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Josh Jung Undergoes Wrist Surgery

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The Rangers provided medical updates on some injured players today, with Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News among those to relay the info. Third baseman Josh Jung underwent a tendon release surgery on Tuesday that will keep him sidelined for the next three to four weeks, after which he will start regaining strength with the hope of having a normal offseason. Additionally, outfielder Evan Carter had an ablation procedure on his back while outfielder Adolis García has been diagnosed with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and will rehab for the next eight weeks before beginning his offseason program.

Jung, 26, was limited by his right wrist in 2024, both in terms of the quality and quantity of his production. Last year, he hit 23 home runs in 122 games for the Rangers, slashing .266/.315/.467 for a 112 wRC+. Ideally, he would have built upon that this year but he was hit by a pitch in just his fourth contest of the season and suffered a fractured right wrist.

He underwent surgery in early April but the problems with his wrist were not solved at that point. The club initially anticipated a six-week recovery timeline but the surgery ended up being more complicated than expected, expanding his expected timeline to eight to ten weeks. By May, it was reported that even that longer timeline was optimistic. As he tried to work his way back to health, inflammation and discomfort continued to pop up.

He was reinstated from the IL at the end of July but eventually ended the season back on the IL, heading there in late September due to discomfort in that wrist. He finished the season with a .264/.298/.421 slash line and 102 wRC+ in just 46 games.

Jung was considering a platelet-rich plasma injection with the hope of that providing some healing, but he would have had to wait six weeks to see if that worked, which may have just been kicking the can down the road. “Rupture of the tendon was inevitable,” Jung tells Grant. By getting the procedure over with now, he’ll ideally have some time to get back to feeling 100% before spring training ramps up.

It was a somewhat similar story for Carter, 22, this year. He had a huge debut with the Rangers in 2023, hitting .306/.413/.645 in his first 23 major league games and then .300/.417/.500 in 17 postseason games. But he also had a mostly lost season, hitting .188/.272/.361 in just 45 games, with a stress reaction in his back the culprit in his case. Per Grant, this ablation procedure was to “burn” off some scar tissue that was hampering his recovery. He has already been cleared to begin a hitting progression.

As for García, he got into 154 games this year but with clearly diminished production. His .224/.284/.400 batting line and 92 wRC+ were both far worse than last year’s .245/.328/.508 line and 126 wRC+. He also put up a massive .323/.382/.726 line and 199 wRC+ in the postseason, helping the Rangers win the World Series and earning ALCS MVP honors along the way. Perhaps the knee injury provides an explanation for the big drop-off. The eight-week timeline should give him plenty of time to be healed before spring training ramps up.

Offensive struggles were a big reason why the Rangers disappointed on the heels of their World Series victory. Collectively, they hit .263/.337/.452 in the 2023 regular season. That led to a 116 wRC+ which trailed only Atlanta and Tampa. In 2024, they dropped all the way to a collective line of .238/.305/.380 and 95 wRC+, putting them in the bottom third of the league.

The club’s poor performance wasn’t limited to these guys, but it’s obviously less than ideal to have three projected regulars at less than full strength. Ideally, all can be healthy for spring and back to their best selves in 2025. Jung figures to be the everyday option at third while Carter and García should be in the outfield alongside Wyatt Langford and Leody Taveras. García is about to turn 32 and has two years of club control left, so he’s a theoretical trade candidate for this winter, but the Rangers would obviously be selling low given his rough season and injured knee.

AL West Notes: Carter, Rendon, Wilson, Astros

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Rangers GM Chris Young stated earlier this week that Evan Carter’s recurring back problems would likely end his 2024 season, and Carter confirmed as much when speaking with Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and other reporters today.  Carter said he doesn’t think surgery will be required to address the lumbar strain in his back, and he should have a normal offseason and a regular path to the start of Spring Training once he begins swinging in 9-10 weeks.

