2019 Minor League Transaction Thread

[Mass Haas]

Brewers released 25-year-old 2015 12th round (University of Tennessee) LHP Drake Owenby.

 

Owenby missed the 2nd half of his Timber Rattler 2016 season with shoulder inflammation. His 2017 season was also cut short, and he missed all of 2018 with a left elbow strain before undergoing Tommy John surgery last August 9th. Owenby made three rehab appearances in Maryvale this month.

 

We wish Drake well and congratulate him on the fortitude he showed just to work through the rehab process as he did. I'm sure fellow southpaw Brent Suter, on almost the same Tommy John timeline, wishes his rehab partner well also.

[Mass Haas]

San Antonio:

 

RH reliever Luke Barker 7-day injured list on 8/19 (retro to 8/17).

 

Tyler Saladino to the IL on 8/21 (the back of his left shoulder).

 

Via Jerry Briggs of the Missions:

 

Rick Sweet said he isn't sure whether Saladino can return by the end of the regular season. "I think we'll know more in the next couple of days," Sweet said. "It's a good question. It's a question I have asked. He's doing better. He's feeling better. But he's been dealing with this for two months. It's not something that just happened."

 

C Tuffy Gosewisch activated again on 8/21 from Vibes' paper roster.

 

C Skyler Ewing to the Vibes' paper roster on 8/21.

 

C/1B David Freitas to the IL on 8/23 (retro to 8/20) - rib injury, due back soon.

 

***

 

Carolina:

 

OF Zach Clark activated from the IL on 8/21.

 

C Nathan Rodriguez placed on the IL on 8/21.

 

***

 

Wisconsin:

 

RHP Reese Olson to Wisconsin from Rocky Mountain paper roster.

 

RHP Luis Contreras to Temporary Inactive List (attending a wedding).

 

***

 

Maryvale:

 

19-year-old 2nd-year-pro Dominican RHP Abner Uribe, who pitched for the DSL Brewers in 2018 but had yet to appear in a game in 2019, has been activated for the Maryvale Blue team (two relief appearances thus far).

 

***

 

DSL Brewers:

 

Nader Garcia, a 17-year-old LH-hitting catcher out of Venezuela, signed with the Brewers on June 15th, but only recently debuted with the DSL Brewers squad.

[Mass Haas]

San Antonio:

 

RH reliever Luke Barker 7-day injured list on 8/19 (retro to 8/17).

 

Tyler Saladino to the IL on 8/21 (the back of his left shoulder).

 

Via Jerry Briggs of the Missions:

 

Rick Sweet said he isn't sure whether Saladino can return by the end of the regular season. "I think we'll know more in the next couple of days," Sweet said. "It's a good question. It's a question I have asked. He's doing better. He's feeling better. But he's been dealing with this for two months. It's not something that just happened."

 

C Tuffy Gosewisch activated again on 8/21 from Vibes' paper roster.

 

C Skyler Ewing to the Vibes' paper roster on 8/21.

 

C/1B David Freitas to the IL on 8/23 (retro to 8/20) - rib injury, due back soon.

 

***

 

Carolina:

 

OF Zach Clark activated from the IL on 8/21.

 

C Nathan Rodriguez placed on the IL on 8/21.

 

***

 

Wisconsin:

 

RHP Reese Olson to Wisconsin from Rocky Mountain paper roster.

 

RHP Luis Contreras to Temporary Inactive List (attending a wedding).

 

***

 

Maryvale:

 

19-year-old 2nd-year-pro Dominican RHP Abner Uribe, who pitched for the DSL Brewers in 2018 but had yet to appear in a game in 2019, has been activated for the Maryvale Blue team (two relief appearances thus far).

 

***

 

DSL Brewers:

 

Nader Garcia, a 17-year-old LH-hitting catcher out of Venezuela, signed with the Brewers on June 15th, but only recently debuted with the DSL Brewers squad.

[Mass Haas]

San Antonio:

 

RH reliever Luke Barker 7-day injured list on 8/19 (retro to 8/17).

 

Tyler Saladino to the IL on 8/21 (the back of his left shoulder).

 

Via Jerry Briggs of the Missions:

 

Rick Sweet said he isn't sure whether Saladino can return by the end of the regular season. "I think we'll know more in the next couple of days," Sweet said. "It's a good question. It's a question I have asked. He's doing better. He's feeling better. But he's been dealing with this for two months. It's not something that just happened."

 

C Tuffy Gosewisch activated again on 8/21 from Vibes' paper roster.

 

C Skyler Ewing to the Vibes' paper roster on 8/21.

