Feature Photo: Matt Bush, RHP, Rangers
Our (okay, my) original plan for this week’s sixth Les Debutantes column – roughly a quarter of the way through the season – was to take advantage of the May “lull” in debuts (just three last week) and break down of which teams have brought the most newcomers into the fold and, in contrast, which ones have not. (Here’s a teaser through Sunday’s games: Two teams, the Reds and Cardinals, lead the way with five players each having made their big league debuts this season; six teams, technically, have not had any, but one was on the verge of making a first-time call to a long-time prospect which would put them on the board.)
Then it started … the debutante dam burst … and not just with a lot of unexpected call-ups but some pretty darned newsworthy ones. Between Friday the 13th (a lucky day for left-hander Matt Bush, one of the most intriguing baseball stories in a while) and the end of the day Sunday the 15th, 11 players were called up to the big leagues for the first time. However, by the end of the weekend slate, seven of them (plus Giants right-hander Clayton Blackburn, who was called up Thursday) were still watching the games from the best seats in the house.
So, we’ll hold off on the team breakdowns a little while until the excitement abates and the dust settles down (please bring me my smelling salts), and just get right to business. Here are the eight players who made their big league debuts between May 9-15. You may have heard of some of them:
American League Debuts
ZACH NEAL, RHP, ATHLETICS:
Ht/Wt: 6’3”/220 B/T: R/R BORN: November 8, 1988
ACQUIRED: Signed as a minor league free agent on March 28, 2013. Originally drafted by the Florida Marlins (as they were still known at the time) in the 17th round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft (Oklahoma).
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in six starts at Nashville (Triple-A), he’d struck out 20 while walking just three and allowing 33 hits in 36.2 IP.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Nashville on May 10, along with that of LHP Eric Surkamp, when LHP Daniel Couloumbe was sent down and INF Jed Lowrie was placed on the 15-day DL, with INF Eric Sogard moving to the 60-day DL to make room on the roster.
DEBUT: May 11, in a 13-3 loss to the Red Sox. The last of five pitchers to face a Red Sox lineup that collected 17 hits on the night, Neal tossed the final three innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on four hits and striking out two without walking a batter. Coming on to start the sixth inning, he retired the first big league batter he faced, Travis Shaw, on a fly out before giving up a double to Christian Vazquez. After Jackie Bradley struck out swinging, Vazquez moved to third on a passed ball while Mookie Betts was at bat, and Betts brought him home with an RBI single to right. After retiring the side in order in the seventh, Neal gave up another two runs with two outs in the eighth when Vazquez singled to left, and then scored on Bradley’s homer to right field, his second home run of the night.
PLAYER NOTES: After starting his career in the Marlins’ system in 2010, Neal was released at the end of 2013 spring training but didn’t last long on the crowded market of minor league players released at the end of spring training; the Athletics signed him two days later and he began his ascent up a new ladder on the other side of the country. His numbers have traditionally shown a solid ERA, an ability to throw a ton of innings, and a tendency to give up a lot of hits per inning, but to offset that with a very fine walk-to-strikeout ratio. In 2015, between Midland (Double-A) and Nashville (Triple-A), he went 10-13 with a 4.67 ERA in 28 games, 27 of them starts, including two complete games, allowing 194 hits in 167.2 IP, and striking out 100 while walking just 35. In 2014, moving up from Stockton (High A) to Midland (Double-A) to Sacramento (Triple-A), he was 10-7 with a 3.10 ERA and struck out 124 batters in 165.1 IP while walking just 20.
2080 NOTES: The fourth Oakland player to make his big league debut in just the first month of the minor league season (all four came up from the minors as opposed to being on the Opening Day roster), following in the footsteps of fellow pitchers RHP Andrew Triggs, LHP Sean Manaea and RHP J.B. Wendelken. 2080 Baseball staff writer Melissa Lockard, the guru on all things Oakland Athletics and the columnist for OaklandClubhouse at Scout.com, has been doing yeoman’s work in keeping us in the know about these newcomers. Regarding Neal, all you need to know about him is right here. As always, thanks for making my job easy, Melissa!
ANDY BURNS, 3B, BLUE JAYS:
Ht/Wt: 6’2”/205 B/T: R/R BORN: August 7, 1990
ACQUIRED: Drafted in the 11th round of the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft (University of Arizona).
CURRENT SEASON STATS: Hitting .250 with two homers, 10 RBIs and three steals in 27 games at Buffalo (Triple-A) with nine doubles.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Buffalo May 6 when LHP Ryan Tepera was sent down.
