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Kyle Hart

KBO’s NC Dinos Sign Kyle Hart

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Left-hander Kyle Hart signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization, the team announced (h/t to  Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News). He’ll be paid a $200K signing bonus and a $500K salary, while there’s another $200K in possible incentives.

Hart, a 6’5″ hurler from the University of Indiana, has four major league games to his name. Those came with the Red Sox in 2020. He struggled in that limited look, allowing 21 runs in 11 innings. While he hasn’t gotten back to the big leagues since, he signed successive minor league contracts with the Phillies and Mariners this past season.

The former 19th-round pick only pitched once for the Phils’ top farm team. He was a regular member of the rotation for Seattle’s Triple-A team after signing in June, however. Over 18 starts in the Pacific Coast League, Hart posted a 4.58 ERA through 88 1/3 innings. He struck out a reasonable 22.1% of opponents against a 9.1% walk rate.

This will be Hart’s first overseas stint. He joins former Marlins left-hander Daniel Castano as the club’s two foreign-born pitchers to open the season. They replace Erick Fedde (who signed a $15MM deal with the White Sox) and Tanner Tully. Yoo notes that the team is not retaining outfielder Jason Martin, so they’ll look for an additional hitter to meet their allotted three non-Korean players.

Mariners Sign Kyle Hart To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have signed left-hander Kyle Hart to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Hart, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Phillies this winter and began his season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley but was released after a one-inning appearance in which he didn’t allow a run. He’s been on the open market for about six weeks but has now landed a new gig.

Prior to this year, Hart spent his entire career in the Red Sox organization. That club selected him in the 19th round of the 2016 draft and utilized him primarily as a starter in the lower levels of their minor league system. In 2019, he tossed 156 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.52 ERA and earned himself a spot on the 40-man roster. He made it to the majors in 2020 and made four appearances, including three starts, but posted a 15.55 ERA in those.

He was outrighted off the roster after that year and continued pitching on the farm for the Sox for the next two years, both as a starter and a reliever. He tossed 106 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2021 with a 4.91 ERA, then posted a 5.25 ERA in 2022 over 82 1/3 innings between Triple-A and Double-A.

It’s unclear if the Mariners are interested in Hart as a starter or reliever. They’ve had some injuries to their rotation, with Robbie Ray and Easton McGee out for the year due to Tommy John surgery while Marco Gonzales just landed on the IL due to a forearm strain. That has forced rookies Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo up to the big leagues and thinned the depth a bit. There’s also a couple of relievers on the IL but they’re both right-handed, as lefties Gabe Speier and Tayler Saucedo currently make up the southpaw contingent in the big leagues. They also have non-roster lefties like Eric Stout and Rob Kaminsky in Triple-A.

Hart could perhaps join that group or give the club some extra rotation depth. If he finds his way back onto the 40-man roster, he still has a couple of option seasons and less than a year of service time, meaning he could potentially serve as a depth piece for quite some time if he were to hang onto that roster spot.

Phillies To Sign Kyle Hart To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies are in agreement with left-hander Kyle Hart on a minor league deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The southpaw will presumably receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Hart, 30, will join just his second organization, as he was drafted by the Red Sox and has spent his entire career with them up until this point. Working primarily as a starter in the minors, he had a solid showing in 2019, splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A. He made 24 starts and three relief appearances that year between those two levels, tossing 156 innings with a 3.52 ERA, 22% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

That season was strong enough that the Sox added him to their 40-man roster to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. In 2020, Hart made his major league debut but registered a 15.55 ERA in 11 innings. He was outrighted off the club’s roster in November of that year and has continued pitching in the minors, but not quite reaching that form he showed in 2019. In 2021, he had a 4.22 ERA in 106 2/3 Triple-A innings. Last year, he posted a 5.25 ERA in 82 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.

