Eric

Stamets

Stamets was with the Blue Jays at Triple-A Buffalo as extra middle infield depth until being released back in mid-August. The 30-year-old veteran infielder doesn’t offer much offensive potential and represents emergency organizational depth at this stage of his career.

Stamets last appeared in the majors for the Guardians back in 2019. The 30-year-old shortstop signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays back in March and wound up hitting .185/.296/.309 with four homers and six steals in 190 plate appearances this season for Triple-A Buffalo. He’s merely emergency organizational infield depth at this stage of his career.

Stamets spent 2021 campaign at Triple-A Albuquerque in the Rockies’ organization, slashing .157/.265/.304 with three homers in 118 plate appearances. The 30-year-old infielder, who appeared in 15 games with Cleveland back in 2019, is the personification of organizational depth at this stage of his career.

The latest round of subtractions trims the Rockies’ spring training roster to 30 players. Perhaps the most notable name to be included in this round is Bird, who ended up being beaten out by C.J. Cron for the Rockies’ starting job at first base this spring.

Stamets was forced into action early in the year for Cleveland with Francisco Lindor opening the year on the injured list, and unsurprisingly, he struggled with the bat; going 2-for-41 in 15 games. He didn’t fare all that much better in Triple-A with a .685 OPS for Columbus, but he is a quality defender whose defense could help him win a utility-role this spring.

This move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for Danny Salazar, who is set to make his season debut on Thursday.

Stamets opened the 2019 regular season as the Indians’ primary shortstop with Francisco Lindor recovering from ankle and calf injuries, but the 27-year-old will head back to the minor leagues after going just 2-for-41 (.049) with 24 strikeouts over his first 15 major league games. Mike Freeman has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding 25-man roster move.

Lindor suffered a moderate left ankle sprain this week in a minor league game, while in the final stages of his recovery from a February right calf strain. Eric Stamets is expected to fill in at shortstop until Lindor gets back on his feet. It could be a couple weeks or more.

Stamets is set to open the 2019 regular season as the Indians’ primary shortstop while Francisco Lindor recovers from spring-time calf and ankle injuries. Max Moroff is also an option there. Stamets put up 16 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 115 games last year between Double-A and Triple-A, but the 27-year-old probably won’t provide mixed-league fantasy value.

He grounded out in his lone at-bat. The Indians were banking on Stamets to hold down the fort at shortstop during Francisco Lindor’s absence, but now they may have to come up with a contingency plan. Stamets hasn’t had a particularly convincing spring, collecting just eight hits with no homers and 12 strikeouts over 38 Cactus League at-bats (.211 AVG).