Carter’s official rookie season will now end with 45 games played, and a .188/.272/.361 slash line over 162 plate appearances.  It was a tough follow-up to Carter’s incredible run in 2023 after his late-season MLB debut, but hopefully a full offseason of rest and recovery can help him move past the back problems that ruined his year.

More from around the AL West…

  • The Angels intend to activate Anthony Rendon on Tuesday, so the lower-back inflammation that sidelined Rendon will result in just a minimal stint on the 10-day injured list.  Rendon already missed around two and a half months earlier this season due to a hamstring strain, so the veteran third baseman has clocked just 33 games this season.  Hitting only .227/.289/.273 over 142 PA, Rendon has plenty of time to post more respectable numbers the rest of the way, but 2024 is looking like another lost year for Rendon in the fifth season of his seven-year, $245MM deal with the Halos.  Rendon has hit only .245/.349/.380 over his 999 PA in an Angels uniform, and a variety of injuries have limited him to 233 games.
  • Jacob Wilson’s first Major League game on July 19 was cut short by a hamstring strain, and reporter Jessica Kleinschmidt writes (via X) that the Athletics don’t yet have a concrete timeline on when Wilson might be able to return to action.  That said, the shortstop has been taking part in baseball activities and has ramped up his running drills, so Wilson looks to be making progress.  The sixth overall pick of the 2023 draft, Wilson earned the quick call-up to the Show due to a huge .438/.475/.687 slash line in 200 PA at three different minor league levels this season.  Returning in relatively short order and getting some more exposure against big league pitching would further help Wilson establish himself as a cornerstone of the Athletics’ future.
  • The Astros didn’t add any first base help at the trade deadline, and in fact subtracted from their depth by moving Joey Loperfido to the Blue Jays as part of the Yusei Kikuchi trade package.  In an appearance on the Astros’ pregame radio show today, GM Dana Brown said that the club could continue to look within to bolster their first base ranks, as Zach Dezenzo and Shay Whitcomb could be called up from the minors to make their MLB debuts.  Both are right-handed hitters that could team with the left-handed hitting Jon Singleton in a platoon situation, and Dezenzo might be the preferred choice of the two prospects because he has more experience than Whitcomb as a first baseman.  (Hat tip to Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle.)

Evan Carter Unlikely To Play Again During 2024 Season

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Rangers rookie outfielder Evan Carter has probably played his last game of the season, as GM Chris Young told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) that the team doesn’t expect Carter to return from the injured list before the regular-season schedule wraps up.  A postseason return might be possible, but not probable given the long-term nature of Carter’s injury.  Carter has missed over two months due to a lumbar strain in his back, and the Rangers officially moved him to the 60-man IL yesterday in order to create some space on the 40-man roster.

“His back continues to give him a little bit of trouble when he ramps up his hitting progression,” Young said.  “We’ve seen multiple specialists in the past week and determined that he is going to need a more lengthy time period to rest his back without rotational activities.  So, I’m not overly optimistic that we’re going to see Evan again in the regular season.  It’s just going to take some time and we want to protect him.  He is a huge part of our future.”

It seemed like Carter was making decent progress earlier this month and was starting to take part in more baseball-related activities in preparation for a minor league rehab assignment.  However, Texas manager Bruce Bochy explained to media yesterday that Carter had been shut down due to continued discomfort in his back, and that extended period now looks like it will bring Carter’s 2024 campaign to an end.  Neither Young or Bochy mentioned the possibility of a surgery to address the issue, so it seems as though Carter will try to go on the mend with just rest and recovery.

So much has already happened in Carter’s young career that it is easy to forget that he doesn’t turn 22 until next month, and he made his Major League debut less than 11 months ago.  Carter was one of baseball’s more highly-touted prospects at the time of his debut, yet he exceeded all expectations by hitting .306/.413/.645 in his first 75 plate appearances in the regular season, and followed that up with a .300/.417/.500 slash line in 72 PA in the postseason.

