Athletics release infielder after designating him for assignment

The Athletics released infielder Luis Urías, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment on Monday. Urías has sufficient service time to refuse a minor league assignment while collecting what remains of his $1.1M salary, so a release was inevitable. The A’s preferred to give playing time to controllable infielders Zack Gelof, Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris for the stretch run.

The 28-year-old Urías can now set out in search of a new opportunity. He’d need to sign somewhere by Sept. 1, at least on a minor league deal, to be eligible for a postseason roster. Urías will be a free agent at the beginning of the offseason in either case, so he’ll presumably only draw interest from a contender that wants to strengthen its infield depth.

Urías got out to a decent start to the season. He hit four homers with a .245/.345/.490 showing through the end of April. He has an underwhelming .227/.309/.307 slash in 271 plate appearances since the beginning of May. Urías has sliced his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.6% clip, but he hasn’t been much more productive overall than he was between 2023-24. He rarely makes hard contact and hasn’t hit for much power since combining for 39 homers with the Brewers from 2021-22.

Defensive metrics grade Urías around league average at both second and third base. He’s a righty hitter who has generally been better against left-handed pitching, as one would expect. That hasn’t been the case this season, as he’s hitting .183 with one homer in 68 plate appearances with the platoon advantage. If he catches on with another team before year’s end, his signing club would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum.