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David Villar

Mets, David Villar Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are in agreement with infielder David Villar on a minor league contract, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The CAA client had elected free agency after being outrighted by the Giants last week.

Villar, 28, joins the second organization of his career. He had been with San Francisco since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter showed some promise during his rookie season three years ago. He hit nine home runs with a .455 slugging percentage in 52 games. He would have needed to improve upon a 32% strikeout rate to find long-term success, though.

The Giants never gave him much of a chance to do so. Villar appeared in 46 games the following season, and he hit just .145 while striking out 32% of the time. That more or less closed the book on his MLB tenure in San Francisco. He has appeared in only 20 big league contests over the past two seasons. Villar has tallied well over 1200 Triple-A plate appearances over the last three years. He’s a lifetime .273/.381/.507 hitter with 61 home runs at the top minor league level.

That minor league production has also come with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Villar has punched out at a near-26% clip in Triple-A. He has cleared outright waivers twice in the past two months, suggesting every team has trepidation about him making enough contact to produce at the big league level. The Mets already have a decent amount of corner infield talent, so it’d probably take an injury to one of Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso or Brett Baty to open an MLB opportunity.

David Villar Elects Free Agency

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Infielder David Villar elected free agency after being outrighted by the Giants, relays Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. He’d been designated for assignment on Monday with Casey Schmitt returning from the injured list.

Villar, 28, will look for a new opportunity for the first time in his career. He has been with the Giants since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter showed some promise during his rookie season three years ago. He hit nine home runs with a .455 slugging percentage in 52 games. He would have needed to improve upon a 32% strikeout rate to find long-term success, though.

The Giants never gave him much of a chance to do so. Villar appeared in 46 games the following season, and he hit just .145 while striking out 32% of the time. That more or less closed the book on his MLB tenure in San Francisco. He has appeared in only 20 big league contests over the past two seasons. Villar has tallied well over 1200 Triple-A plate appearances over the last three years. He’s a lifetime .273/.381/.507 hitter with 61 home runs at the top minor league level.

That minor league production has also come with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Villar has punched out at a near-26% clip in Triple-A. He has cleared outright waivers twice in the past two months, suggesting every team has trepidation about him making enough contact to produce at the big league level. He’d be limited to minor league offers if he remains in the affiliated ranks. Speculatively speaking, he could also explore opportunities in a foreign league. That’s a relatively common path for players in their mid-late 20s who have had Triple-A success but face questions about their ability to hit major league pitching.

Giants Designate David Villar For Assignment

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The Giants have reinstated infielder Casey Schmitt from the 10-day injured list. As a corresponding move, fellow infielder David Villar has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops from 39 to 38. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to pass along the transaction.

It’s the second DFA of the year for Villar. The first one came just prior to Opening Day. He came into the year out of options and without a firm hold on a roster spot. That got him bumped onto the waiver wire, but he passed through unclaimed and stuck in the Giants’ organization. About three weeks into the season, he was called back up when Schmitt landed on the IL with an oblique strain.

Villar hasn’t gotten much playing time since returning to the big leagues. In the one month since his contract was selected, he received just 26 plate appearances over nine games. He put up a .200/.360/.250 line in that time.

Now that Schmitt is back, Villar is likely destined for the waiver wire once again. He has shown some pop at the plate at times but has often been a strikeout victim, which likely led to him clearing waivers a couple of months ago. He has hit 15 home runs in 383 career big league plate appearances but has gone down on strikes at a 31.6% clip.

Given that he cleared waivers last time, there’s a decent chance he will do so again. If that comes to pass, he would be able to elect free agency this time around, as players with a previous career outright have that right.

It’s also possible that some team that passed on him last time will take a flier on him now, perhaps due to injuries changing their roster outlook. Villar has played the three non-shortstop infield positions, meaning he can provide a bit of defensive versatility.