This starring role in the Rangers’ World Series run made Carter a heavy favorite for AL Rookie of the Year honors heading into 2024, but he hit only .188/.272/.361 over 162 PA this season.  The back problem was obviously a factor in that lack of production, and as Grant noted, Carter also missed a lot of the 2021 minor league season with a stress fracture in his back.  Since Carter recovered from that prior injury in good form, there’s hope he can similarly rebound in 2025, yet two significant back problems in four years is certainly a bigger-picture cause for concern.

Rangers Make 11 Roster Moves

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5:33PM: Gray will miss roughly a month of action, Bochy told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (X link) and other reporters.

3:43PM: The Rangers announced a massive slate of roster moves this afternoon. Third baseman Josh Jung and left-hander Cody Bradford were each reinstated from the 60-day injured list while the club also recalled infielder Ezequiel Durán and righty Gerson Garabito.  To open roster spots for that quartet, right-hander Jon Gray was placed on the 15-day IL with a right groin strain, and Texas optioned three others to Triple-A — catcher Andrew Knizner, and infielders Justin Foscue and Jonathan Ornelas.  To open 40-man spots for Jung and Bradford, outfielder Evan Carter was transferred to the 60-day injured list and infielder Davis Wendzel was designated for assignment. Additionally, righty Austin Pruitt (who was on the 60-day IL) has been released.

Jung and Bradford are each set for their first MLB action since April, as Jung is returning from a complicated wrist surgery and Bradford was dealing with both a back strain and then a stress fracture in his rib.  Jung broke his wrist after being hit by a pitch in his fourth game of the season, while Bradford had an impressive 1.40 ERA in his first three starts (19 1/3 IP) before he was sidelined.

Emerging as the Rangers’ regular third baseman during his impressive rookie season, Jung helped the Rangers win last year’s World Series and was expected to continue developing in his sophomore year.  The good news for Texas is that Josh Smith’s strong work as the fill-in third baseman has helped the team make do in Jung’s absence, and with Jung now back, Smith can be bounced around the diamond to left field or DH so the Rangers can keep his bat in the lineup.

Despite Bradford’s great early numbers as a starter, the Rangers have already announced that he’ll return in a bullpen role.  Bradford was pressed into rotation duty at the start of the year due to the lengthy list of Texas pitchers on the IL, but with many of those arms now back, the Rangers find themselves with a pitching surplus on paper if everyone is healthy.  To this end, the club felt comfortable enough to subtract from this depth by trading Michael Lorenzen to the Royals.

However, the injury bug bit again yesterday when Gray injured his groin while warming up for his scheduled start against the Blue Jays.  Gray departed without throwing a pitch, and the right-hander will be out for at least the next 15 days.  Bradford has only worked as a multi-inning reliever during his rehab assignment and isn’t fully stretched out to start, but the Rangers have an off-day on Thursday and Tyler Mahle is on the verge of his own return from the IL, so Mahle seems the likeliest candidate to take Gray’s spot in the rotation in a week’s time.

This is Gray’s second groin-related IL stint this season, as he missed a couple of weeks in May and June with his previous injury.  When healthy, the righty has a 3.73 ERA and an impressive 5.8% walk rate over 94 innings, though he has allowed a lot of hard contact and his 19.7% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career over a full season.

Carter hasn’t played May 26 due to a lumbar sprain in his back, so he could technically return at any time since he has already missed over 60 days.  However, manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com and other media that Carter is set to visit a back specialist to explore some recurring soreness, and the Rangers have shut the outfielder down from the baseball activities Carter was taking part in prior to this recent development.

More will be known once Carter sees the specialist, but it’s obviously a concern that that the 21-year-old doesn’t appear to be any closer to a return.  Carter’s huge numbers after his Major League debut late last season and through the postseason provided the Rangers with a huge spark on their route to the championship, but with his bad back hampering him this year, Carter has hit only .188/.272/.361 in his first 162 PA of the 2024 campaign.

