These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

• Zack Collins (Guardians)
• Caleb Hamilton (Red Sox)
• Francisco Mejia (Rays)

Infielders

• Matt Beaty (Royals)
• Brandon Dixon (Padres)
• Josh Lester (Orioles)
• Taylor Motter (Cardinals)
• Kevin Padlo (Angels)
• Cole Tucker (Rockies)
• Tyler Wade (A’s)

Outfielders

• Abraham Almonte (Mets)
• Kyle Garlick (Twins)
• Derek Hill (Nationals)
• Bryce Johnson (Giants)
• Cody Thomas (A’s)

Pitchers

• Archie Bradley (Marlins)
• Jose Castillo (Marlins)
• Chase De Jong (Pirates)
• Geoff Hartlieb (Marlins)
• Zach Logue (Tigers)
• Mike Mayers (White Sox)
• Tyson Miller (Dodgers)
• Tommy Milone (Mariners)
• Reyes Moronta (Angels)
• Daniel Norris (Guardians)
• Spencer Patton (A’s)
• Peter Solomon (Orioles)
• Duane Underwood Jr. (Pirates)
• Spenser Watkins (A’s)

Patton has pitched 12 times for the A’s over two stints. He’s logged 12 1/3 innings, mostly in low-leverage relief, allowing seven runs. Patton has punched out seven while walking six and given up a trio of home runs. The 35-year-old has spent more time in Las Vegas, working to a 4.68 ERA across 42 1/3 frames in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Patton has fanned a decent 24.3% of opponents in Triple-A against a 10.1% walk rate.

A former 24th-round pick, Patton has appeared at the major league level in parts of six seasons. Pitching for the Rangers, Cubs and A’s, he owns a 5.11 ERA over 116 1/3 innings. He has worked to a 3.36 ERA through parts of six Triple-A campaigns and allowed 3.68 earned runs per nine in four years at Japan’s highest level.

As was the case when the A’s outrighted Patton in May, he’ll have the ability to elect free agency in lieu of the minor league assignment.

Patton, 35, signed a minor league deal with the club in April and has twice now been selected for short stints with the big league club. He got into four games in May before being designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment, which allowed him to return a few weeks ago, having made another eight appearances since then. Between those two stints, he has a 5.11 earned run average in 12 1/3 innings, striking out just 12.7% of hitters while walking 10.9%.

The A’s will place him on waivers in the coming days. It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out as earlier in the season, with Patton going unclaimed. He will again have the right to elect free agency at that time. In 113 career games in the majors dating back to 2014, he has a 5.11 ERA. He also spent 2017 to 2020 in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball with a 3.68 ERA in that league.

Lucas, 26, gets selected to a big league roster for the first time and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Selected by the Marlins in 14th round of the 2019 draft, he was traded to the Orioles that December for infielder Jonathan Villar. He was then involved in another swap, going to the A’s a few months back as the return in the deal that sent right-hander Shintaro Fujinami to Baltimore.

Between the two organizations, he’s tossed 46 2/3 innings this year at Double-A and Triple-A. He has a combined 3.86 ERA, along with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. He will join Sean Newcomb and Francisco Pérez as the club’s left-handed relievers for the time being and try to earn his way into the club’s plans for next year.

Patton returns to the big leagues a little over three months since being outrighted off the roster. The 35-year-old hurler signed a minor league pact with Oakland in April. He was called up a few weeks later and pitched four times, allowing four runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. Patton returned to Las Vegas after clearing waivers and has had an alright showing there in an extremely hitter-friendly setting.

Over 40 outings, he owns a 4.68 ERA through 42 1/3 frames. He has struck out an above-average 24.3% of opposing hitters against a slightly elevated 10.1% walk rate. Including his early-season stint in the Bay Area, Patton has appeared in parts of six big league campaigns for a trio of teams. He has a 5.19 ERA in 109 1/3 MLB innings. Patton is out of minor league options, so the A’s will have to keep him in the big league bullpen or again put him on waivers.

Medina, acquired from the Yankees in the Frankie Montas trade, has had a tough debut campaign. The 24-year-old has started 13 of 18 appearances this year, allowing a 5.44 ERA through 86 frames. His 21.5% strikeout rate and 43.8% grounder percentage aren’t far off the big league averages, but he’s walking 11% of opponents. He’s looking to stake a claim to a rotation spot going into next season but will need at least two weeks off because of the blister issue.

Noda, yet another first-year player, has been one of the A’s best players this year. Selected out of the Dodgers’ system with the second pick in last winter’s Rule 5 draft, he’s reaching base at an excellent .375 clip through his first 90 games. Noda has been very prone to strikeouts, but he has collected 11 homers and is walking in nearly 18% of his plate appearances. He missed around a month with a fractured jaw.

