Angels outright veteran infielder

Kingery has the right to reject this assignment but likely won’t. Players with at least three years of major league service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. However, they need five years of service to do so while keep their remaining salary commitments intact. Kingery is in that three-to-five window. He and the Angels avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $770K salary. There’s a little under $200K still to be paid out, so he would have to walk away from that money to hit the open market.

Once a notable prospect with the Phillies, he signed a $24M extension with them back in 2018. At the time, that was a record for a player who had not yet made his major league debut. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to give the Phils the return they were expecting. He hit just .229/.280/.387 in 1,127 plate appearances for the Phillies. He was often passed through waivers as that extension ran its course, with no other club wanting to take it on.

That deal was done when the Angels brought him aboard and gave him a 40-man spot to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. They agreed to the aforementioned arbitration salary and then passed him through waivers prior to Opening Day. Due to the aforementioned conditions, Kingery accepted an outright assignment in March, sticking around as a non-roster depth player who could slot in at multiple defensive positions.

He was added back to the 40-man in May but has largely been on optional assignment. He got into 14 games for the Halos and took 27 plate appearances. He produced a .160/.222/.200 batting line in those and now has a .228/.279/.382 line for his career. In Triple-A this year, he has a .256/.317/.424 line. In the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a 78 wRC+, indicating he’s been about 22% below league average.

Assuming he accepts this assignment and rejoins the Bees, he’ll look to play his way back to the majors. If not added back to the 40-man by season’s end, he’ll be able to elect minor league free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man during a season.