The Royals announced that left-hander Jake Brentz has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He has the right to reject that assignment and elect free agency, but doing so would mean forfeiting what is left of his $1.05MM salary, so he’ll likely stick with the club as non-roster depth.
Brentz, now 29, had a strong major league debut in 2021. He made 72 appearances for the Royals that year, allowing 3.66 earned runs per nine innings over his 64 frames. His 13.3% walk rate was a bit concerning but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced and kept 49% of balls in play on the ground. He earned a couple of saves and 15 holds that year.
However, it’s been a rough go since then. After just eight appearances in 2022, he found himself on the injured list and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in July. The Royals non-tendered him at the end of that year but then brought him back on a two-year deal to cover the 2023 and 2024 seasons, knowing that the first of those two years would mostly be about rehab and recovery for the southpaw.
He started a rehab assignment in August of last year but unfortunately suffered a lat strain after just three appearances. This year, he suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in mid-March, slowing him down yet again.
Since getting back on the hill, he’s tossed 17 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. While staying healthy is something of a victory after so many setbacks, the results have not been worth celebrating. He has a 12.71 ERA so far this year, striking out 15 batters but giving out 30 walks. On top of that, he’s also hit nine batters and thrown a couple of wild pitches. Given that wildness, it’s perhaps unsurprising that other clubs weren’t itching to claim him off waivers.
Players with more than three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but they need five years of service in order to do so while retaining what remains of their salary. Since Brentz has more than three but less than five, he’ll probably stick with the Royals as opposed to walking away from roughly half a million dollars.
He can focus on shaking off the rust for the next few months and try to earn his way back onto the roster. If not, he’ll qualify for free agency at season’s end, as is the case for all players with more than three years of service who accept outright assignments but aren’t added back to the roster by the end of a given season.