His return pushes Soderstrom off the big league roster. The former first-round pick has been regarded as one of the better offensive talents in the minor leagues. He secured his first big league call during the All-Star Break and has gotten into 27 games. Soderstrom didn’t find initial success, however, mustering only a .165/.237/.247 line while striking out 29 times over 93 trips to the dish. He’s still just 21 years old, so it’s hardly surprising he didn’t hit the ground running at the MLB level. He’ll return to Las Vegas, where he’d hit .254/.303/.536 over 304 plate appearances.

The demotion isn’t likely to have an effect on Soderstrom’s time to arbitration or free agency. He wouldn’t have gotten a full service year in 2023 and was unlikely to accrue enough service time to have a path to Super Two eligibility. However, it could have an impact on his rookie status heading into 2024. Position players retain rookie eligibility if they’ve tallied fewer than 130 at-bats and spent 45 or fewer days on an MLB active roster.

Soderstrom has spent 38 days in the big leagues. If he spends the rest of the year in Las Vegas, he’d remain a rookie heading into next offseason. Assuming he’s still regarded by prospect evaluators as a top 100 caliber talent, which seems likely, the Prospect Promotion Incentive could come into play next spring. Teams that carry a top prospect on the MLB roster for a full service year can receive a draft choice if that player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in MVP voting during their pre-arbitration seasons. There’s been a slew of top prospect promotions over the past few days; Masyn Winn, Noelvi Marté and Kyle Harrison have all gotten their first call once things got deep enough into the summer that they couldn’t exhaust their rookie eligibility this year.

Paradoxically, the promotion incentive could work against Soderstrom getting another MLB look later in the season. That’s not to say it’s the sole or even primary motivation for the A’s sending him down — he has unquestionably struggled in his first five weeks at the MLB level, and Noda’s return would cut into the first base/DH reps available — but could be a factor down the stretch.

Patton signed a minor league contract with Oakland during the second week of the season. It didn’t take long for the 35-year-old to pitch his way onto the roster. He threw 8 1/3 innings over six outings for Las Vegas, allowing four runs with a 10:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The A’s called him up during the first week of May and deployed him four times out of their bullpen before taking him off the roster two days ago.

The right-hander tallied 5 1/3 innings of relief. He surrendered a couple home runs and allowed four runs overall in that brief look. It marked the third straight season in which the SIU Edwardsville product reached the major league level. Patton pitched seven times for the Rangers last year on the heels of a 42 1/3 inning, 3.83 ERA showing for Texas back in 2021. He’s appeared in parts of six MLB seasons overall, sandwiching a four-year run in Japan.

Patton has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. That gives him the right to elect minor league free agency instead of reporting back to Las Vegas if he’d prefer to look for other opportunities.

Patton, 35, pitched just 5 1/3 innings for Oakland this year, working to a 6.75 ERA and striking out just a single batter. He’s gone slightly better in Triple-A, where he owns a 4.32 ERA over 8 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts.

A 24th round pick all the way back in 2011, Patton debuted in 2014 for the Rangers and showed a bit of promise, giving up just a single earned run in 9 1/3 relief innings. It wasn’t to last though, and over the next couple of seasons Patton would struggle to a 7.35 ERA with the Rangers and Cubs.

Patton went to Japan in 2017, and spent the next four years with Yokohama, working to a 3.68 ERA over 205 2/3 innings of relief in Nippon baseball. That was enough for the Rangers to bring him back to the US for another crack at the majors, and Patton delivered in his first year back, providing 42 1/3 innings of solid 3.83 ERA relief in 2021. Once again though, it didn’t last and Patton’s 2022 season would bring about a decline in velocity and a drop in strikeouts, and the Rangers released him in August 2022.

Familia, 33, returned to the A’s for a second stint late in spring training, after the D-backs cut him loose late in spring training. The former Mets closer had enjoyed a strong showing in camp with Arizona and landed a big league deal with Oakland, but things haven’t gone well in his return to the Coliseum. Through 12 2/3 innings, Familia has been tagged for a 6.39 ERA, due in no small part to a sky-high 20.3% walk rate.

It’s been a tough two years for Familia, who was sharp with the Mets from 2020-21 but was roughed up for a 6.09 ERA in 44 1/3 frames between the Phillies and Red Sox in 2022. Familia’s fastball, which once averaged better than 97 mph, sat at what was then a career-low 95.6 mph between those two teams last year. This season, he’s averaged 94.8 mph on the pitch.