Pruitt signed a minors deal with Texas during the offseason, and that contract was selected to the active roster in April.  Pruitt appeared in only four games before a right meniscus injury sent him to the 15-day IL and then the 60-day IL.  He has spent the last month rehabbing in the minors and was at the end of the 30-day window for minor league rehab assignments, so the Rangers opted to release the righty rather than bring him back to the 26-man roster.  A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Pruitt will hit the open market again, though it might not be a surprise to see him re-sign with Texas pretty quickly on a fresh minor league deal.

Wendzel was selected 41st overall by the Rangers in the 2019 draft, and he made his big league debut this season the form of 27 games and 49 plate appearances.  He saw some work at third base during Jung’s IL stint, but Wendzel mostly came off the bench, and he hit just .128/.163/.234 in his first look at MLB pitching.

The 27-year-old has hit well at Triple-A over the last two seasons, including a 30-homer campaign for Round Rock in 2023.  Wendzel has mostly played third base and shortstop during his minor league career with a few other looks at the other two infield spots and in left field, so between this defensive versatility and his Triple-A numbers, he might be a candidate to be claimed by a team in need of infield depth.

The Rangers’ Surprising Problem

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Each week at MLBTR, it seems we're covering a development that further tanks the Astros' chances of competing for a playoff spot. We've devoted less attention to their in-state rivals, but the Rangers are in no better a situation. Texas and Houston have identical 33-40 records after the Rangers' five-game losing streak. They're only four games clear of the Angels for fourth place in the AL West.

Texas starting the season slowly isn't a huge surprise in itself (even if the extent of their struggles is). The eye-opener is in the way the team has underperformed. The Rangers opened the season without Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle. They were largely trying to stay afloat for the first couple months before welcoming that trio of starters back throughout the summer. The early-season rotation was the big question -- the main reason the Rangers might find themselves closer to the bottom of the AL West than the top more than halfway into June.

Starting pitching has not been the problem. Texas is middle-of-the-pack in that regard, solid work from a staff without three of its most talented arms. The collapse has been on the other side of the ball. The Ranger offense hasn't performed. An outfield that looked like one of the game's most talented groups has been a disaster. It's not the easiest problem for GM Chris Young to address at the deadline -- if the Rangers find themselves in position to add at all next month.

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Rangers Notes: Carter, Mahle, Bradford, Foscue

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The Rangers placed Evan Carter on the injured list last week, initially announcing the issue as back tightness. Manager Bruce Bochy provided more specifics yesterday, telling reporters (including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com) that the rookie left fielder is dealing with a stress reaction. Texas expects Carter to miss upwards of a month.

It has been a challenging first full MLB season for Carter. The 21-year-old top prospect debuted late in 2023 and immediately cemented himself as a key piece of the franchise’s first World Series run. Carter hit .300/.417/.500 in 17 postseason games, making him a popular Rookie of the Year pick in 2024. He has had a much tougher go through this season’s first couple months, running a .188/.272/.361 line with a 26.5% strikeout rate over 162 plate appearances.

Carter admitted he played through back discomfort for a couple weeks before the IL placement. That certainly could’ve played a role in his middling offense. He remains an integral piece of the Rangers’ plans for this season and beyond, but he’ll be down for a few weeks. Wyatt Langford has stepped into left field, opening some DH at-bats for Robbie Grossman and Ezequiel Duran.

Texas received better news on a few other injured players this week. Offseason signee Tyler Mahle threw to hitters on Wednesday for the first time in his recovery from Tommy John surgery (link via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). Mahle is ticketed for three more live sessions before he could head on a minor league rehab stint. If all goes smoothly, he should be on track for his Rangers debut a couple weeks after the All-Star Break.

Mahle is around 13 months removed from the elbow procedure that ended his tenure with the Twins. The right-hander was barely able to pitch for Minnesota. He was a mid-rotation starter with the Reds before that, pitching 180 innings of 3.75 ERA ball while striking out more than 27% of opponents three years ago. The Rangers guaranteed him $22MM on a backloaded two-year deal in December.