DEBUT: May 9, in a 3-1 win against the Giants. Pinch-hitting for Jays starter RHP Aaron Sanchez, with two outs in the eighth inning, he struck out swinging against Giants reliever RHP Hunter Strickland.
PLAYER NOTES: Burns’ promotion was getting a lot of love online from devoted Jays fans who were followers of the player for his work ethic. The word “versatility” pretty much sums him up, as he’s played every position except pitcher, catcher and center field (and who can say that he wouldn’t be able to step into one of those roles as well if called upon). The Colorado native, who was also drafted out of Rocky Mountain High School in his native Fort Collins in the 25th round of 2008 by his home-state Rockies, has shown occasional pop over the years but for the most part his numbers translate better for an all-over-the-field utility player than a full-time third baseman. In 2015, he combined to hit .291 with five homers and 46 RBIs between New Hampshire (Double-A) and Buffalo, adding six steals and 26 doubles. He had his best seasons statistically in 2014 (.255 with 15 homers, 62 RBIs, 18 steals and 32 doubles at New Hampshire (Double-A)) and 2013 (.288 with 15 homers, 85 RBIs, 33 steals and 34 doubles between New Hampshire and High A Dunedin). In addition, he contributes some strong glove work at the hot corner.
MATT BUSH, RHP, RANGERS:
Ht/Wt: 5’9”/180 B/T: R/R BORN: February 8, 1986
ACQUIRED: Signed as a minor league free agent December 18, 2015. Originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round (#1 overall) of the 2004 MLB First-Year Player Draft (Mission Bay H.S., San Diego, Calif.)
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 0-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 12 games at Frisco (Double-A), striking out 18 and walking four while allowing nine hits in 17 innings.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Frisco May 13 when OF Delino DeShields, Jr., was sent down.
DEBUT: May 13, in a 5-0 loss to the Blue Jays. The last of five pitchers, he tossed one perfect inning, the ninth, throwing 17 pitches, 10 of them for strikes and none of them hit out of the infield. With most of his sliders being clocked at 93-to-94 mph, he struck out the first batter he faced, Josh Donaldson, looking, then got Jose Bautista to pop out to second base and Edwin Encarnacion to pop out just foul of first base.
PLAYER NOTES: There is virtually zero chance that a movie about Matt Bush is not already in the works. Frankly, it is pretty much impossible to try to “encapsulate” the saga of his journey to the big leagues, so we won’t even try. We can tell you the basics: Drafted out of high school in San Diego as a shortstop by his hometown Padres, he hit a combined .219 in 206 games over parts of four seasons before moving to the mound in 2007. He spent all of 2008 on the DL and his contract was sold to the Blue Jays in February of 2009. He was released by the Jays two months later at the end of spring training. He was signed by Tampa Bay the following January and played sparingly in their system during 2010 and 2011 before running over a 72-year-old motorcyclist in Florida during spring training and spending the next three years in a Florida prison for DUI causing bodily harm (the man, who had been in critical condition, recovered). Released from prison in October 2015, Bush was spied by a Rangers scout working out in a lot behind the Golden Corral restaurant in Jacksonville, where he was working a minimum-wage job and getting back into shape. The Rangers, after doing due diligence both through a workout and long discussions with him and his family, signed him to a minor league deal in December. Those are the basics. But here are some more details from 2080 Baseball contributor Michael Tepid, who covered Bush in Frisco before his promotion, that he shared back in April in terms of background.
2080 NOTES: And here, again from the intrepid Tepid, is the skinny on Bush the ballplayer.
WARWICK SAUPOLD, RHP, TIGERS:
Ht/Wt: 6’1″/195 B/T: R/R BORN: January 16, 1990
ACQUIRED: Signed as an international free agent on January 23, 2012.
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 3-1 with a 2.37 ERA in eight games, four of them starts, at Toledo (Triple-A), including one complete game, striking out 14 while walking eight and allowing 19 hits in 30.1 IP.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Toledo on May 13 when LHP Daniel Norris was sent down.
DEBUT: May 14, in a 9-3 loss to the Orioles. The last of four pitchers, he shut down a five-run eighth-inning rally by Baltimore, throwing two-thirds of an inning and allowing one hit. The third pitcher on for the Tigers in that inning, he inherited a bases-empty, one-out situation (thanks to a grand slam by Jonathan Schoop). After getting the first batter he faced, Hyun Soo Kim, to ground out, Saupold gave up his lone hit, a single to left by Joey Rickard, but then got the dangerous Manny Machado to ground out to end the threat.