 

C/1B David Freitas to the IL on 8/23 (retro to 8/20) - rib injury, due back soon.

 

***

 

Carolina:

 

OF Zach Clark activated from the IL on 8/21.

 

C Nathan Rodriguez placed on the IL on 8/21.

 

***

 

Wisconsin:

 

RHP Reese Olson to Wisconsin from Rocky Mountain paper roster.

 

RHP Luis Contreras to Temporary Inactive List (attending a wedding).

 

***

 

Maryvale:

 

19-year-old 2nd-year-pro Dominican RHP Abner Uribe, who pitched for the DSL Brewers in 2018 but had yet to appear in a game in 2019, has been activated for the Maryvale Blue team (two relief appearances thus far).

 

***

 

DSL Brewers:

 

Nader Garcia, a 17-year-old LH-hitting catcher out of Venezuela, signed with the Brewers on June 15th, but only recently debuted with the DSL Brewers squad.

[Mass Haas]

Venezuelan pitcher Yujanyer Herrera signed to a futures contract for 2020.

[Mass Haas]

Venezuelan pitcher Yujanyer Herrera signed to a futures contract for 2020.

[Mass Haas]

Venezuelan pitcher Yujanyer Herrera signed to a futures contract for 2020.

[Smichaelis9]

Mudcats press release:

8/24: INF Devin Hairston assigned to Double-A Biloxi from Carolina.

 

8/24: RHP Anthony Bender assigned to Double-A Biloxi from Carolina.

 

8/24: RHP Nelson Hernandez reinstated from Carolina injured list.

 

8/24: UTL Jackie Urbaez assigned to Carolina from AZL Brewers Blue.

[Smichaelis9]

Mudcats release again:

 

8/25: C Mario Feliciano assigned to Double-A Biloxi from Carolina.

 

8/25: C Nathan Rodriguez reinstated from Carolina injured list.

 

Pretty awesome for Feliciano after those injury plagued seasons the last few years!

[markedman5]

Kelly gets a late season bump to the Timber Rats. Well deserved

[Mass Haas]

Brewers sign soon-to-be 24-year-old switch-hitting OF/IF Randy Rodriguez, a Dominican native and former Dodger farmhand, with only one year of pro ball experience (Dominican Summer League, 2018).

 

Rodriguez made his Brewer debut Saturday with the DSL Brewers.

 

The age factor certainly makes this a unique signing with a week to go in the DSL season.

 

***

 

The Brewers have signed, we'll call him IF/OF, Carlos Moreno, a 20-year-old Dominican native and RH-bat who was released by the Yankees after his rookie season of 2018.

 

Moreno primarily saw action as a corner infielder last year, but made his DSL Brewers debut in left field today (Friday 8/16 box score, 1-for-3, two K's)

 

Both Moreno and Rodriguez were released after the DSL season ended.

[zagski6]

Kind of a surprising move, but the Brewers released P Logan Gillaspie in September per Baseball America.

 

Gillaspie made 31 appearances with Wisconsin this year, 16 of those being starts. He was also selected to play in the 2019 Midwest League All-Star Game.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-transactions-sept-9-17-2019/

[TURBO]

Kind of a surprising move, but the Brewers released P Logan Gillaspie in September per Baseball America.

 

Gillaspie made 31 appearances with Wisconsin this year, 16 of those being starts. He was also selected to play in the 2019 Midwest League All-Star Game.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-transactions-sept-9-17-2019/

 

Wow, I'd like to see an explanation for this move.

[JDBrewCrew]

Brewers Player Dev

@BrewersPD

Roster moves:

 

These players have been released from their contracts - INF Allemand, INF Avila, INF Casals, RHP Friese, C Lugo, RHP Pastora, RHP RojasR, LHP Salaman, RHP Sigman, RHP Taugner, and C Valderrama

[Mass Haas]

Via Brewers Player Dev (@BrewersPD)

 

Roster moves:

 

These players have been released from their contracts - INF Allemand, INF Avila, INF Casals, RHP Friese, C Lugo, RHP Pastora, RHP RojasR, LHP Salaman, RHP Sigman, RHP Taugner, and C Valderrama

 

As we try to do when these lists come out, we like to let folks know who these players were, when and how acquired, etc. It's often hard to spin the numbers in a positive light (it is a release list, after all), but do consider the vast percentage of minor leaguers will be released before even coming close to fulfilling a big league dream. So kudos to all these young men on what they did accomplish, we hope other opportunities open up soon, affiliated right away or not, and best wishes in all aspects of life moving forward.

 

Listed in the same alphabetical order as seen above...

