week (ironically to accommodate Eickhoff’s selection to the 40-man roster). That’s little surprise, as the veteran reliever is playing this season on a $2.125MM salary and is amidst a down year. He posted a 7.16 ERA with more walks than strikeouts in 20 appearances for the Bucs, but he’s only a season removed from punching out 34.2% of batters faced. That’ll at least generate some minor league interest now that Hembree’s back on the open market; a signing team would only owe him the prorated portion of the $700K minimum salary for any time he spends in the majors, with the Pirates on the hook for the rest of the money owed.

Eickhoff has the right to join Hembree in free agency, having been outrighted on multiple occasions in his career. He made just one MLB appearance, serving up ten runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Cubs. The veteran righty has otherwise spent the season in Indianapolis, tossing 48 1/3 frames of 4.84 ERA ball.

Pirates Designate Cam Alldred For Assignment

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The Pirates announced they’ve designated reliever Cam Alldred for assignment. Pittsburgh also placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list and put reliever Heath Hembree on the 15-day IL. The moves clear roster space for the previously-reported promotions of right-hander Roansy Contreras and outfielder Calvin Mitchell.

Alldred just earned his first major league call a couple weeks ago. The 25-year-old made one appearance, tossing a scoreless inning against the Reds before being optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’s spent the rest of the season there, working 20 1/3 innings across ten appearances. Alldred has a sterling 1.33 ERA, inducing grounders on three-fifths of the batted balls he’s allowed.

The University of Cincinnati product hasn’t missed many bats in the minors. He has a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A, unsurprising for a pitcher who averaged 86.7 MPH on his sinker during his lone big league outing. Alldred has performed throughout his time in the minors, however, and he’s seen marked improvements in both his walk and ground-ball numbers thus far in 2022.

Vogelbach hits the IL due to a left hamstring strain. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for a return for the 29-year-old, who has been the club’s primary designated hitter this season. The lefty-swinging Vogelbach signed a $1MM deal over the offseason and had been off to a nice start to his Pittsburgh tenure. He’s hitting .241/.321/.457 while popping six home runs through his first 131 plate appearances.

Hembree also signed a one-year deal with the Bucs as a free agent, though he’s gotten off to a more inauspicious start. The right-hander has an 8.10 ERA through 17 appearances, walking 14.5% of batters faced. Hembree profiled as an interesting buy-low flier after striking out 34.2% of opponents between the Reds and Mets last season. He hasn’t come close to replicating that thus far, owning just a 16.1% strikeout rate in the early going.

In other Bucs’ injury news, the club transferred shortstop Kevin Newman to the 60-day IL yesterday. (The move was necessary to accommodate the promotion of Yerry de los Santos). General manager Ben Cherington announced over the weekend that Newman had suffered a hamstring injury while on a minor league rehab assignment (link via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). That’s a separate issue than the left groin strain that originally landed him on the IL last month.

Cherington indicated Newman’s new injury isn’t likely to be serious, though it has halted his rehab stint. He won’t be eligible to return to the majors for sixty days from the time of his initial IL placement on April 27. A late-June return is now the best possible outcome for the 28-year-old, who hit .250/.308/.375 in 14 games before suffering the groin injury.

Pirates To Promote Cal Mitchell

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The Pirates are calling up outfield prospect Cal Mitchell, reports Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link). Mitchell isn’t on the 40-man roster, so he’ll need to have his contract formally selected (unless he’s being brought up specifically as a Covid-related substitute player). Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is full at the moment, so they’ll need to make at some corresponding moves. It seems likely there’s a set of transactions on the horizon, as it was reported Sunday that right-hander Roansy Contreras was also being brought back to the big leagues — and Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweeted last night that a locker is indeed set up for Contreras.

Mitchell, 23, was the No. 50 overall draft pick back in 2017. He’s had something of a slow developmental arc and hasn’t been considered among the Pirates’ top tier of prospects. Prior to the season, he ranked 22nd among Bucs farmhands at Baseball America, 25th at MLB.com and 37th at FanGraphs. However, Mitchell’s early work in 2022 has surely elevated his status. So far in 2022, he’s hitting for more power, striking out far less and running more often (and more successfully) than in any season of his professional career.

Prior to 2022, Mitchell had never reached an .800 OPS and was generally an above-average but not excellent hitter, by measure of wRC+. This year, however, Mitchell has stormed out of the gate with a .306/.362/.500 batting line (128 wRC+) through his first 138 plate appearances. He’s homered five times and connected on nine doubles, and the resulting .194 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) is the best of his career by 39 points. He’s also gone a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases, already tying his career-high total, and has fanned in just 14.5% of his plate appearances — well south of his prior rate of 22.4%.

Mitchell has spent the vast majority of his professional career playing right field (2797 innings), though he’s also logged 488 frames in left field and 27 in center. The Bucs have gotten solid production from Ben Gamel in left field, so he’s unlikely to be displaced, barring injury. Over in right field, rookie Jack Suwinski has struggled to the tune of a .182/.232/.377 batting line in his first 82 big league plate appearances.

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