Davis, 28, has reached the big league level in each of the past four seasons. He’s seen action with the Giants and Boston but always in a limited capacity. Davis has played in 38 MLB games and tallied 95 trips to the plate, hitting .207/.274/.299 with a 30.5% strikeout percentage.

Swing-and-miss has been an issue for Davis in the minor leagues as well. He fanned at a near-31% rate over 346 plate appearances with the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester last season. The right-handed hitter paired that with a strong 12.4% walk percentage but still stumbled to a .203/.312/.334 line overall.

Davis has fared better in previous Triple-A stints, however. Over parts of three seasons at the top minor league level, he owns a .258/.348/.503 slash with a 29.2% strikeout percentage while walking at a 10.6% clip.

Davis has experience at all three outfield positions. He’s primarily worked in right field as a professional, logging over 3000 minor league innings there compared to fewer than 800 frames in both left and center. The Mets have Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham lined up for outfield work, with Darin Ruf an option for the corners. Davis joins Abraham Almonte, Tim Locastro, Khalil Lee and DJ Stewart among non-roster players in camp.

None of these are a surprise, to be clear. Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of Major League service time, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minors has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group of players falls under that umbrella. The majority of the group will likely find minor league deals over the winter, although a few of the players in question could potentially find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

There will be several more waves of players of this ilk, and we’ll make note of them in bunches over the coming weeks as we await the launch of Major League free agency, when all unsigned players with at least six years of Major League service time will reach the open market. For now, here’s the first of what will likely be several waves of newly minted minor league free agents:

Catchers

• Taylor Davis (Pirates)
• Dustin Garneau (Tigers)
• Andrew Knapp (Giants)
• Pedro Severino (Brewers)

Infielders

• Willians Astudillo (Marlins)
• Johan Camargo (Phillies)
• Michael Chavis (Pirates)
• Matt Davidson (Athletics)
• Dixon Machado (Giants)
• Richie Martin (Orioles)
• Josh VanMeter (Pirates)
• Tyler Wade (Yankees)

Outfielders

• Greg Allen (Pirates)
• Lewis Brinson (Giants)
• Jaylin Davis (Red Sox)
• Jonathan Davis (Brewers)
• Jackson Frazier (Cubs)
• Brett Phillips (Orioles)

Pitchers

• Tyler Beede (Pirates)
• Austin Brice (Pirates)
• Miguel Del Pozo (Tigers)
• Jerad Eickhoff (Pirates)
• Luke Farrell (Reds)
• Paul Fry (Diamondbacks)
• Eric Hanhold (Pirates)
• Travis Lakins Sr. (Orioles)
• Mike Mayers (Angels)
• Daniel Mengden (Royals)
• Juan Minaya (Nationals)
• Sean Newcomb (Cubs)
• Dillon Peters (Pirates)
• Dereck Rodriguez (Twins)
• Cesar Valdez (Angels)
• Aneurys Zabala (Marlins)

Latest updates

• The Giants outrighted catcher Patrick Mazeika to Triple-A Sacramento, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Mazeika, who’d been DFA this week, didn’t make a big league appearance with San Francisco. Claimed off waivers from the Mets last month, he’s spent the past couple weeks on optional assignment to Sacramento. Mazeika hasn’t hit well there, but he’d posted solid numbers with New York’s top affiliate earlier in the season. Mazeika has never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service, so he’ll stick in the organization for this year’s final few weeks. He’d reach minor league free agency over the offseason if he’s not added back to the 40-man roster.

Earlier

• Red Sox outfielder Jaylin Davis went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Worcester, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The 28-year-old Davis has spent time with the Twins, Giants and Red Sox organizations over the past five years but has never carried his stout Triple-A production over to the big league level. Granted, none of those clubs has given him much of a look in the Majors; Davis has just 95 plate appearances in the big leagues, during which time he’s posted a tepid .207/.274/.299 batting line. Davis turned in a colossal .306/.397/.590 slash with 35 homers in 541 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for Minnesota and San Francisco in 2019, but even his Triple-A output has deteriorated since that standout showing. He’s had 353 turns at the plate in Triple-A this season and hit just .211/.317/.343 with a 30.9% strikeout rate.
• Right-hander Kohei Arihara, designated for assignment by the Rangers this week, cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Round Rock, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. That’s not particularly surprising, given Arihara’s struggles and the fact that he’s still owed the balance of this season’s $2.6MM salary. It’s “only” about $286K, but given that Arihara has yielded 21 earned runs in 20 innings this season and carries a 7.57 ERA in 60 2/3 frames dating back to 2021, he was never likely to be claimed. Texas signed the now-30-year-old righty on the heels of a solid six-year run in NPB (3.74 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate), hoping that he could provide some innings at the back of the rotation. That two-year, $6.2MM contract hasn’t panned out, however, and this is now the second time Arihara has been outrighted by the Rangers.

Chang, 28, has been a fixture of transaction logs this year, now joining his fourth organization of the season. He began the year with the Guardians but was designated for assignment in late May. He got traded to the Pirates for cash considerations but was designated for assignment again after a month in Pittsburgh. The Rays claimed him off waives from the Bucs and have kept him around for the past two months.

Chang was a fairly well regarded prospect but hasn’t yet had strong results in the major leagues. Since he is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors, he’s been continually nudged off rosters all year, with some other club always stepping up to give him another shot. His overall batting line this year is .216/.280/.324 for a wRC+ of 77. He has been better in recent months with the Rays, however, hitting .260/.305/.385 for a wRC+ of 101. Whether Chang’s bat has turned a corner or not, he will at least provide defensive versatility, having spent some time at each of the four infield positions this year.

The Red Sox are 69-72 on the year, leaving them 10 games out of a playoff spot with just over three weeks remaining on the schedule. With their hopes of competing effectively dashed at this point, they can use their remaining games to evaluate players prior to the winter, with Chang now entering the mix. The club’s current infield picture includes Xander Bogaerts, Trevor Story, Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Christian Arroyo, with Bogaerts expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this winter. The Sox make sense as a fit for a free agent shortstop to replace Bogaerts, though if they don’t succeed in signing one, they could also slide Story over and make Arroyo the everyday second baseman. That would give Chang a path to a job as a utility/bench infielder.

As for Davis, 28, the Red Sox claimed him from the Giants in April but passed him through waivers a couple weeks later. He was selected back to the roster in July. He has a great batting line in the majors though in a tiny sample of just 27 plate appearances. He’s hit .333/.407/.375 in the bigs this year despite striking out 40.7% of the time. He’s hit just .198/.315/.318 for Triple-A Worcester while going down on strikes in in 30.8% of his 305 plate appearances. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Sox will have no choice but to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days. Since Davis was previously outrighted, he’d have the ability to reject an assignment and elect free agency in the event he clears waivers again.

Devers, still just 25 years old is putting together another All-Star campaign. To this point, he has hit an undeniable .324/.379/.602 with 22 home runs in 380 plate appearances. With those kinds of numbers, the Red Sox won’t want to be long without their superstar at the hot corner. At 48-46, Boston doesn’t have a whole lot of wiggle room either – not in the crowded AL East.

Kiké Hernandez has already missed 39 games, and he recently was pulled from a rehab assignment. Moving him to the 60-day injured list at this stage doesn’t mean a whole lot, though it does open the spot on the 40-man for the Davis promotion.

Davis, 28, is 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts on the year for Boston. This is his fourth season of big league action, the first three coming with the Giants. All in all, he’s had just 72 plate appearances in the Majors. The Red Sox claimed him off waivers from the Giants at the end of April. In Triple-A between the two clubs this season, David is slashing .247/.336/.404 across 268 plate appearances.

In terms of filling in for Devers, there’s little the Red Sox can do to fill that void. Jeter Downs could be given an opportunity for some significant run here in the Majors. Downs, of course, is most noteworthy for being a prime piece in the Mookie Betts deal. That makes him a complicated player for the Red Sox organization, but this might be a small-sample opportunity to let him play through some early ups and downs.