 

The most established name here by far is 27-year-old IF/OF (but primarily a second baseman) Blake Allemand. The 2015 5th round pick out of Texas A&M reached AAA for the first time (and his native San Antonio) in late April, but was primarily a bench piece and Rocky Mountain roster castoff when convenient for roster crunches in 2019. The switch-hitter also had two brief DL stints this past season, unclear as to whether those were of the phantom variety or not. Thirteen of his 27 hits in 2019 were for extra-bases, but as his linked stat lines show, a breakout season never really materialized, even back in Appleton or hitter-non-friendly Brevard County.

 

Primarily a middle infielder (some third base), 20-year-old Luis Avila was signed in the summer of 2015 out of Venezuela and began his next three seasons in the Dominican Summer League. He would come stateside shortly after that third season began, and was at Rocky Mountain for all of 2019. Listed at 5'11", 150, although accurate MiLB.com vitals can be notoriously delayed, nonetheless that may explain only 15 XBH's in 631 career AB's. We will miss the pairing in the batting order (often back-to-back) of Luis Avila and still-with-the-Brewers catcher Luis Avalo.

 

22-year-old (23 this January) infielder Danny Casals is a surprise on this list. Signed as an undrafted player in July out of the University of Maine (brief video report here), Casals posted a pretty sweet .333/.400/.500 line in Maryvale, finishing his season with a ten-game hit streak during which he batted .425 with four doubles and two home runs. Not sure what else Casals could have done at the plate to maintain a spot in the organization - he did commit six errors in 27 combined games at 2B/SS/3B, hardly egregious.

 

RHP Gabe Friese only made one 2019 appearance for Carolina, back in April, facing one batter, walking him, and then leaving the game with an injury, missing the remainder of the season. We never did get official word on the nature of his injury. Friese, an undrafted signee in 2017 out of Kennesaw State, split 2017 between Maryvale and Helena, and spent all of 2018 with Wisconsin, all as a reliever outside of six Helena starts.

 

Only 18 years old, Venezuelan catcher Eduin Lugo saw action the past two summers with the Brewers/Indians co-op Dominican Summer League team. He posted just a .525 OPS in that time, but threw out a reasonable 28% of baserunners (15 of 52).

 

RHP Steve Pastora, a Rocky Mountain Vibe for all of 2019, had a winding road to affiliated pro ball that was well-documented as recently as last month here. Articles like that make the realities of releases even sharper. Pastora turned 25 last month, so that was stacked against him from the start, but we've seen similarly "aged" players get chances a bit more extended (but it's rare).

 

RHP Ronnald Rojas won't even turn 18 years old until next April. Signed out of Venezuela and debuting in the Dominican Summer League, Rojas, simply put, was a mess while making 17 appearances for the co-op squad, as the linked scary numbers indicate. Rojas was a young 17-year-old, far from home, with an unknown maturity level, but those players are often brought back for a second season despite struggles. Not this time, apparently this was just a big swing and a miss from the otherwise pretty on-target Brewers' Venezuelan amateur scouting staff.

 

LHP Wilfred Salaman's release is likely a bit of a surprise to those who followed the Timber Rattlers all season, and in particular the Rattler Radio Podcasts. The eligible-to-be-but-non-drafted Puerto Rico native only turned 22 this month, and from July 22nd on, was super-effective over his final 14 appearances, as his game logs show. Given his southpawness, a bit of a headscratcher, but not a shocking event, just puzzling.

 

Always a tough road for the non-drafted players, but their backstories always seem to include a heavy dose of perseverance. Briefly a Royals farmhand, followed by independent ball stints, and then time with Data-Driven Baseball Performance Training at "Driveline", 24-year-old RHP Jackson Sigman made 23 relief appearances with Rocky Mountain this summer. The numbers weren't there for the University of West Virginia product, however.

 

RHP Christian Taugner is also 24, but unlike the rookie ballers discussed earlier in this post, spent all of 2019 at Carolina (17 starts, 26 appearances). Taugner posted a reasonable career WHIP (1.36), but was not a strikeout pitcher at all (232 in 305.1 career innings). He only allowed seven HR's in 110.1 innings with the Mudcats, but it is the Carolina League's stunting environment as well at play. The 2017 37th round pick does have an Ivy League education in his back pocket (Brown), so if other baseball opportunities aren't pursued, we know he'll at minimum be earning larger paychecks elsewhere.

 

Note to future DSL Brewers - try to avoid being placed on the co-op team. Just-turned 19-year-old C/1B Luis Valderrama, another Venezuelan native, posted a combined .533 OPS over 151 2018-19 AB's on the club shared with Cleveland farmhands. 26.3% on the CS rate (25 out of 95 base stealers thrown out).

