Zack Granite

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/7/21

By Anthony Franco | April 7, 2021 at 10:36pm CDT

The latest minor moves from around baseball, all courtesy of Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America:

The Rockies recently signed first baseman Matt Adams to a minor-league deal. The slugging lefty has been assigned to Colorado’s alternate training site, per Kyle Newman of The Denver Post. Adams has played for the Cardinals, Nationals and Braves over the past nine seasons. He was a fairly significant part of Washington’s big league roster as recently as 2019, although he only picked up 51 plate appearances with Atlanta last year before being cut loose. The Rockies have tabbed C.J. Cron as their regular first baseman to start the year.
The Cubs signed Andrew Romine to a minors contract. The veteran utilityman has played with the Angels, Tigers, Rangers and Mariners over a big league career that began in 2010. Romine was in camp with the Twins in Spring Training but opted out after Minnesota declined to add the 35-year-old to the MLB roster. Romine’s younger brother Austin Romine is a catcher on the Cubs’ major league team, although the backstop is currently on the 10-day injured list.
The White Sox signed outfielder Zack Granite and right-hander Keyvius Sampson to minor-league deals. Granite is a speedy outfielder who picked up 107 MLB plate appearances with the 2017 Twins. He has since spent time in the Rangers’ and Yankees’ systems but hasn’t made it back to the big leagues. Sampson pitched in the majors with the Reds from 2015-16 and with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2018. He returned to the U.S. on a minors deal with the Giants in 2019 but didn’t get back to the majors.

Yankees To Sign Zack Granite

By Jeff Todd | November 22, 2019 at 4:53pm CDT

The Yankees have agreed to a minor-league deal with outfielder Zack Granite, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). He’ll receive an invitation to MLB camp.

Granite, 27, cracked the majors briefly with the Twins back in 2017 after a strong showing at Triple-A that year. He proved that his keen eye is still good against MLB pitching, drawing a dozen walks against nine strikeouts in 107 plate appearances, but didn’t make much hard contact and ended with a .237/.321/.290 batting line.

In recent years, Granite has plied his trade exclusively at the highest level of the minors. He spent the 2019 season with the Rangers organization, turning in a .290/.331/.375 slash in 541 plate appearances.

Rangers Acquire Welington Castillo

By Mark Polishuk | October 31, 2019 at 1:50pm CDT

The Rangers have acquired catcher Welington Castillo and international draft bonus pool money from the White Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder and corner infielder Jonah McReynolds, as per Rangers executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link). Texas has also outrighted left-hander Jesse Biddle and outfielder Zack Granite to Triple-A, with Biddle first being reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

The Rangers will get $250K in international bonus funds, as per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link), which seems to have been the team’s real incentive for the trade. Texas is expected to decline Castillo’s $8MM club option and instead pay him a $500K buyout.

In essence, the White Sox decided to save that $500K of Major League payroll in favor of giving up $250K in international money. It could be that the Sox also simply decided McReynolds was of more interest to them than any other prospects who might arise on the international market.

Castillo became expendable in Chicago after he hit only .209/.267/.417 over 251 PA in 2019, losing playing time to James McCann in the process. This comes on the heels of a 2018 season that saw Castillo post some respectable numbers (94 OPS+, 96 wRC+) for a catcher over 181 PA, though that year was marred by an 80-game PED suspension.

While the $8MM salary was too rich for the Rangers’ liking, it wouldn’t be a total surprise to see the team have an interest in Castillo at a lower price. While Castillo struggled at the plate last year, his numbers still represent an improvement over what the current Texas catching corps (Jeff Mathis, Jose Trevino, Isiah Kiner-Falefa) produced in 2019. Then again, the Rangers could also choose to stand pat at catcher since they have several other areas to address this winter.

McReynolds, who turns 24 in December, was a 13th-round pick for the Rangers in the 2016 draft. He has a .217/.285/.322 slash line over 637 PA in his first four pro seasons, the last three of which have been spent at low A-ball. He has played all over the diamond as a professional, though spent much of 2019 focused on third base and first base.

Rangers Select David Carpenter

By Jeff Todd | May 31, 2019 at 3:11pm CDT

The Rangers have selected the contract of righty David Carpenter, per a club announcement. He’ll take the place of outfielder Zack Granite, who was optioned back.

Carpenter will see MLB action for the first time in quite some time. He last appeared with the Nationals back in 2015, with health problems halting what had been a productive career.

After some indy ball action and a Driveline makeover, Carpenter earned a shot with the Rangers this spring. The 33-year-old has turned in 15 1/3 innings of 1.76 ERA ball thus far at Triple-A, allowing just ten hits and posting a strong combination of 17 strikeouts and four walks.

Rangers Select Hunter Pence, Logan Forsythe, Jeanmar Gomez; Designate Connor Sadzeck

By Steve Adams | March 28, 2019 at 11:20am CDT

The Rangers announced that they’ve selected the contracts of outfielder Hunter Pence, infielder Logan Forsythe and right-hander Jeanmar Gomez. The trio of veterans will all be on the Opening Day roster. Right-hander Connor Sadzeck was designated for assignment to clear one spot on the 40-man roster, while fellow righty Luke Farrell was placed on the 60-day injured list to create another. Texas also optioned outfielder Zack Granite to Triple-A and placed lefty Yohander Mendez on the 10-day IL.

Sadzeck, 27, had been in competition for a bullpen job all spring, but the control issues that plagued him in the big leagues continued to manifest during exhibition play. While Sadzeck’s average fastball of 97 mph is undeniably tantalizing, he walked 11 batters in 9 1/3 MLB innings last season and issued another eight free passes through 8 1/3 innings of Cactus League action. In his place, the Rangers will entrust a bullpen spot to Kyle Bird — a 25-year-old lefty acquired as part of the Jurickson Profar trade.

Neither Pence nor Forsythe is expected to hold down an everyday role with the Rangers, though Pence is in the Opening Day lineup as the designated hitter with a lefty opponent on the mound. Pence should see occasional time in the corner outfield and at DH, particularly against lefties, while Forsythe can provide some platoon support for lefty-swinging Rougned Odor at second base. The veteran Forsythe has experience at all four infield positions, so he’ll give rookie manager Chris Woodward plenty of versatility off the bench.

Twins Designate Zack Granite For Assignment

By Steve Adams | February 25, 2019 at 8:56am CDT

The Twins have designated outfielder Zack Granite for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for newly signed Marwin Gonzalez, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets.

Granite, 26, forced his way onto the Twins’ big league roster with a .338/.392/.475 showing in Triple-A in 2017, though that output was buoyed by a .371 average on balls in play. His time in the Majors didn’t prove quite as fruitful, as he slashed just .237/.321/.290 in 107 trips to the plate. Granite struggled through a dismal .211/.282/.245 batting line in an injury-shortened 2018 season in Triple-A Rochester and, in the process, saw himself leapfrogged on the organizational depth chart by fellow outfielder Jake Cave, whom the Twins acquired from the Yankees last spring.

While Granite has elite speed and a strong defensive skill set, he’s largely devoid of power, never having totaled more than six home runs in a season (which came in 2017 between the Twins and Triple-A). But, as a career .282/.348/.360 hitter in the minors with a 10.2 percent strikeout rate, an 8.5 percent walk rate and a minor league option remaining, he could certainly hold appeal to another club in need of outfield options. A team thin in the outfield could look to give Granite a chance at regular reps, but his speed and defense would also make him a viable fourth outfielder o a team with an already set mix of starters.

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