As for the 29-year-old Acevedo, his bottom-line run prevention numbers are even more jarring. In 9 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, he’s been clobbered for 11 runs on 16 hits (two homers), a pair of walks and a hit batter with seven punchouts. The resulting 10.61 ERA is more than triple the strong 3.33 mark he posted in 67 2/3 innings for the A’s during the 2022 season.

Acevedo’s velocity hasn’t changed — his 93.2 mph average heater is an exact match with his 2022 velocity — nor has he made any radical alterations to his pitch selection/usage. However, he’s seen his swinging-strike rate plummet from 15.6% to 8.8%, while his opponents’ chase rate has fallen from 35.6% to 29%. While he’s undoubtedly had some poor fortune in terms of batted balls (.400 BABIP), Acevedo also just isn’t missing many bats and is getting chases off the plate at a below-average rate after excelling in both those areas a year ago.

Pruitt returns to the A’s for a second season after spending the bulk of the 2022 campaign in their bullpen and pitching to a 4.23 ERA in 55 1/3 innings. The A’s removed him from the 40-man roster but re-signed him to a minor league deal this past offseason, and he’s begun the year with a 2.30 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate in 15 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Pruitt has only fanned 17.4% of his Major League opponents, so he’s not likely to keep missing bats at this level, but he also boasts a very strong 5.3% walk rate in his MLB career.

The 35-year-old Patton has had the most MLB experience in recent seasons. Patton, who starred for NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars for several years before returning to MLB with the Rangers in 2021, pitched to a 3.83 ERA in 49 1/3 innings with Texas in 2021-22. He had a very strong ’21 season, fanning 27.9% of his opponents against an 8.7% walk rate, but Patton’s velocity dipped by more than a mile per hour in 2022 as his walk and strikeout rates spiked in the wrong directions. Through 8 1/3 innings with Las Vegas this season, he’s allowed four runs on 11 hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts.

Garcia, 29, has appeared in three big league seasons, splitting a total of 24 innings between the Rockies, Giants and Orioles. He has a grisly 6.38 ERA in that time and has issued more walks than strikeouts. However, he’s sitting on a 2.03 ERA in 13 1/3 innings so far in Las Vegas, with a hefty 32.8% strikeout rate and 18% swinging-strike rate against a more troublesome 15.5% walk rate.

Patton, 35, pitched in the big leagues from 2014 to 2016 but struggled in that time and then headed to Japan. He spent four years with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, from 2017 to 2020. He tossed 205 2/3 innings in that time over 219 appearances, posting a 3.68 ERA.

He returned to North America in 2021, signing a minor league deal with the Rangers. He was selected to the big league club and made 42 appearances that year with a 3.83 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, last year was a little more rocky, as he was placed on the injured list in April with an oblique strain after just seven appearances and was later outrighted off the roster. He was doing fine in Triple-A for most of the year, having a 3.42 ERA through early August. However, he was bombed for 11 earned runs in his final three appearances, shooting his ERA up to 6.44 and leading to his release.

He’ll now join the Athletics’ organization and try to work his way back to the big leagues. The club’s bullpen has a couple of veterans in Trevor May and Jeurys Familia but everyone else has less than two years of major league service time. Patton will likely head to Triple-A Las Vegas and look to get himself in position for a big league opportunity, should one arise.

Patton, 34, made a return to the Majors in 2021 on the heels of a sharp four-year run in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he pitched to a 3.68 ERA over the life of 205 2/3 innings with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. He was a solid member of the Texas relief core last year, tossing 42 1/3 innings of 3.83 ERA ball with a strong 27.9% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and 41.3% grounder rate. Patton picked up his first two big league saves with the Rangers in 2021 and tacked on another 11 holds.

The 2022 season hasn’t gone as well, though Patton was mostly solid in seven big league frames back in April but missed several weeks with an oblique strain and was removed from the 40-man roster upon being activated from the injured list. The Rangers passed him through waivers back in May.

Patton yielded three runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts in the Majors earlier this year and, up until a week ago, was enjoying a fine season with Triple-A Round Rock. The right-hander worked to a 3.42 ERA with a 36-to-10 K/BB ratio through his first 26 1/3 innings in Triple-A but has unraveled in epic fashion over his past three appearances. Patton was shelled for six runs (four earned) in just an inning of work on Aug. 6 and has yielded another seven runs over his next two appearances. Overall, Patton has been rocked for 13 runs (11 earned) in his past three innings of Triple-A work.

That disastrous stretch has sent his Triple-A ERA soaring to 6.44 — nearly double the point at which it sat just 11 days ago. That said, there’s no indication of an injury, and Patton has performed at an otherwise solid level for the bulk of his time since returning from Japan. A team in need of some bullpen depth down the stretch could very well give him a look in the coming days in hopes of getting him back to his 2021 form.