Davis, 27, was claimed off waivers out of the Giants organization late last month. He hadn’t been outrighted previously in his career and doesn’t have three years of big league service time, so he didn’t have the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

Originally a 24th-round pick of the Twins back in 2015, Davis was traded from Minnesota to San Francisco in exchange for Sam Dyson at the 2019 trade deadline. Despite enormous Triple-A production with the Twins and Giants in ’19 — .306/.397/.590 with 35 home runs in 541 plate appearances — Davis has never managed to carry things over to the big leagues. He hit just .159/.221/.270 in parts of three seasons with the Giants (68 plate appearances) and was 2-for-4 in his pair of games with the Sox prior to his DFA.

Davis has continued to post solid power numbers in Triple-A, but he’s never replicated that 2019 production — even in the minors. He hit .230/.317/.503 with the Giants’ top affiliate last year and is out to a .257/.282/.446 start between the Triple-A clubs of the Red Sox and Giants so far in 2022. Strikeouts have become an increasing issue for Davis over the years, as evidenced by last year’s 31.7% punchout rate and this year’s mark of 32.1% in 78 plate appearances.

Hill returns after a little over a week on the COVID-IL, as the lefty tested positive for the coronavirus.  Now in his age-42 season and in his fourth different stint with the Red Sox, Hill is still effective, posting a 2.86 ERA over his first five starts and 22 innings of the season.

With Michael Wacha still on the regular injured list due to left intercostal irritation, Hill’s return will bring one full-time starter back into the Red Sox rotation.  Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck comprised the rest of the starting five, with the expectation that Houck will likely return to bullpen duty once Wacha is ready.

Davis was claimed off waivers from the Giants in late April, and the outfielder has played nine games at Triple-A Worcester and two games at the big league level.  That makes it a fourth straight season of MLB action for Davis, albeit in somewhat sparing fashion, with only 28 games and 72 plate appearances on his resume in the Show.  The 27-year-old Davis is struggling to shed the “Quad-A” label, as he has yet to produce much in the majors, but also little else to prove in the minors (a .958 OPS over 554 PA at the Triple-A level).

Davis, 27, is a righty-hitting outfielder with 26 games of big league experience. He suited up briefly at the major league level in each season from 2019-21, with 47 of his 68 plate appearances to date coming during his debut campaign. Davis only owns a .159/.221/.270 line in that limited time, but he’s been a prospect of some regard for the past few years.

Drafted by the Twins out of Appalachian State in 2015, Davis moved fairly slowly through the minors, in part owing to a shoulder injury that cost him the entirety of his post-draft summer. He reached Double-A by the end of the 2018 season and got off to an excellent start at the minors’ top two levels the following year. Minnesota dealt him to San Francisco at the 2019 deadline, and he made his MLB debut as a September call-up.

Baseball America slotted him as the #16 prospect in the Giants’ organization entering the 2020 season, praising his athleticism, arm strength and raw power. BA noted some questions about his hit tool, though, a concern also echoed by Kevin Goldstein and Tess Taruskin at FanGraphs this February. Davis has struck out in 27.9% of his plate appearances in the minor leagues, and he owns a subpar 62.6% contact rate thus far in the majors.

That said, Davis has overcome his swing-and-miss issues to post massive numbers at Triple-A. Over parts of three seasons, he’s a .293/.371/.612 hitter at the level. The Triple-A hitting environment has been very favorable in recent years, which no doubt helps, but Davis’ 38 homers in 523 plate appearances are eye-catching even in a supercharged offensive league. He’s in his final option year, so the Sox can keep him at Worcester as outfield depth for the rest of this season if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

1:15pm: The Cubs are trading right-handed pitcher Cory Abbott to the Giants, reports Russell Dorsey of Bally Sports. It’ll be cash considerations going the other way, per Robert Murray of FanSided.

Abbott was selected by the Cubs in the second round of the 2017 draft and was well-regarded among Chicago farmhands almost immediately. Baseball America has ranked him between #8 and #23 in the system since 2018. Primarily working as a starter, he climbed the ranks of the minors and was selected to the club’s 40-man roster in advance of the 2020 Rule 5 draft. Last year, he threw 17 1/3 innings for the big league club with a 6.75 ERA, 14.6% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate. He was much better in 96 Triple-A innings, however, striking out 29.8% of batters, though he still had a high walk rate of 12.2% and a 5.91 ERA.

