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David Hensley

Tigers, David Hensley Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Tigers are signing utility player David Hensley to a minor league deal, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. It seems likely that the 28-year-old will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Hensley was a 26th-round pick by the Astros in 2018. He got to the majors with Houston four years later. Hensley appeared in 46 games between 2022-23, hitting .177/.273/.274 over 128 plate appearances. The Astros kept him in Triple-A for the first half of last season. They designated him for assignment in the middle of July.

Miami grabbed Hensley off waivers. He took 58 trips to the dish with the Marlins, hitting .212/.293/.288. The Fish waived him at the beginning of the offseason. Hensley went unclaimed and elected minor league free agency. He’s a .188/.280/.279 hitter over 169 major league plate appearances.

The righty-swinging Hensley has a better minor league track record. He has taken over 1100 Triple-A plate appearances and has a .257/.384/.413 showing at the top minor league level. That’s built largely on a near-17% walk rate, as Hensley has shown a very patient plate approach. He has plenty of experience at all four infield positions and has some time in the corner outfield.

Marlins Claim Christian Roa

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Christian Roa off waivers from the Reds. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com relayed the claim on X prior to the official announcement. The Fish also announced that right-handers Shaun Anderson, Darren McCaughan and Adam Oller as well as infielder/outfielder David Hensley have been outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville. Oller is expected to elect free agency and pursue opportunities in Asia, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X.

Roa, 25, was on Cincinnati’s 60-day injured list but the IL goes away five days after the World Series. Rather than reinstating him to the 40-man roster, the Reds evidently tried to pass him through waivers but the Marlins grabbed him.

The righty was a second-round pick of the Reds and has been a notable prospect in the club’s system since then. He has racked up a fair number of strikeouts as a minor leaguer but also given out a large number of walks. He has thrown 318 2/3 innings in his minor league career with a 4.46 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate.

He was added to Cincinnati’s 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He spent this year pitching in Triple-A with a 5.55 ERA. His walk rate was still high at 13.5% and his strikeouts dropped to a rate of 21.2%. In August, the Reds recalled him to the majors and added him to their 60-day IL with a right shoulder sprain in order to open up a 40-man roster spot.

The Marlins will take a shot on him and see if they can help him rein in that control a bit. Roa still has two more option seasons and less than a year of service time. For a rebuilding club like the Marlins, they can take their time and see if the Roa project can bear some fruit for them down the line.

The four outrighted players were all fairly recent additions to the Miami roster. The club suffered a high number of injuries in 2024 and was often grabbing players from everywhere in order to keep the roster filled as they played out the string on the campaign.

Anderson was designated for assignment by the Rangers at the end of May and got flipped to the Marlins for cash. He posted an 8.27 ERA in 16 1/3 innings for the Fish after that. McCaughan was claimed off waivers from the Guardians in July and went on to throw 36 innings for Miami with a 5.75 ERA. Oller signed a minor league deal with the club in July, later having his contract selected to throw 42 1/3 innings with a 5.31 ERA. Hensley was claimed off waivers from the Astros at the end of July and then hit .212/.293/.288 in 23 games as a Marlin.

The three pitchers have previous career outrights and therefore have the right to elect free agency. This is Hensley’s first outright but she should have the right to elect minor league free agency as a player with seven years on the farm.

Marlins Claim David Hensley From Astros

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed infielder David Hensley off waivers from the Astros. The latter club designated him for assignment a week ago. The Marlins already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Hensley, 28, was selected to Houston’s 40-man roster in August of 2022 but has only played in 46 big league games since then, slashing a paltry .177/.273/.274 in those contests. His work in the minors has been better, but has also tailed off lately.

He slashed .298/.420/.478 at Triple-A in 2022, which led to a 130 wRC+ and Hensley getting the call to the big leagues. But he’s hit just .228/.358/.367 in 651 Triple-A plate appearances over 2023 and 2024, with that production translating to an 86 wRC+.

The Marlins had an open roster spot and there’s little harm in taking a shot on Hensley to see if his results bounce back. Despite the tepid results overall, he’s drawing walks in 15.1% of his plate appearances this year and can play all four infield spots, as well as the outfield corners. He’s also a threat for double-digit steals most of the time with 17 so far this year. He can be optioned for the rest of this year and one more season beyond that. He also has less than a year of service time and can be a long-term piece if he manages to carve out a role.