Texas has a full rotation on the injured list. Jon Gray has had a fairly brief stint related to a groin strain, but the other four pitchers have faced long recovery timelines. Mahle, Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom are still rehabbing from 2023 surgeries. Cody Bradford has been out since mid-April with a stress fracture in his rib. The southpaw told reporters that he has progressed to throwing from 120 feet on flat ground (X link via Landry). Bradford opened the season as the fifth starter and turned in a 1.40 ERA over 19 1/3 innings in three appearances before the injury.

On the position player side, Texas has been without rookie infielder Justin Foscue for nearly the entire season. The Rangers called up the former first-round draftee on April 2. He took two plate appearances before sustaining a left oblique strain that pushed him to the 60-day injured list. Foscue will be eligible for reinstatement in the next few days and seems to be on track for a return. Texas assigned him to the Arizona complex league to begin a rehab assignment tonight. The Rangers might not have an immediate MLB roster spot for Foscue, as Josh Smith has played very well at third base while Josh Jung has been on the shelf.

Rangers Place Evan Carter On Injured List; Reinstate Wyatt Langford, Nathan Eovaldi

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The Rangers have reinstated outfielder Wyatt Langford and right-hander Nathan Eovaldi from the injured list, with Eovaldi starting tonight’s contest. In corresponding moves, outfielder Evan Carter lands on the 10-day IL due to back tightness while righty Yerry Rodríguez has been optioned out. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was among those to relay the news prior to the official announcement on X (link one and two).

Carter’s back has been bugging him for a few weeks. Between May 8 and May 18, he only took two plate appearances for the Rangers. He’s been in the lineup more regularly of late but still hasn’t had a hit in about three weeks. It seems like the back problems have contributed to his lackluster results on the year. He was hitting .236/.328/.472 through May 4 but has a batting line of just .053/.100/.053 since then.

Coming into the season, it was possible to envision Texas having two regular players battling each other for the Rookie of the Year crown, but it hasn’t played out that way thus far. Carter’s recent slide has dropped his season-long batting line to .188/.272/361. Langford, meanwhile, hit just .224/.295/.293 through 129 plate appearances before landing on the IL due to a right hamstring strain. Langford will now get a chance to improve his numbers while Carter takes some time to rest up and get healthy for later in the season.

Injuries have also been a key storyline for the Texas rotation all year long. They knew long ago that Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle would be on the IL for the first half, as each of them underwent Tommy John surgery in the middle of last season. Then Max Scherzer required back surgery in the offseason. There was a time when it seemed like he could come back in mid-May but he has been delayed by thumb soreness and his timeline is still up in the air.

Since the season started, the Rangers have also seen Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, Michael Lorenzen and Cody Bradford miss time on the injured list. All that has left Andrew Heaney as the only consistent member of the rotation this year.

Some of those IL stints have now ended, including Eovaldi’s today, so the rotation currently consists of him, Heaney, Dunning, Lorenzen and José Ureña. The club used Gerson Garabito for a spot start on Sunday and it seemed he could stick around for now as a long reliever.

The various injuries up and down the roster have seemingly prevented the defending champions from charging out of the gate this year, as they are currently 25-29 on the season. But the American League West is surprisingly weak so far this year, as the Astros are also struggling. The Rangers are second to the Mariners, just 3.5 games back and still very much in it.

Getting Eovaldi back on the mound is obviously helpful, as he had a 2.61 ERA prior to hitting the IL with a groin strain and had a 3.63 ERA for the Rangers last year. Langford could slot into the designated hitter role that Adolis García has been in recently, pushing García back to the outfield next to Leody Taveras and a rotation of Ezequiel Durán, Robbie Grossman and Derek Hill, with Carter hopefully jumping back into that mix once he’s healthy.

AL Notes: Mejia, Bellinger, Yankees, Carter, Twins

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The Angels released Francisco Mejia earlier today, and the veteran catcher has already had some “initial talks” with the Rays about a return to Tampa, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.  Mejia spent the last three seasons as part of the Rays’ catching mix, having time with Mike Zunino, Christian Bethancourt, and Rene Pinto before Tampa Bay designated Mejia for assignment last August and subsequently outrighted him off their 40-man roster.  Mejia chose to remain in the organization rather than opt for free agency in the wake of that outright assignment, but he became a free agent after the season and signed with the Angels on a minor league contract.

