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Gregory Infante

Orioles To Sign Gregory Infante

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The Orioles have agreed to a deal with right-hander Gregory Infante, MLBTR’s Steve Adams has learned (Twitter link). It’s a minor-league arrangement for the Venezuelan hurler, who is repped by Godoy Sports.

Infante, 31, has seen action in each of the past two seasons with the White Sox — his first time in the big leagues since a brief showing way back in 2010. He provided 54 2/3 useful innings in the 2017 campaign, working to a 3.13 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Things didn’t go as well in 2018 for Infante, who struggled through nine frames in the majors. He did rack up a strong 51:10 K/BB ratio over fifty innings at Triple-A, though he was also touched for ten long balls and ended with a 4.50 ERA at Charlotte.

There’s opportunity aplenty in the Baltimore bullpen, so this looks to be a nice landing spot for Infante. As things stand, only a few O’s relief jobs seem to be sewn up, with most of the spots likely to be competed in camp this spring.

White Sox Outright Gregory Infante

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The White Sox have outrighted right-handed reliever Gregory Infante, per a club announcement. It seems he’ll remain at Triple-A after clearing waivers.

Infante, 30, gave the South Siders 54 2/3 innings of 3.13 ERA pitching, with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9, in 2017. That was rather unexpected, given that six seasons had elapsed between his first, brief stint in the majors and his return last year.

Unfortunately, that nice story has not continued into the current campaign. Infante was knocked around in nine MLB innings before being optioned to Charlotte, where he surrendered 14 earned runs in his 18 innings of action.

AL Central Notes: Infante, White Sox, Jimenez, AJax

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It has been a long and winding path back to the big leagues for White Sox righty Gregory Infante, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. After briefly making his MLB debut at 22 years of age, the now-29-year-old had bounced around the upper minors waiting for another shot. That finally came after Infante threw 13 dominant innings at Triple-A Charlotte to open the current season, earning him a ticket back to the majors. “I am very happy and glad to get this opportunity,” Infante said. “The last seven years were tough years, but I also worked a lot in the last seven to get to this point because this is where you want to be as a player.”

  • That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
  • Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
  • Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.

Geovany Soto To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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The White Sox have announced that catcher Geovany Soto will undergo arthroscopic surgery for debridement and the removal loose bodies in his right elbow — a procedure that’ll sideline him for at least the next 12 weeks, per the team. Soto has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list, and his 40-man roster spot will go toright-hander Gregory Infante, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Charlotte. Cody Asche has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Infante on the active roster.

[Related: Updated White Sox Depth Chart]

Soto, 34, returned to the ChiSox for his second stint with the team this year and was expected to receive a fair share of the playing time, but he’s tallied just 48 plate appearances and batted .190/.271/.405 on the year thus far. He’ll now be out until at least mid-August due to the injury. In his stead, Omar Narvaez and Kevan Smith seem likely to handle the bulk of the catching duties on the South Side of Chicago.

The 25-year-old Narvaez should slot in as manager Rick Renteria’s primary backstop; since making his Major League debut in 2016, he’s proven to have a keen eye at the dish but hasn’t demonstrated much in the way of power. Narvaez has walked more than he’s struck out (13.9 percent versus 12.8 percent) and posted a collective .253/.355/.310 batting line in 187 plate appearances as a big leaguer to date. He’s caught just 18 percent of potential base thieves thus far in his career, though he’s gone 4-for-8 in that regard this year after struggling substantially in 2016 (2-for-25). Baseball Prospectus pegs him as a slighty below-average pitch framer.

As for Infante, the 29-year-old will be returning to the Majors for the first time since a brief, five-game stint with the White Sox all the way back in 2010. He has just 4 2/3 innings under his belt in the Majors, though he possesses a solid Triple-A track record and has been excellent there in 2017. Thus far with Charlotte, Infante has tossed 13 innings and allowed just three runs on seven hits and six walks with 16 strikeouts. Overall, he owns a 3.47 ERA in parts of seven Triple-A campaigns, though he’s been a bit wild there at times, averaging just under five walks per nine innings pitched.

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