The Kansas City Royals have been without reliever Jake Brentz for the entire season. The southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery last July and has been on the 60-day injured list since Opening Day. Brentz started a minor league rehab assignment last week, but the club announced this afternoon they were pulling him off that stint.
Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that Brentz recently sustained a lat strain. He’s expected to miss the rest of the year. It’ll go down as a complete lost season, as he threw all of 2 2/3 minor-league innings.
Brentz, 29 next month, pitched 5 1/3 frames before last season’s elbow injury. He’d had a decent rookie campaign two years ago, tossing 64 innings of 3.66 ERA ball. He fanned an above-average 27.3 percent of batters faced while averaging 97 MPH on his heater. Brentz’s control was wobbly — he walked over 13 percent of opponents — but he boasted one of the better power arsenals among left-handed relievers.
The Royals non-tendered him last offseason but circled back in Spring Training on a guaranteed two-year contract. Kansas City is paying him $850K this season and will owe him $1.05M next year. Locking in a salary a few hundred thousand dollars north of the league minimum could give him a leg up on a roster spot, but Brentz won’t have any 2023 work to carry into the offseason. Kansas City will have to reinstate him back onto the 40-man roster once the offseason begins.
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