PLAYER NOTES: Okay, we admit it. We thought this was a typo. Apologies to the Aussie who brings the Heat — literally — from Down Under, having pitched for his hometown Perth Heat in the Australian Winter League every year since 2011. He’ll represent Australia in the upcoming 2017 World Baseball Classic as well. But no, the heat doesn’t translate in his repertoire and he’s the first to admit that. “I don’t have a 100-mph fastball,” he told reporter Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press, “just try to keep guys off balance.” With a 3.29 ERA in six winter-ball seasons with Perth, he’s been doing that, but his numbers at Toledo to open the 2016 campaign were by far the best he’s put up stateside. In 2015, between Toledo and Erie (Double-A), he combined to go 6-8 with a 4.08 ERA in 29 games, 18 of them starts.
PAT DEAN, LHP, TWINS:
Ht/Wt: 6’1″/180 B/T: L/L BORN: May 25, 1989
ACQUIRED: Drafted in the third round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft (Boston College).
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 1-3 with a 3.00 ERA in six starts at Rochester (Triple-A), striking out 20 while walking just seven in 36 innings. He’d allowed 33 hits and had already recorded one complete game, with batters hitting .232 against him.
PROMOTED: Recalled from Rochester May 7 in a mass shuffle by the Twins, coming up along with RHP Brandon Kintzler on the pitching side when LHP Tommy Milone and RHP Casey Fien were designated for assignment.
DEBUT: May 11, in a 9-2 loss to the Orioles. The second of four pitchers, he allowed two runs, both earned, on four hits over 2.2 IP, walking two and striking out three. Coming on for starting RHP Phil Hughes to start the fifth inning with the Twins down 5-1, Dean retired the side in order in his first frame. In the sixth, Adam Jones led off with a single to left and scored on Chris Davis’ double to left. After Mark Trumbo lined out, Nolan Reimold drew a walk. Dean struck out Jonathan Schoop looking before issuing his second walk, this one to Ryan Flaherty, to load the bases with two outs before getting Caleb Joseph swinging to end the threat. In the seventh, though, Joey Rickard led off with an infield single to short. After Manny Machado flew out to left, Jones once again singled to left (are you getting to see a trend here?), advancing Rickard to third, which allowed him to score on an infield groundout by Davis. At this point, Dean’s night was done as RHP Michael Tonkin came on in relief, stranding Jones by getting Trumbo to fly out for the final out.
PLAYER NOTES: To call Dean a workhorse would be an understatement. In 2015 at Rochester he went 12-11 with a 2.82 ERA in 27 starts, finishing second in the minor leagues with five complete games while sharing the minor league lead in shutouts with three. He also led the minors with 179 innings, giving up 170 hits while walking just 36 and striking out 98. The workload clearly did not hurt him, as he improved tremendously on his 2014 numbers from New Britain (Double-A) across the board. That summer, he’d gone 8-9 with a 4.81 ERA in 26 starts, giving up 192 hits in 144 innings while walking 31 and fanning 83. Eastern League batters hit .320 against him, compared to a .254 mark in 2015. Overall, he’d combined for a 3.91 career ERA in his six-plus pro seasons.
National League Debuts
DEAN KIEKHEFER, LHP, CARDINALS:
Ht/Wt: 6’0”/175 B/T: L/L BORN: June 7, 1989
ACQUIRED: Drafted in the 36th round of the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft (Louisville)
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 11 games in relief at Memphis (Triple-A), striking out nine without walking a batter and allowing 12 hits in 13.1 IP.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Memphis May 13 when RHP Seth Maness was sent down.
DEBUT: May 14, in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers. The second of three pitchers, he tossed 1.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit, striking out four without walking a batter. The lone hit and run came on a two-out solo homer by Corey Seager in the seventh inning. Coming on in relief of starter Carlos Martinez to start the sixth inning, Kiekhefer quickly retired the side in order, striking out the first batter he faced, Joc Pedersen, looking at strike three. After Yasiel Puig flied out to right, Enrique Hernandez also struck out looking. In the seventh, Kiekhefer fanned the first two batters — Scott Kazmir looking and Chase Utley swinging — before giving up the bomb to Seager, at which point he was relieved by Seung Hwan Oh.
PLAYER NOTES: It was an impressive debut for Kiekhefer, just a few weeks shy of his 27th birthday, even if the hook after the homer seemed like a “what have you done for us lately?” move on paper. In his third season at Memphis, the southpaw has consistently posted pretty eye-opening numbers when it’s come to walks vs. strikeouts, and his early weeks in 2016 with the Redbirds were no exception. Between 2014 and 2015 there, he’d appeared in 90 games, walking 12 batters and fanning 90 in 116 1/3 innings, posting a 2.41 ERA in ’15 and a 2.54 mark in ’14 (the latter mark during a partial season there, since he’d started the summer at Springfield (Double-A)and walked just six while striking out 62 in 71 innings between the two stops). Overall, in six seasons, he’d struck out 255 batters and walked just 47 in 339 innings. So, yeah, basically his big league debut and his early 2016 showing has been vintage Dean Kiekhefer. If you can be vintage anything when you’re 26.