He has shown some home run power in the majors, as mentioned, and has tremendous minor league numbers. He has taken 1,248 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level since the start of 2022. His 25.6% strikeout rate in that time is still a bit high but far more tolerable than his big league rate. He’s also drawn walks at a 13.4% clip and hit 61 home runs, helping him produce a .273/.381/.507 line and 130 wRC+.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

Giants Select David Villar, Place Casey Schmitt On Injured List

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of infielder David Villar. Infielder Casey Schmitt was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, which clears a spot for Villar on the active roster, and a 40-man roster spot for Villar was created by transferring slugger Jerar Encarnacion to the 60-day injured list.

Villar, 28, has been a generally passable but unspectacular utility infielder for the Giants since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 109 big league games since then, he’s hit a slightly below league average .200/.288/.400 with a massive 32.4% strikeout rate that he somewhat makes up for with substantial power that could translate to 25-to-30 homers if given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. He pairs that power with the ability to play capable defense at first, second, or third base as necessary despite the majority of his working having come at the hot corner.

He’s always raked against Triple-A pitching, as evidenced by his .273/.381/.507 career line across parts of four seasons at the level. Unfortunately for Villar, however, he’s yet to prove himself in the majors and is currently out of options. That led the Giants to prefer carrying optionable bench pieces like Schmitt and Brett Wisely to open the year, leaving them to designate him for assignment just prior to Opening Day. He ultimately went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants, where he resumed hitting extremely well over 15 games before today’s call-up. The right-handed hitting Villar figures to back up Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald at second and third base, but most of his playing time could come in a platoon with struggling lefty LaMonte Wade Jr. after his previous platoon partner Schmitt hit the injured list.

Speaking of Schmitt, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that he was likely to head to the shelf after he suffered an oblique strain while hitting in the cages just before yesterday’s game. A timetable for Schmitt’s return is unlikely to be available until after he’s undergone testing to determine the severity of the strain, but he’ll be out for the next ten days at least even if the strain turns out to be extremely mild. It’s been a tough start to the year for Schmitt so far, as he’s hit just .174/.208/.261 in his current part-time role with the club. Of course, those numbers came in just eight games and 24 plate appearances. A look at Schmitt’s work in 40 games last year, where he hit .252/.283/.477, is far more encouraging and comes in a more robust (though still fairly small) sample of 113 plate appearances.

As for Encarnacion, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. The slugger was ticketed for a regular DH job with the Giants but suffered a hand fracture just before Opening Day and is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to the issue. That means he could be transferred without it impacting his potential timeline for return at all, as his minimum stay on the IL will expire in late May, right away the most optimistic date for his expected return to action. The 27-year-old was a league average hitter for the Giants in 35 games last year and got the club’s attention after raking for the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca and the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

Giants Outright David Villar To Triple-A

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The Giants announced that infielder David Villar cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A.  Villar was designated for assignment earlier this week.

Because this is Villar’s first career outright assignment, he doesn’t yet have the ability to opt into free agency rather than accept the assignment to Triple-A.  Villar now has that ability going forward in his career, perhaps making for some future transactional wrangling since he is also out of minor league options.  That out-of-options status is what required the Giants to DFA Villar, as the club had to first expose him to waivers before sending him down to the minors.

An 11th-round pick for the Giants in the 2018 draft, Villar had a nice rookie season in 2022, hitting .231/.331/.455 with nine home runs over 181 plate appearances.  Most of his playing time that year came at third base, but once J.D. Davis took the bulk of the hot corner work in 2023, Villar spent more time at first and second base during his time in the majors.  With Matt Chapman taking over third base in 2024 and the Giants’ infield becoming even more crowded with options, Villar played only first base over his 11 MLB games last season.

A lack of offensive production was the larger reason Villar couldn’t find a spot anywhere in the lineup.  He hit only .145/.236/.315 over 140 PA in 2023, and then .257/.270/.457 in 37 PA in 2024.  San Francisco often cycled Villar up and down from Triple-A for depth purposes during his time with the club, but now that his minor league options have been exhausted, the Giants chose to move onto bench players with more roster flexibility.

Giants Designate David Villar For Assignment

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The Giants announced Tuesday that infielder David Villar has been designated for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Lou Trivino, whose contract has been selected. Trivino will make San Francisco’s Opening Day roster.