Hart reached free agency for the first time after the 2022 campaign wrapped and has used it to find a new opportunity. The Phillies will see if a change of scenery can help Hart get back on track after a few disappointing years. The club’s rotation will consist of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez and Taijuan Walker, with the final spot open for a battle between guys like Bailey Falter, Christopher Sánchez, Andrew Painter and Mick Abel. In the bullpen, the Phils will have a few lefty options in José Alvarado, Gregory Soto, Matt Strahm and Andrew Vasquez. It’s unclear if the Phils view Hart as a starter or reliever exclusively, but he could perhaps provide some depth in either area. If he makes it onto the club’s roster at any point, he still has a couple of option seasons and less than one year of service time.

Red Sox Add 7 Players To 40-Man Roster; Weber, Hall Designated For Assignment

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The Red Sox designated lefty Matt Hall and righty Ryan Weber for assignment Friday afternoon, per a club announcement. Additionally, southpaw Kyle Hart cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Those three moves helped clear space for the team to select seven players to the MLB roster: catcher/infielder Connor Wong, right-hander Eduard Bazardo, third baseman Hudson Potts, righty Bryan Mata, righty Connor Seabold, outfielder Jeisson Rosario and lefty Jay Groome. All seven are now shielded from being selected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

It’s something of an indictment on Boston’s 2020 pitching staff that Weber, who ranked third on the team in innings pitched, was immediately cut loose. Both Hart and Hall started games for the Sox in 2020 as well. The team’s leader in innings pitched, Martin Perez, had his option bought out at season’s end.

Ownership might not have wanted to publicly acknowledge that the team punted the 2020 season, but the nature of the moves involving the team’s 2020 pitching staff speak for themselves. This club was always a long shot to contend in a deep AL East, although certainly the injury to Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez’s unsettling bout with myocarditis after a Covid-19 battle didn’t help their cause. A lack of depth was always plain to see, however, and this club long looked ill-prepared to deal with inevitable injury troubles that virtually all teams encounter.

Mata, 21, has climbed as high as Double-A and has long been considered one of the organization’s better young arms. Groome probably needs some development time after injuries have slowed the former first-rounder’s career.

Several of today’s names have been added to the system via high-profile trades across the past 12 months. The 24-year-old Wong has also played in Double-A, and as one of the pieces received in the Mookie Betts/David Price blockbuster, is someone the team has high hopes for in the future. Potts is a 2016 first-rounder of the Padres who came over in the Mitch Moreland swap and has also reached the Double-A level. Rosario also landed in Boston via that swap, though he’s further from the Majors having not yet played beyond Class-A Advanced. Seabold could get a look in the rotation as soon as 2021 after coming over from the Phillies in the Brandon Workman/Heath Hembree trade.

Red Sox Promote Tanner Houck

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SEPT. 15: The Houck promotion is official. In corresponding moves, the Red Sox moved lefty Kyle Hart to the 45-day IL and placed RHP Andrew Triggs on the 10-day IL with right radial nerve irritation.

SEPT. 13: The Red Sox are planning to promote pitching prospect Tanner Houck to make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Marlins, per various reporters (including Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic). Ian Browne of MLB.com first reported that a Houck call-up was likely. He will need to be added to the 40-man roster before the promotion can become official.

Boston’s 2017 first-round pick (24th overall) out of the University of Missouri, Houck needed to be added to the 40-man this winter regardless in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. There’s little to lose for the out-of-contention Red Sox in getting an abbreviated look at Houck in the season’s final couple weeks.

The 24-year-old has seen his stock dip somewhat since draft day, although he’s still regarded as one of the club’s best short-term pitching prospects. Houck places among Boston’s top fifteen farmhands in the estimation of Keith Law of the Athletic (10th), MLB Pipeline (10th), Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (11th) and Baseball America (13th). There’s some division among prospect rankers whether Houck will be able to effectively work through opposing lineups multiple times (particularly those heavy on left-handed batters), although the Red Sox will surely give Houck a shot as a starter initially.

Boston’s rotation, without Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez all year, has been atrocious. Red Sox starters have a league-worst 6.18 FIP, and only the Tigers’ rotation has mustered a worse ERA (6.64) than Boston’s 6.25. Nathan Eovaldi has been passable, but there haven’t been many bright spots behind him. That offers Houck plenty of opportunity to stick in the Sox rotation in 2021 and beyond should he prove capable.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
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