Astros Select Aledmys Díaz, Designate David Hensley

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The Astros have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Aledmys Díaz, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Grae Kessinger and designated infielder David Hensley for assignment.

Díaz, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Astros just over a week ago. He had been with the Athletics since signing a two-year deal with them going into 2023 but struggled essentially from the moment that deal was signed. He hit just .229/.280/.337 with Oakland in 2023 and then spent most of this year on the injured list due to groin and calf injuries. He hit .103/.133/.103 in 30 plate appearances before the A’s moved on.

By releasing him, the A’s remain on the hook for what’s left of his $8MM salary this year. Any other club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the A’s pay. The Astros decided to step in by signing Díaz and sent him to the Complex League, where he hit .333/.313/.400 in four games.

The Astros will undoubtedly be hoping that he can put that performance with the A’s behind him and return to the form he showed in his previous stint in Houston. With the Astros from 2019 to 2022, he slashed .255/.313/.424 for a wRC+ of 102 while lining up at all four infield spots and the outfield corners. If he can get back into that ballpark, he can be a nice multi-positional bench piece for the Astros once again.

Hensley, 28, has been on Houston’s 40-man roster since August of 2022 but has been on optional assignment for most of that time. He has 128 major league plate appearances in 46 games with a line of .177/.273/.274 in those.

He had performed well in the minors prior to getting that roster spot but has tailed off since. He slashed .295/.395/.458 in the minors over 2021 and 2022 for a wRC+ of 124. He struck out 22.8% of the time but drew walks at a strong clip of 13.9%. However, a .380 batting average on balls in play suggested that performance wasn’t quite sustainable.

Over 2023 and 2024, his BABIP corrected to a more normal level of .308 and his line has dropped to .228/.358/.367. His walk rate increased to 16.6% in the latter stretch but he’s also been punched out 26.3% of the time.

The Astros will now have a week to trade Hensley or pass him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, they have five days to explore any trade possibilities. If any club has interest in Hensley as a depth piece, he can still be optioned for rest of this year and one additional season. He also has less than a year of service time and therefore many years of club control. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Astros in a non-roster capacity.

Astros Place Jose Abreu, Phil Maton On Injured List

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The Astros announced that first baseman Jose Abreu has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 10), and that right-hander Phil Maton has been placed on the 15-day IL.  Abreu is dealing with lumbar spine inflammation while Maton has a right elbow contusion.  Infielder David Hensley and left-hander Parker Mushinski were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves.

Abreu’s back has been an issue for both the last few days, and for much of the season, as he revealed to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome (Twitter links) and other reporters today.  The IL placement seemed to be sparked when an MRI revealed the inflammation, and Abreu received two cortisone shots to help ease the discomfort.

The back problem continues what has been a rough debut season for the veteran first baseman in Houston.  After signing a three-year, $58.5MM free agent contract with the Astros last winter, Abreu has stumbled to a .234/.291/.343 slash line and 10 homers over 464 plate appearances.  Abreu and the Rockies’ Jurickson Profar each have a 75 wRC+, tied for the lowest wRC+ of any player in baseball with at least 450 PA in the 2023 campaign.

It has been a surprising result for a player who was so consistently productive over his nine previous seasons with the White Sox, and yet Abreu made a point of not using his back problems as an excuse, telling Rome and company “this is not a justification for the hitter I’ve been for the past four months.”

The Astros selected Jon Singleton’s contract from Triple-A earlier this week, and the former top prospect will continue to get a good chunk of the first base playing time while Abreu is sidelined.  Hensley and Mauricio Dubon could also chip in, though Houston might also opt to use Yainer Diaz more often at the cold corner, when Diaz isn’t catching.  The rookie has hit very well in his first extended taste of MLB action, and the Astros have been using first base and the DH spot to keep Diaz in the lineup when Martin Maldonado is behind the plate.

Maton was hit in the elbow by a line drive in Friday’s game, which forced him to make an early exit from his relief outing.  Rome reports that initial x-rays didn’t show a fracture, but Maton will undergo more x-rays and an MRI in due course.