Pinto and Alex Jackson look to be Tampa’s preferred catching combo heading into the 2024 season, but the Rays were known to be looking for more depth at the position.  Re-signing a familiar face like Mejia would seem like a logical move in that department, even if a reunion with a catcher the Rays already seemingly moved on from last summer doesn’t represent much of an upgrade on a position that had been an issue for the team for years.  Mejia has hit .239/.284/.394 over 1098 career plate appearances in the majors, as the 28-year-old has only rarely shown any of the promise that made him a top prospect during his time in the Cleveland and San Diego farm systems.

Here’s some more from the American League….

  • The Yankees were linked to Cody Bellinger’s market early in the offseason, even if the Juan Soto trade seemingly closed the door on the chances of Bellinger in the Bronx well before Bellinger left the market for good by re-signing with the Cubs.  New York’s interest in Bellinger didn’t begin this offseason, as the club looked into signing Bellinger last winter and The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney reports that the Yankees also had interest in acquiring Bellinger prior to the last trade deadline.  Bellinger was seen as a major trade chip for much of the first half until the Cubs went on a hot streak and opted against selling at the deadline, leaving suitors for several of Chicago’s veterans out of luck.  Of course, the Yankees’ own fortunes changed, as the team’s midseason slump led the front office to have a very quiet deadline, perhaps as an acknowledgement that the roster was more than one player away.
  • Evan Carter and the Rangers seemingly avoided an injury scare today when x-rays came back negative on the outfielder’s left forearm, as manager Bruce Bochy told the Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland and other reporters.  Carter was hit by a Kyle Harrison during today’s Cactus League game and left the field after a visit from the team trainer, though it appears as though Carter is just day-to-day with some soreness.  One of the big favorites for AL Rookie of the Year honors heading into 2024, Carter made his MLB debut last September and immediately produced at a superstar level down the stretch and throughout the Rangers’ postseason run.
  • On paper, the pairing of Carlos Santana and Alex Kirilloff gives the Twins a platoon at first base, though manager Rocco Baldelli told The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman and other reporters that “I don’t think of it as a traditional platoon in any way because one of our guys [Santana] is a switch hitter.  You end up with different options because Santana can play pretty much any day….It just gives us a lot of flexibility.”  Since Minnesota also wants to give Kirilloff at-bats and keep him healthy, the defensively superior Santana figures to get the majority of the work at first base and Kirilloff could be DH, with both players appearing in the same lineup on a regular basis.  Two wrist surgeries and a shoulder surgery have limited Kirilloff to 192 games and 706 PA over his first three big league seasons, so adding Santana on a one-year, $5.25MM deal allowed Minnesota to bolster the first base position.

Quick Hits: Lovullo, Votto, Carter, Lopez

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Torey Lovullo received a one-year contract extension back in June, and it looks like a longer-term deal might soon be in the works for the Diamondbacks manager.  GM Mike Hazen told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert that when Lovullo’s extension was being negotiated over the summer, he told the skipper “we got to get through the rest of the season.  And I said if good things happen and we get to the playoffs and we get where we need to go, that he and I will have another conversation.”

Needless to say, plenty of “good things” have indeed taken place.  The D’Backs reached the playoffs, upset the NL Central-winning Brewers, and are two wins away from upsetting the Dodgers and reaching the NLCS for the third time in franchise history.  Lovullo and Hazen both joined the organization prior to the 2017 season, and with Hazen’s new deal keeping him in Arizona through at least the 2028 campaign, it makes sense that Lovullo would also be getting some extra security.  With the D’Backs going through some struggles prior to 2023, Lovullo had been kept on something of a short leash, as his previous two contracts had been a one-year deal with a club option (that was exercised), and then the one-year extension from June that has him locked up through the 2024 season.

More from around the baseball world….

