Graves and González join the major league team

The Marlins announced on Friday afternoon that right-hander Brett Graves, a Rule 5 draft pick last December, will finally be joining the major league team. He suffered a left oblique injury during spring training and had been on the 60-day disabled list ever since.

To make room for Graves on the 40-man roster, the Marlins shifted Chris O’Grady (left shoulder) to the 60-day DL. In additional roster moves, Merandy González will be coming up from Double-A Jacksonville, Ben Meyer has been optioned to Triple-A New Orleans and Caleb Smith was placed on the bereavement list. (Best wishes to Caleb and his family from the Marlins community.)

This would’ve been the 30th day of Graves’ rehab assignment, which is the maximum length allowed for MLB players. Barring another injury, he has to remain on the Marlins active roster for the remainder of the season. Otherwise, they must offer him back to the Athletics organization, where he’d been from 2014-2017 (originally a third-round amateur draft pick).

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Splitting time between High-A Jupiter and Jacksonville, Graves did not have the best of rehab assignments. He pitched to a 5.59 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 19 ¹⁄₃ innings. Most of the struggles came as a starting pitcher (8.18 ERA in 11.0 IP), so expect Don Mattingly to use him as a long reliever with the Fish.

On the other hand, González already has some major league experience. Pitching exclusively in a bullpen role in April and early May, the 22-year-old wasn’t too great—he gave up 7 earned runs in 13 innings.

Despite the numbers, he does flash some potential with an above-average curveball and fastball combination. Just ask Ryan Braun.

Fish Stripes original GIF

Both Graves and González will be available for the weekend series against the Orioles.

Thank you for reading, until next time!