Now in his fifth MLB campaign, Patton has a 3.86 ERA and 52.6% grounder rate over seven innings this season, all in April.  He then missed just under three weeks on the injured list due to an oblique strain, and was assigned to Triple-A after his activation.

This is Patton’s second stint in Texas, as the 34-year-old broke into the big leagues with the Rangers in 2014-15.  An offseason trade to the Cubs saw Patton contribute 21 1/3 innings of 5.48 ball to the 2016 World Series champs, and that was also Patton’s last Major League experience prior to a four-year stretch in Nippon Professional Baseball.  Patton performed well with the Yokohama BayStars, as his 3.68 ERA over 205 2/3 relief innings in Japan caught the attention of big league scouts, and eventually led to the Rangers signing Patton to a split contract in February 2021.

The return to the majors was largely successful, as Patton had a 3.83 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 42 1/3 frames with Texas last season.  However, Patton has seemingly become an odd man out of the bullpen picture for now, though by passing through the waiver wire unclaimed, he’ll remain in the Rangers organization and wait for another call at some point this summer.

San Francisco had a decision to make on Duggar, who needed to be added back to the 40-man roster after completing his rehab assignment. Calhoun himself just recently passed through waivers unclaimed.

The plan is for Duggar to join the active roster. The Rangers will designate Spencer Patton for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Duggar, per the team. They will need to make one more move to make room on the active roster for Duggar. Patton, 34, had made seven appearances for the Rangers, posting a 3.86 ERA/5.70 FIP across seven innings.

In Duggar, the Rangers are acquiring a player with more defensive utility than Calhoun, who never really found a defensive home. Duggar can play all three outfield spots. He had been on the injured list since April 21 with a strained oblique, however. He has appeared in each of the past five seasons for the Giants, accruing an overall line of .242/.297/.377 over 805 plate appearances with a too-high 29.4 percent strikeout rate and too-low 7.0 percent walk rate.

With Luis Gonzalez going on the injured list today, the Giants could easily have brought Duggar back to the Major League roster, so it’s interesting that they decided to move on. As a left-handed hitter, Duggar’s skill set doesn’t compliment the Giants’ current cohort of outfielders that includes Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, and LaMonte Wade Jr., who himself is almost ready to return from the injured list. Only Slater among that group bats right-handed.

Of course, Calhoun bats lefty as well, so he’s less of a fit acquisition and more of a rehabilitation project for the staff in Triple-A. Broadly speaking, the Giants work wonders finding roles for players who have been previously unable to find a defined role on a big-league club. Players like Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, and Thairo Estrada are players that have found a home in San Francisco’s system. Calhoun has had his opportunities in the bigs, and while he’s no longer a prospect, the Giants are as promising a landing spot as a young vet like Calhoun can hope to find in this league. For now, the Giants can send him directly to Triple-A without adding him to their 40-man roster.

Howard and Santana each went on the IL on April 14 and return after the 10-day minimum. Howard had a blister/cracked fingernail issue while Santana was on the Covid-IL after reportedly showing symptoms. He wasn’t counted against the club’s 40-man roster while he was out. Now that he’s returned, the club’s 40-man roster is again full. It was at 39 before today and a corresponding move won’t be necessary to bring Santana back.

As for Patton, it’s an unfortunate break after a decent start to his season. In seven innings out of the Rangers’ bullpen, he has a 3.86 ERA. His 17.2% strikeout rate is below average, but his 52.6% groundball rate is strong. The club didn’t provide a timeline on his absence, but oblique injuries are notoriously tricky and can often keep players sidelined for weeks or months.

Gray was signed in the offseason to a four-year, $56MM deal to front a rotation that was otherwise composed of younger and less-experienced arms. Although this set back is unfortunate news for Rangers fans, there doesn’t seem to be much need for panic. As noted by Grant, the club has a few off-days coming up (on April 13th and 18th), meaning they won’t need a fifth starter until April 23rd, two weeks from now. After the shortened Spring Training following the lockout, certain rules have been changed for the start of the season. While the minimum length of stay on the injured list for pitchers and two-way players is increasing to 15 days this season, that won’t go into effect until May 2. From April 7 through May 1, pitchers and two-way players can be placed on the 10-day injured list. This move seems to merely be a precautionary one, using the gaps in the schedule and the temporary rule change as a way to make sure Gray can quickly heal up before the six-month grind that lies ahead.