Abbott was designated for assignment last week and will now head out to his new team on the West Coast. For the Giants, there’s almost no risk in throwing some cash to the Cubs and seeing if Abbott can find another gear to make good on the promise he showed as a prospect. He’s still only 26 years old and has options. The club recently put Alex Cobb on the injured list, which dinged their rotation slightly, though he’s not expected to be out for an extended period of time.

Beede is in line to make his first major league appearance since 2019. The former first-round pick underwent an ill-timed Tommy John surgery in March 2020. That cost him all of last season and almost the entire first half of 2021. Beede was a regular member of San Francisco’s starting five during his last healthy run. He made 24 appearances (22 starts) in 2019, tossing 117 innings of 5.08 ERA ball with average strikeout and walk rates (21.6% and 8.8%, respectively). There could be room for Beede to step back into the rotation; Logan Webb has been on the IL since last month due to a shoulder strain, and Sammy Long just hit the IL himself due to a low back strain.

Sherfy signed a minor league deal with the Giants over the offseason and earned a spot on the big league roster in early June. The 29-year-old pitched respectably over 10 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and four walks with nine strikeouts. Sherfy has pitched in the majors in each of the past four years, combining for 56 innings of 3.21 ERA/3.99 SIERA ball. That solid track record could attract the interest of another club, although any acquiring team would have to keep the out-of-options Sherfy on the active roster or designate him for assignment themselves. The Giants will have a week to trade the right-hander or place him on waivers.

Tauchman is only expected to miss 10-14 days, as his sprain is relatively minor, the team told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Upon his return, the 30-year-old will need to perform better than he has in recent weeks. The Giants acquired Tauchman from the Yankees in April, but the left-handed hitter has only managed a .180/.292/.295 line in 161 plate appearances in black and orange. Tauchman is out of minor league option years, so the Giants will need to continue to keep him on the active roster once he returns from the IL or make him available to other clubs.

The activation is a nice birthday present for Davis, who turns 27 years old today. He’ll be making his season debut once he gets into a game. Davis has been sidelined all year by right knee tendinitis. The powerful right-handed hitter hasn’t done much over 59 major league plate appearances to date, but he’s mashed at a .329/.412/.709 clip in 357 trips to the dish at Triple-A.

The Giants also provided an update on injured first baseman Brandon Belt. He’ll attempt to rehab from the right knee inflammation that sent him to the IL last week (via Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic). Surgery, which would’ve sidelined Belt for eight-to-twelve weeks, had been on the table, but there’s a realistic chance for the 33-year-old to return without going under the knife. There’s no timetable for his return, but Baggarly notes he’ll be “definitiely” be back in less than two months if all goes well.

New York designated Estrada for assignment earlier this week to free up roster space for the newly-acquired Rougned Odor.  Estrada has spent his entire professional career in the Yankees organization, hitting .280/.337/.389 with 26 home runs over 1949 minor league plate appearances from 2013-19 and .214/.267/.348 over 121 PA at the Major League level in 2019-20.  Rather than his bat, Estrada’s value came from his defensive versatility, as he logged a lot of playing time at shortstop, second base, and third base in the minors, and also made a few appearances as a corner outfielder in 2019.

Estrada may have a tough time breaking into a Giants depth chart that is already full of multi-positional infielders, but he might be a better depth option behind Brandon Crawford at shortstop than Donovan Solano or Mauricio Dubon, particularly since Dubon has been increasingly deployed as an outfielder.

Davis was already expected to be sidelined for four-to-six weeks due to his knee issue, so the 60-day placement will allow Davis some time to fully ramp up in the minors before the Giants consider finding a spot for him on the active roster.  The 26-year-old has seen action with San Francisco in each of the last two seasons, appearing in 21 total games with a .515 OPS over 59 PA.