  • Now that Joey Votto has said he wants to return next season, the question is whether or not the Reds will exercise their $20MM club option on Votto’s services, or buy out the option for $7MM.  In the view of Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, “the financial side of the decision on his option should be a no-brainer” given how Votto is worth more than $13MM as “a meaningful draw and revenue-enhancing player brand.”  Votto has become synonymous with Reds baseball on an international level, as Wittenmyer points out that Nike listed Votto 13th on their list of highest-selling jerseys.  With more revenue pouring into the Reds in terms of attendance and TV ratings, Wittenmyer feels it would be a misfire to let a franchise icon walk away, or even to give other teams a chance to negotiate in free agency.
  • Evan Carter’s immediate impact helped the Rangers reach the playoffs, and then advance past the Rays and take a 2-0 lead on the Orioles in the ALDS.  It has been quite the start for a player who just made his MLB debut a month ago today, and who was universally seen as a bizarrely huge reach when Texas selected him in the second round of the five-round 2020 draft.  Yahoo Sports’ Hannah Keyser explores how the Rangers found Carter as a high schooler in Tennessee, with that interest sparked because ex-pitching coordinator Danny Clark happened to be a childhood acquaintance of Carter’s father.  “We just kind of identified him a little bit earlier in the process and really liked him,” scout Derrick Tucker said, and few other teams even got a chance to see Carter play because the pandemic canceled his senior-year baseball season.  Though Carter hadn’t cracked even top-200 (from MLB Pipeline) or top-500 (from Baseball America) rankings, and despite the little margin for error in the shortened draft, the Rangers still make the pick and seem to have found a hidden gem.
  • The Guardians haven’t traditionally spent much on bullpen acquisitions, but Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer feels the team will “do more than kick the tires when it comes to trying to” re-sign Reynaldo Lopez.  Picked up off waivers by the Guards as part of their last-minute playoff push in late August, Lopez couldn’t have pitched any better during his brief time in Cleveland, with a perfect 0.00 ERA over 11 innings of relief work.  With a 3.14 ERA over 189 innings in 2021-23, Lopez has quietly become a very solid reliever since his full-time move to bullpen, and it figures to land him one of the more lucrative contracts of any free agent reliever this winter.  This might represent something of a splurge for the cost-conscious Guardians, but obviously they liked what they saw in the righty’s work.

Big Hype Prospects: Caminero, Langford, Holliday, Carter, Marte

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As the clock runs out on the 2023 season, we take a look at the Big Hype Prospects who have advanced their hype-levels to all new… levels.

Five Big Hype Prospects

Junior Caminero, 20, SS/3B, TBR (MLB)
(AA) 351 PA, 20 HR, 3 SB, .309/373/.548

The will they/won’t they dance with Caminero finally resolved. Despite foregoing a promotion to Triple-A, the Rays saw fit to inject an offensive weapon into their postseason repertoire. Part of me wonders how much gamesmanship went into leaving Caminero at Double-A, as if the Rays could convince their playoff rivals he wouldn’t be promoted, maybe they would scout him less? A player of his age and profile undoubtedly has exploitable weaknesses, so the deeper the Rays can get into the postseason before those weaknesses are discovered, the better. Caminero batted fifth in his first two MLB games, going 2-for-9 with a walk and producing impressive exit velocities on six batted balls. While small sample caveats apply, the beauty of exit velocity is instant gratification. A 112-mph EV immediately validates a hitter as possessing impressive pop. All the other stats, well, they need more time to mature into larger samples.

Wyatt Langford, 21, OF, TEX (AAA)
(4 levels) 200 PA, 10 HR, 12 SB, .360/.480/.677

With Caminero up, Langford is the next future superstar on the cusp of promotion. We discussed him last week prior to his promotion to Triple-A. Since then, he’s batted .368/.538/.526 in 26 plate appearances with MLB-level exit velocities. Round Rock has a three-game series remaining for the PCL Championship, and I suspect we’ll see Langford join the Rangers upon the conclusion of the series. Where he fits on the roster is less certain. Leody Taveras is a quality defender with a league-average bat, and Evan Carter has performed well in limited action. Langford likely represents a net upgrade on both outfielders, but it can be tough to justify changing something that’s working well. Now might be the wrong moment to mess with team chemistry.

