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Mitch Walding

Padres Sign Mitch Walding To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have signed Mitch Walding to a minor league contract, as AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reported. The 29-year-old appeared in the majors with the Phillies in both 2018-19, although he only tallied 15 combined games.

Walding has spent the bulk of his career as an infielder, logging more than 7000 professional innings at third base. However, he tells Cassavell he’s agreed to convert to catching. “My goal was finding anything that could get me back to the big leagues,” the former fifth-round pick said of the position change. “I looked at that as an alternate route that could really do some good for my career. So I got to work.”

While Walding has scant big league experience, he’s a nine-year minor league veteran. The left-handed hitter owns a .241/.341/.392 mark over parts of nine seasons on the farm, including a .240/.367/.433 line in three years at Triple-A. He the 2021 campaign with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, hitting .238/.326/.451 with six home runs in 138 plate appearances. Walding struck out at an insurmountable 47.1% clip there, though, and he missed a good chunk of the year on the injured list.

No matter which position he mans, Walding will need to make more contact to get back to the MLB level. The offensive bar to clear is far lower for catchers than it is for third basemen, so a transition to his new position could ease some of the demand he faces at the dish. Yet that requires a successful late-career acclimation to perhaps the toughest spot on the diamond. Walding was credited by Baseball America with a plus arm during his days in the Phillies farm system, but whether he’ll be able to handle the finer points of the position (game calling, receiving, etc.) is to be determined. The Padres already have a fair bit of catching depth on the 40-man roster, but they could view that surplus as an opportunity to upgrade elsewhere whenever the lockout comes to an end.

Post-Deadline Outrights: Flynn, De La Cruz, Guerra, Blazek

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In the immediate aftermath of the trade deadline, a handful of clubs cleared 40-man roster space with a series of designations. Many of those players have since cleared waivers, and we’ll round up those minor moves here…

Latest Moves

  • The Royals announced that southpaw Brian Flynn was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers.  Flynn has a 5.22 ERA over 29 1/3 innings for K.C. this season, a disappointing result for a reliever who posted solid numbers out of the Royals’ bullpen in both 2016 and 2018.

Earlier Today

  • Cubs minor-league right-hander Oscar de la Cruz has cleared waivers. The 24 year-old has seen his once-lofty prospect status deteriorate due to a combination of injuries, command woes, and a suspension for a masking agent. He’ll remain with the club’s AA affiliate in the Southern League.
  • Nationals right-handers Javy Guerra and Michael Blazek each cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A Fresno. Because each veteran has previously been outrighted, they may elect free agency, but the shaky Washington bullpen could plausibly offer them the best opportunity to return to the big leagues in short order.
  • Giants right-handed reliever Dan Winkler was outrighted. San Francisco acquired him as a salary offset in the Mark Melancon trade but never had any interest in letting him see the field amidst a disappointing 2019 season. Winkler can elect free agency because he has over three years of MLB service.
  • Rockies left-handed relief arm Harrison Musgrave will remain on hand at Triple-A Albuquerque after clearing. The 27 year-old has had little success in 45 MLB games in Colorado over the past two seasons.
  • Diamondbacks right-hander Joey Krehbiel will remain on-hand at Triple-A Reno. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel named the 26 year-old reliever a prospect to watch thanks to a plus changeup preseason, but he’s had a nightmarish season in the Pacific Coast League.
  • Veteran catcher Tim Federowicz has cleared. The backstop had been playing for the Rangers, but he may elect to catch on elsewhere on a minor-league deal.
  • Phillies corner infielder Mitch Walding has also cleared waivers. He’ll remain in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he’s struggled to make contact in 2019.
  • Eric Stamets, the Indians’ Opening Day shortstop, has cleared as well. The 27 year-old has put up anemic offensive numbers with Triple-A Columbus, where he’ll continue to try to right the ship, over the past two seasons.

Phillies Designate Mitch Walding For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Tuesday that they’ve designated infielder Mitch Walding for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Blake Parker, whose previously reported signing has now been made official.

Walding, 26, was hitless in two plate appearances with the Phils and has struggled considerably with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2019. Through 346 plate appearances there, he’s batted .204/.350/.366 with a sky-high 38 percent strikeout rate. Strikeouts were an issue for Walding last season as well, but not to this extent. The first baseman/third baseman hit .265/.390/.474 with the IronPigs a year ago and collected his first MLB hit when he reached the Majors (though he received just 19 plate appearances). Walding has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season.

Phillies Select Mitch Walding, Transfer Jerad Eickhoff To 60-Day DL

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The Phillies announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Mitch Walding from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and created a spot on the 40-man roster by shifting righty Jerad Eickhoff from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Walding will step into the spot that had been previously occupied by Pedro Florimon, who has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. Florimon sustained a broken bone last night when he fouled a ball into his foot.

Walding, 25, has played third base almost exclusively in the minors, so he won’t be able to replicate Florimon’s ability to handle shortstop. But he’ll bring a productive Triple-A bat to the table, having slashed .271/.379/.484 through 182 plate appearances so far in his first crack at the Triple-A level. Though Walding’s 29.7 percent strikeout rate and .372 BABIP in Lehigh Valley suggest that his overall line is likely to regress, he’s also walked at a 14.3 percent clip and largely continued the uptick in power he displayed at the Double-A level in 2017, when he smacked a career-high 25 homers.

As for Eickhoff, the move is largely a procedural one. The right-hander was placed on the 10-day disabled list at the beginning of the season due to a strained lat muscle, and the team recently halted his rehab program after he experienced some numbness in his fingertips. Eickhoff wouldn’t have returned by the 60-day mark of the season anyhow, and the move to the 60-day DL doesn’t reset his DL “clock,” so to speak, meaning he’ll still be eligible to be activated whenever the Phillies deem him healthy enough to embark on and complete a new minor league rehab assignment. That said, it’s not clear at all just when Eickhoff might be medically cleared to do so.

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