 

***

 

One final note: @BrewersPD never did make a formal announcement on the September release of 22-year-old 2019 Midwest League All-Star representative RHP Logan Gillaspie, noted by Baseball America. Gillaspie, a 2018 independent league find, was effective throughout 2019 for the Timber Rattlers. His out-of-the-blue and by-itself release unfortunately can only lead to speculation, which is totally unfair to the player in a vacuum of news/reasoning why. So we'll just leave it at that.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Great recap as always. It always amazes me when guys like Casals and Salaman are let go at the end of the year when you consider how many other players remain who did far worse. I'm sure there is more to the story which we will never know but it is interesting.

[JDBrewCrew]

Brewers Player Dev

@BrewersPD

·

1h

Roster moves: OF Alexander Palma & 1B Luis Castro have been signed to minor league contracts.

[Eye Black]

Brewers Player Dev

@BrewersPD

·

1h

Roster moves: OF Alexander Palma & 1B Luis Castro have been signed to minor league contracts.

Both players are 24 years old.

 

Alexander Palma originally signed with the New York Yankees on 7/2/12 for $800,000 as an international free agent out of Miranda, Venezuela.

 

Luis Castro was in the Rockies organization and this past season 2080 Baseball published the following scouting notes on Castro:

 

Prospect Spotlight

 

The 23-year-old Castro came out of nowhere in the first half of 2019 for Lancaster, pacing the California League with a cartoonish .313/.440/.607 slash line. He was named to the circuit’s mid-season all-star game (and the home run derby), but is likely more a mirage from Lancaster’s inflated offensive environment than a true prospect. He’s old for the level and has spent the last six seasons at or below A-Ball. A big-bodied 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Castro is very strong but limited to 1B defensively. This is likely an organizational player in the midst of a career season; in the best case, maybe Castro is starting to mash his way into an upper-level/4A depth role.

[TURBO]

Brewers signed 1B Luis Castro to a minor league contract.

 

The 24-year-old spent the first seven seasons of his minor league career in the Rockies' organization. He enjoyed a breakout season offensively in 2019, slashing .304/.419/.552 with 27 homers and 105 RBI in 126 games between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Lancaster. Given the Brewers' current depth chart at the position, there's a decent chance that Castro makes his big league debut with the Brewers during the upcoming season.

 

Nov 8, 2019, 7:03 PM ET

[homer]

Brewers with a couple of decent low risk potential high reward signings today.

[RollieTime]

Lancaster is A+, which is where he spent most of the season. He only had 76 plate appearances in AA and hit .220 in his limited at bats there. I personally think he’s a little further away than they think since he has just made it to AA and is already 24. I do like the signing though.

[Mass Haas]

Via Brewers Player Dev (@BrewersPD)

 

Roster moves:

 

These players have been released from their contracts - INF Allemand, INF Avila, INF Casals, RHP Friese, C Lugo, RHP Pastora, RHP RojasR, LHP Salaman, RHP Sigman, RHP Taugner, and C Valderrama

 

As we try to do when these lists come out, we like to let folks know who these players were, when and how acquired, etc. It's often hard to spin the numbers in a positive light (it is a release list, after all), but do consider the vast percentage of minor leaguers will be released before even coming close to fulfilling a big league dream. So kudos to all these young men on what they did accomplish, we hope other opportunities open up soon, affiliated right away or not, and best wishes in all aspects of life moving forward.

 

Listed in the same alphabetical order as seen above...

 

Always a tough road for the non-drafted players, but their backstories always seem to include a heavy dose of perseverance. Briefly a Royals farmhand, followed by independent ball stints, and then time with Data-Driven Baseball Performance Training at "Driveline", 24-year-old RHP Jackson Sigman made 23 relief appearances with Rocky Mountain this summer. The numbers weren't there for the University of West Virginia product, however.

 

***

 

Via BrewCrewBall, a note that Sigman found work in the independent American Association.

[JDBrewCrew]

MLBDevelops

@MLBDevelops

·

Nov 11

Congrats to Delson Guzman on signing with the

@Brewers

!

 

Delson, a pitcher from Spain, participated in this year’s College Showcase Tour.

[Eye Black]

From the Brewers Player Development account...

 

The contract of LHP Chris Lee has been purchased from the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.

[Mass Haas]

From the Brewers Player Development account...

 

The contract of LHP Chris Lee has been purchased from the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.

 

Click on the "View More Bio Info" in the lower-left to read more about Lee here.