TOMMY JOSEPH, 1B, PHILLIES:
Ht/Wt: 6’1”/255 B/T: R/R BORN: July 16, 1991
ACQUIRED: Via trade from the San Francisco Giants along with OF Nate Schierholtz and RHP Seth Rosin on July 11, 2012, in exchange for OF Hunter Pence. Originally drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft (Horizon H.S. in Scottsdale, Ariz.)
CURRENT SEASON STATS: Hit .347 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 27 games at Lehigh Valley (Triple-A) with 11 runs scored, seven doubles and a .611 SLG.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Lehigh Valley May 13 when 1B/LF Darin Ruf was sent down.
DEBUT: May 13, in a 3-2 win against the Reds. The starting first baseman, he batted sixth and went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored before being replaced by INF Andres Blanco at first base in the top of the eighth inning. In his first big league at-bat, Joseph struck out swinging against Reds starter Brandon Finnegan. In the fourth inning, still against Finnegan, he drew a one-out walk and scored on a triple by Tyler Goeddel. In his final at-bat of the day, in the sixth inning, he struck out on a foul top against Reds reliever Steve Delabar.
PLAYER NOTES: In almost any other week, the saga of Tommy Joseph’s journey to the big leagues would be the lead story. Instead, he made his big league debut the same night as that of Matt Bush. But Joseph’s arrival is one also very much worthy of celebration. When Joseph was drafted by the Giants out of high school in the second round of 2009 he was viewed as one of the best catching prospects in the game. Tough, hard-nosed, a solid backstop and a standout hitter in an area that has become as well known for its high school baseball talent as Florida, Texas and southern California. But injuries took their toll on Joseph. Not just sore knees, and not just a broken wrist but, more seriously, a series of concussions, year after year after year, culminating in one so damaging, taken off the facemask on a foul ball, that the Phillies finally moved him to first base — maybe a career-saving move, maybe a life-saving move. Due to this series of injuries dating back over the years, Joseph had not played in more than 45 games in a season since 2012. In 2011, he’d shown what he could do with the bat when he hit .270 with 22 homers and 95 RBIs in 127 games at San Jose (High A) but since then the time spent healthy had gotten lower, the odds higher, and it was all he could do to just stay in the game and not walk away. After hitting just .193 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 45 games at Lehigh Valley in 2015, a reinvigorated (and 25 pounds lighter) Joseph returned to Allentown to start 2016 and just lit up opposing pitchers for the first month.
LAYNE SOMSEN, RHP, REDS:
Ht/Wt: 6’0”/190 B/T: R/R BORN: June 5, 1989
ACQUIRED: Drafted in the 22nd round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft (South Dakota State).
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA in eight games at Louisville (Triple-A), striking out 15 and walking six while allowing six hits in 14 innings.
PROMOTED: Recalled from Louisville on May 9 when OF Kyle Waldrop was sent down.
DEBUT: May 14, in a 4-3 win against the Phillies. The last of four pitchers, he tossed one inning, the eighth, allowing one hit. The first batter he faced, Ryan Howard, grounded out back to Somsen and Freddy Galvis then attempted a bunt single and was called out on batters interference. Cameron Rupp collected a single to center field before Tyler Goeddel grounded into a forced third out at second base.
PLAYER NOTES: It’s been a long wait this season for Somsen to finally get on the bump. After having been called up for his ostensible debut back on April 25 when OF Jay Bruce went on paternity leave, Somsen was sent back down two days later before he got into a game. He returned to the Reds on May 9 but had to wait for nearly another week to finally make his debut. The third player to make it to the majors out of South Dakota State University (joining former Twins pitcher Caleb Thielbar and current Nationals pitcher Blake Treinen), Somsen led the Jackrabbits to their first and only NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013, posting a 1.87 ERA to earn Summit League Pitcher of the Year honors. The senior signee made up for lost time by moving up to Triple-A by his third pro season without a blip, propelled by a pro debut at Billings (Short season A) where he posted a 1.66 ERA in 17 games out of the pen, striking out 40 while walking just 15 in 43.1 IP. In 2015, he combined between Pensacola (Double-A) and Louisville for a 2.74 ERA in 27 games, striking out 60 in 62.1 IP and walking 30 while allowing 47 hits. Overall, he’s posted a career 2.49 ERA coming into his long-awaited and twice-delayed debut.