Jackson Holliday, 19, SS, BAL (AAA)
(4 levels) 581 PA, 12 HR, 24 SB, .323/.442/.499

Like Langford, the Norfolk Tides have a championship series over the next three days. If Holliday is summoned to the Majors, it will likely follow these games. He’s had a longer stint in Triple-A, and after a slow start, he’s up to .267/.396/.400 in 91 plate appearances. His average quality of contact is better than a typical Major Leaguer, but his top-end EVs are poor. That’s no cause for concern. Holliday is a teenager. If anything, it might indicate that the Orioles are best served to play it slow rather than forcing an awkward situation with a last-minute promotion. Holliday might represent a modest upgrade over Adam Frazier and Jordan Westburg at second base. He certainly improves upon seldom-used benchman Ryan McKenna. Whether that’s sufficient cause for a promotion is a tough question to answer.

Evan Carter, 21, OF, TEX (MLB)
(CPX/AA/AAA) 513 PA, 12 HR, 25 SB, .288/.413/.450

Though he is deservedly a Top 10 prospect, Carter profiles differently than most of the top names. He’s one of the surest things in the minors. True stardom might be out of his grasp, especially in this rich era of uber-prospects. Then again, no era of baseball has offered players such tangible opportunity to transform their game. The high-floor, low-ceiling expectation is reinforced by a profile, build, and approach that screams “Brandon Nimmo clone.” Nimmo, of course, recently signed a nine-figure deal entering his age-30 season, hence everyone’s comfort ranking Carter highly. Still, nobody expects Nimmo to carry the Mets. He’s a rich man’s complementary piece. Carter seems destined for a similar role.

Carter is off to a hot start in the Majors. Improbably, he’s hit four home runs in 54 plate appearances as part of a .318/.426/.705 batting line. The dingers, in addition to a .400 BABIP, have served to carry his offensive line beyond even the wildest expectations. Look under the hood, and you’ll see Carter produces only modest quality of contact. He has a knack for barreling the ball, but those barrels aren’t impactful. Like Holliday, this is more of a “now” problem than a future concern. He’ll develop more pop as he ages.

Noelvi Marte, 21, 3B/SS, CIN (MLB)
(AA/AAA) 399 PA, 11 HR, 18 SB, .279/.358/.454

There are no questions about Marte’s exit velocities. They’re among the best in the game. Alas, a ball smashed into the ground is still a ground ball. He’s running a predictably high BABIP as the result of his worm murdering. He’s not producing any power numbers despite hitting the ball powerfully. We have every reason to anticipate growth from Marte in the coming years. What we’re seeing now is a fantastic platform for a quality Major Leaguer. At present, he’s roughly a replacement-level performer. He’s batting .293/.350/.380 (96 wRC+) in 100 plate appearances. If he can learn to generate any lift whatsoever, he’ll quickly morph into a dangerous hitter.

Three More

Orion Kerkering, PHI (22): Arguably the top pure relief prospect in the minors (excluding those being developed as starters), Kerkering features triple-digit gas. He lives off a filth-monster slider. After starting the season in Low-A, the right-hander made his big league debut on Sunday. He seems destined for high-leverage postseason innings.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, CIN (23): Since he has expended his rookie eligibility, this will be Encarnacion-Strand’s last appearance in this column. After an unimpressive August, CES has caught fire in September. Over the last 20 days, he’s batting .378/.429/.778 with six home runs in 49 plate appearances. Volatility will likely always be a part of his game.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC (21): Crow-Armstrong drew a trio of starts shortly after his promotion. He looked overmatched and has since been reduced to a pinch runner/defensive replacement role. I fully expect PCA to fill this same role in the postseason – assuming the Cubs hang onto a Wild Card slot.

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

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