Injuries have plagued Houston’s rotation all season, but the bullpen has been relatively healthy, and a big reason why the Astros have been able to largely withstand their thinned-out starting staff.  Maton has enjoyed a very solid campaign, posting a 3.04 ERA and an above-average 26.2% strikeout rate.  Though Maton isn’t a hard thrower and his walk rate is below average, he has elite spin rates and his fastball and curveball, and his 23.1% hard-hit ball rate is the lowest in the majors.

The Astros can only hope that the further scans don’t reveal a more serious problem for Maton, as the club needs their bullpen to keep contributing during the playoff push.  Houston already added to their relief depth in acquiring Kendall Graveman at the trade deadline, a move that looks even shrewder now that Maton will miss at least the next 15 days.

Astros Activate Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve

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The Astros announced Wednesday that outfielder/DH Yordan Alvarez and second baseman Jose Altuve have been reinstated from the injured list. First baseman/outfielder Bligh Madris and infielder David Hensley were optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding pair of moves.

Alvarez, who just turned 26 last month, has cemented himself as one of the sport’s best young hitters in recent seasons. He boasts a .277/.388/.589 slash and 17 homers in just 232 plate appearances this season but has missed more than six weeks due to an oblique strain.

The Astros have posted a solid .252/.323/.433 line as a team even since Alvarez’s injury, but it’s still difficult to overstate just how big a boost his return will provide. Houston general manager Dana Brown has been quite candid about his desire to add a left-handed bat prior to next week’s trade deadline, but Alvarez’s return will at least lessen some of the urgency for such an acquisition.

Altuve has also been on the shelf with an oblique strain, though his wasn’t as severe as the one sustained by Alvarez. He hit the IL nearly a month after his teammate, on July 4, but will nonetheless return on the same day — just three weeks after landing on the shelf.

It’s been an even more frustrating season for Altuve than for Alvarez, from a health standpoint. He missed nearly two months early in the season after suffering a broken thumb during the World Baseball Classic and has only managed to get into the lineup for 32 of the Astros’ games this year. He’s been characteristically excellent when on the field, batting .264/.371/.479 with a career-best 14% walk rate in 143 trips to the plate.

It’s a major pair of returns for Houston that’ll augment the lineup more than any trade might have, but the ’Stros still figure to be active between now and next Tuesday. In addition to Brown’s stated desire to add a left-handed bat with some defensive versatility, he’s also been open about his hopes to add a starting pitcher and a reliever while trades are still permitted.

Astros’ Options To Cover Second Base In Altuve’s Absence

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The Astros announced this afternoon star second baseman Jose Altuve underwent successful surgery to repair the right thumb fracture he suffered in the World Baseball Classic. He won’t begin baseball activities for two months and will obviously need some time to work back into game shape from that point forward.

Given that timetable, it’s hard to envision Altuve playing in a big league game before June. Houston finds itself in a virtually unheard of position entering a season with some uncertainty at the keystone. Whomever gets the nod next Thursday against the White Sox will be the first player other than Altuve to start at second base on Opening Day since Bill Hall 12 years ago.

Houston general manager Dana Brown addressed the situation this afternoon (link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). The first-year GM didn’t rule out the possibility of going outside the organization for infield help but suggested the club preferred to address it with in-house players. “We’re going to look internally first. We have a good, core group of guys here,” Brown said. “We’ll exhaust what we have here in the organization because we do have some good players and we’ve always been interested in depth, (but) sometimes to acquire that depth you have to go outside the organization.”

If the club were to make an addition, it’d presumably be a low-cost depth move. Altuve will obviously take the job back once he’s healthy. It probably doesn’t make much sense to pursue a trade for someone like Isiah Kiner-Falefa; rather, the likelier course of action could be to look to a free agent like Jonathan Villar or a veteran who could opt out of a minor league deal elsewhere before Opening Day.

If the Astros stay internal or merely add a veteran to Triple-A Sugar Land as depth, a pair of players stand out as favorites for second base reps.