Dane Dunning is on the hill today and will take up one rotation spot. Martin Perez, who was also signed in the offseason to add some veteran presence, should have another. Taylor Hearn and Spencer Howard should have the final two slots.

As for Patton, the 34-year-old returned to MLB last year after a four-year stint in Japan. In 42 1/3 innings for the Rangers last year, he put up an ERA of 3.83 with a 27.9% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

He’s not yet arbitration eligible, but the contract Patton signed upon returning from Japan calls for him to earn a $1.5MM salary in the Majors this year, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. It’s a split contract, so he’d earn at a different rate in the minors in the event Texas options him out. (Patton does have one minor league option remaining.) The Rangers may yet add to the bullpen after the lockout lifts, but Patton has likely solidified on the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, barring injury or something unforeseen in whatever iteration of Spring Training is pieced together. Patton, Joe Barlow, Brett Martin and Josh Sborz all look like they have the inside track on Opening Day bullpen jobs, and the Rangers will hope to get hard-throwing righties Jose Leclerc and Jonathan Hernandez back from Tommy John surgery before too long, as well.

Some more notes on the Rangers…

• Speaking of Hernandez, the right-hander tweeted last week that he’s begun throwing off a mound for the first time since undergoing that Tommy John procedure. Hernandez sustained what was described as a “low-grade” tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow early in 2021 Spring Training and was shut down for a four-week period of rest. Doctors seemingly didn’t see enough improvement following that shutdown, as he underwent surgery on April 12 of last year. The 25-year-old Hernandez had a big showing with Texas during the shortened 2020 season, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.7% grounder rate in 31 innings. Hernandez averaged 96.7 mph on his heater that summer and posted a strong 13.9% swinging-strike rate as well. He’s had trouble with command in the past, particularly in 2019 when he walked one of every six hitters he faced in his big league debut (16 2/3 innings). He pairs that power fastball with a plus slider, however, and if he can sustain the improved command he showed in 2020, he’d quickly emerge as a high-end bullpen piece for manager Chris Woodward.
• One name who might’ve emerged in the bullpen mix, Scott Engler, won’t be pitching at all in 2022, tweets Jeff Wilson. The 25-year-old righty underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday this week, ruling him out of the team’s immediate plans. A 16th-round pick in 2016, Engler split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching to a combined 3.71 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate, a 10.6% walk rate and a 48.5% ground-ball rate. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote last May that Engler has a plus splitter with so much drop that it can at times be mistaken for a curveball. The surgery figures to sideline Engler into the early stages of the 2023 season, but based on his upper-level experience and relative success, he could find himself in the bullpen mix next year.

Kennedy, 36, has proven to be one of the best minor league signings in all of baseball this season. He inked a non-guaranteed pact with an invite to Spring Training and parlayed a strong showing there into a $2.15MM base salary. He’s not only justified that modest investment, he’s thrived as one of the game’s more effective late-inning relievers. Kennedy has pitched 21 1/3 innings and racked up 12 saves to go along with a 2.53 ERA, a hefty 29.8 percent strikeout rate and a tidy 8.3 percent walk rate.

That standout performance, coupled with a generally poor performance from the team as a whole, makes Kennedy one of the most obvious trade candidates on this summer’s market. Texas has dropped nine of its past ten games, falling to 16 games south of the .500 mark and 13 games back of the division-leading Athletics. As such, it’s good news for the Rangers that Kennedy is dealing with only a “mild” strain. While a timeline for his return wasn’t provided, the mild nature of the injury should allow him to return long before the July 30 trade deadline.

As for Patton, today’s promotion will mark the culmination of a nearly five-year journey back to the big leagues. A 24th-round pick of the Royals back in 2011, Patton made his MLB debut as a Ranger in 2014 and spent parts of the next three seasons as an up-and-down member of the bullpen for both the Rangers and Cubs.

From there, Patton went on to spend four seasons pitching with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The righty was one of NPB’s best relievers in 2017-18 before struggling, in part due to injury, in 2019-20. Even with the downturn in his final two years in Japan, however, Patton’s overall NPB track record was strong: 205 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with a 27.4 percent strikeout rate against a 9.5 percent walk rate.

Patton returned to the Rangers on a minor league deal of his own this winter, and he’s fired off 12 scoreless innings to begin his season in Round Rock. He’s walked six hitters, which clearly isn’t ideal, but has also yielded only six hits and whiffed a dozen of the 45 batters he’s faced. He’ll now get the chance to prove that the gains he appeared to make in NPB are sustainable here at the game’s top level in North America. Patton turned 33 back in February, so if he is indeed able to replicate his NPB success here in MLB, he could have several years remaining as a productive, late-inning reliever — be it with the Rangers or with another club.