• Kyle Freeland is working his way back from a shoulder injury suffered near the end of spring training, and there’s no timetable for his return. That said, he does appear to be making progress, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Specifics remain scarce, but the presumption seems to be that Freeland’s injury won’t threaten his season. The Rockies are able to start the season with a four man rotation, but they’ll soon need to add another arm to the mix beyond German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, Jon Gray, and Austin Gomber. Newly-signed Jhoulys Chacin could be a candidate for bulk innings. Keep an eye on Antonio Santos in the long-term. The 24-year-old righty made his debut last season after just eight starts in Double-A. He may not be the first name called this season, but he’s likely to find his way back to the Majors at some point in 2021.
• The Giants released a number of injury updates, per MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado (via Twitter). Jaylin Davis will be out for four to six weeks as he rehabs left knee tendinitis. John Brebbia and Tyler Beede are both throwing twice-weekly bullpens as they prepare to come back from Tommy John surgery. Dedniel Nunez underwent his own Tommy John surgery this past Tuesday, and he will begin his rehab process this week. Lastly, Alex Wood threw a sim game as he tries to return from a lower back strain. Wood was expected to play a big role in the Giants rotation picture this season, and they still hope that’s the case.

Jimenez, 26, was selected out of the Blue Jays organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft, but his brief time with the Giants didn’t go particularly well. He allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings of work and walked three of the eight batters he faced. Jimenez threw only 37 pitches with the Giants, and fewer than half of those offerings were strikes. The righty was certainly impressive in the minors last year — albeit against younger competition. In 59 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, Jimenez notched a 2.59 ERA with 14.2 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.

Jimenez will be put through waivers now, and if he’s claimed by another club, he’d retain his Rule 5 status with the new team. If Jimenez goes unclaimed, he’ll be offered back to the Blue Jays. The two clubs could also work out a trade that’d allow the Giants to retain Jimenez’s rights as a non-roster player who’d no longer be tied to Rule 5 roster limitations.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Davis sent down, as the Giants appear high on the 26-year-old slugger. Acquired from the Twins a year ago in the Sam Dyson swap that proved quite regrettable for Minnesota — Dyson had a shoulder injury he’d not disclosed to the Giants or Twins that required surgery — Davis has gotten out to a slow start. He’s appeared in four games and gone just 2-for-12 with a solo home run and six strikeouts. Today’s move notwithstanding, the Giants will surely want to take a longer look at Davis after he decimated minor league pitching to the tune of a .306/.397/.590 slash last year. It seems likely that he’ll be up again in the not-too-distant future, but for now he’ll work at the team’s alternate site while Duggar gets another go-around at the MLB level.

• The Nationals plan to give Carter Kieboom an opportunity to win the third base job, manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). The 22-year-old is a consensus top prospect coming off a year in which he hit .303/.409/.493 with 16 home runs in 494 plate appearances. Kieboom has played mostly in the middle infield in the minors, but Martinez indicated he’ll be used strictly as a third baseman for the time being. Washington hadn’t previously had room for Kieboom at the hot corner, but the departure of Anthony Rendon and failure to reel in Josh Donaldson created an opening. If Kieboom doesn’t prove ready for everyday playing time on a contender, Asdrúbal Cabrera gives Martinez a fallback option. Starlin Castro is on hand, too, but it seems Washington will keep him at second base full-time, relays Sam Fortier of the Washington Post.
• Marlins’ outfield prospect Monte Harrison has an opportunity to win a spot on Miami’s season-opening roster, relays Joe Frisaro of MLB.com as part of a reader mailbag. Harrison, one of Miami’s top prospects, slashed a solid but unspectacular .274/.357/.451 in his first crack at Triple-A last season. Given the continued struggles of Lewis Brinson, who was acquired alongside Harrison in the regrettable Christian Yelich trade, there could be an opportunity for Harrison to claim the center field job. As Frisaro notes, Harrison is already on the Marlins’ 40-man roster, so no further move would be necessary.
• Mike Yastrzemski seems likely to get the first crack at the center field job for the Giants, relays Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. That could give an opportunity for prospect Jaylin Davis, acquired last summer from the Twins, to stake a claim to a corner outfield spot. Yastrzemski was quite good for San Francisco in 2019, slashing .272/.334/.518 (121 wRC+) while serving primarily in the corner outfield, although he did start a pair of games in center. It’s an open question whether he can sustain that level of offensive production, considering he was previously an unheralded 28-year-old rookie. Steven Duggar’s also on hand and is a more natural fit in center defensively, but Pavlovic notes that he’s unlikely to have an everyday role. That’s not surprising, as Duggar owns a woeful .241/.286/.358 line (72 wRC+) over the past two seasons.