David Hensley

Hensley, 27 next week, only has 20 games of big league experience. Four of them came in the postseason, including a pair of starts in the World Series. Those came after a late-season promotion on the heels of an excellent .298/.420/.478 showing in 464 plate appearances with Sugar Land. He only hit 10 home runs but connected on 30 doubles and four triples. More impressively, the right-handed hitter worked walks at an elite 17.2% clip against an average 22.2% strikeout rate. Among Triple-A hitters with 400+ PA’s, only Will Benson had a better on-base percentage while just Jon Singleton, Benson, John Andreoli and Delino DeShields Jr. drew walks at a higher clip.

The San Diego State product now ranks as the #5 prospect in the Houston system at Baseball America. Regarded as a bat-first utility infielder, he predictably draws praise for his plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills. He’s not regarded as a great defender but could offer a decent floor from an on-base perspective towards the back of the Houston lineup.

Mauricio Dubón

Dubón, acquired from the Giants last May, offers a very different profile than Hensley. He’s a versatile up-the-middle defender who makes a ton of contact but rarely walks. He’s played 262 MLB games over parts of four seasons, hitting .244/.287/.366 with a 17.2% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk percentage. That’s well below-average offense but he’s held a roster spot on the strength of his glove. Public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have graded him positively at each of second base, shortstop and in center field.

The Honduras native is out of minor league option years. That means the Astros will have to carry him on the active roster if they don’t want to risk losing him. Considering they agreed to a $1.4MM contract to avoid arbitration this offseason, it’s hard to envision they’d let him go. Dubón will be on the roster and could see a decent amount of action at second base but might not hit enough to be a regular.

Depth Options

Offseason waiver claim Rylan Bannon is an option at second or third base. The 26-year-old has only played five MLB games. He’s coming off a .249/.367/.421 showing over 99 games in Triple-A and has attracted interest from a handful of teams on the waiver wire. Houston added glove-first veteran Dixon Machado on a minor league deal over the winter. He’s a .226/.285/.292 hitter in parts of five MLB seasons and has struggled at the plate this spring. Minor leaguers Grae Kessinger and Will Wagner have performed well during non-roster looks in camp but likely aren’t immediate options considering neither has yet played a game at Triple-A.

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Houston’s lineup should remain one of the league’s best even in Altuve’s absence. Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, José Abreu and Jeremy Peña are capable of driving a strong run-scoring group. Still, it’s obviously far from ideal to have both Altuve and Michael Brantley open the season on the shelf as Houston gets their title defense underway. In all likelihood, they’ll be counting on one of Hensley or Dubón to step up early in the year to fill the void.

Astros Select David Hensley, Designate Jonathan Bermudez

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6:00PM: Houston officially announced the selection of Hensley’s contract.  In corresponding moves, first baseman J.J. Matijevic was optioned to Triple-A and left-hander Jonathan Bermudez was designated for assignment.

Bermudez was a 23rd-round pick for the Astros in the 2018 draft.  The lefty reached Triple-A for the first time in 2021, but has badly struggled at the top minor league level this season, posting an 8.96 ERA over 67 1/3 innings, allowing 16 home runs.

2:30PM: The Astros are calling up utility player David Hensley, reports Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Hensley is not currently on Houston’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move of some kind will be required to open a spot for him.

Hensley, 26, has never been a highly-touted prospect, having been selected by the Astros in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. However, he has increased his stock immensely in the past two seasons. Last year, he played 105 games at Double-A, slashing .293/.369/.439, production that amounted to a wRC+ of 118, or 18% better than league average. This year, he’s taken another step forward, slashing .298/.420/.478 in 104 Triple-A games. He’s increased his walk rate to an incredible 17.2% after being at 10.3% last year.

Beyond his work at the plate, Hensley also brings defensive versatility, having played all four infield positions this year, in addition to a brief showing in left field. There’s also the speed element, as he stole 11 bags last year and 20 already this season. All told, he should bring a well-rounded game up to Houston. Baseball America recently ranked him the #11 prospect in the team’s system, which was the first time he cracked one of their top 30 lists.

The Astros placed Aledmys Diaz on the injured list earlier this week, which left Mauricio Dubon as the club’s primary utility player. However, Dubon appeared to injure himself during last night’s game, crashing into the outfield wall while attempting to make a catch. It’s unclear if Dubon will require a stint on the injured list, but it seems the club will add Hensley to the roster for support either way.

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