The writing has been on the wall for the out-of-options Villar for some time. The Giants extended Matt Chapman late last year, blocking Villar at third base. He’s struggled in limited big league playing time and isn’t a backup option at shortstop like fellow infielders Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely — both of whom also have minor league options remaining.

That has led to the perception that Villar has been essentially auditioning for other clubs this spring, but he didn’t do much to help his cause on that front. He struck out in 36.7% of his plate appearances and hit .200/.265/.444 in Cactus League play.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, the Giants will have five days to see if any club has trade interest. The DFA limbo period can last a week but the waiver process can take 48 hours, leaving five days for trade talks.

In addition to that poor showing this spring, Villar has hit .170/.243/.346 over the past two major league seasons while striking out 32.8% of the time. For any club to be interested, they would have to look past that. He had a strong showing in 2022, putting up a .231/.331/.455 line. Though even then, he was punched out at a 32% clip. He has also continued to hit in Triple-A, even while struggling in the big leagues. He slashed .265/.365/.465 at that level over the past two seasons. He struck out 26.1% of the time in that span but also drew walks at a 12.7% clip.

The strikeouts are a concern but Villar can bounce around to the non-shortstop infield positions and has less than a year of service time. If some club were willing to take a shot and then got a breakout, they could theoretically control him through the 2030 season.

As for Trivino, the 33-year-old reliever has some good work on his track record but has been beset by injuries for a while. In his 284 2/3 innings, he has allowed 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 10.6% walk rate is a bit high but he has punched out 24.5% of batters faced while getting grounders on 47.4% of balls in play.

He hasn’t pitched in a big league game since 2022, however. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023, wiping out that season. In 2024, further elbow inflammation and a shoulder issue prevented him from getting back on the mound.

That meant he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Giants, one that came with a reported salary of $1.5MM if he made the team. He made the decision fairly easy for the club by throwing 9 1/3 scoreless innings in the spring. His four walks were a bit much but perhaps not surprising for a guy who missed the past two seasons. He also struck out 10 opponents and got grounders at a 55.6% clip.

Giants Notes: Stassi, Huff, Villar, Schmitt

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Max Stassi won’t exercise the opt-out clause in his minor league contract, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, and the catcher will instead remain in the Giants organization and play with Triple-A Sacramento.  Yesterday marked the first of three opt-out dates automatically included in Stassi’s contract due to his Article XX(b) free agent status, and Stassi’s next chance to evaluate his future will come on May 1 if he hasn’t yet been added to the Giants’ roster.

There apparently wasn’t much drama in the competition between Stassi and Sam Huff to be Patrick Bailey’s backup catcher, as Slusser notes that Stassi “has known the plan for a while and is fine with it.”  If anything, playing in Sacramento has particular appeal for the catcher because he lives in the city and can spend more time with his family.  Playing in the minors also allows Stassi the more regular on-field action he needs to ramp up after undergoing hip surgery last year.

Tom Murphy will miss the start of the season due to a herniated disc, creating the opening for Huff to eventually win the backup job.  Formerly a top prospect in the Rangers’ farm system, Huff’s defense was often called as a question to stick in the catching role, and Jonah Heim ended up passing Huff on the depth chart.  After Huff’s numbers dropped off at Triple-A last year, Texas designated the backstop for assignment, and the Giants claimed him away off waivers in January.  The change of scenery seems to have helped thus far, as Huff has been tearing it up at the plate in the Cactus League.

The rest of San Francisco’s bench mix has yet to be determined, though Luis Matos will likely claim the backup outfielder role.  Since it doesn’t seem like Jung Hoo Lee’s recent back issue is serious (“I don’t even want to use the word injury, it was so mild,” Lee told Slusser and other reporters), the Giants could take two infielders from the group of Casey Schmitt, Brett Wisely, David Villar, and prospect Christian Koss.

Villar seems to be the odd one out, as Slusser feels the Giants will be designating him for assignment this week since Villar is out of minor league options.  The infielder hit a respectable .231/.331/.455 over 181 plate appearances in his 2022 rookie season, but then struggled badly over 140 PA in 2023 and seemed to fall out of favor for playing time.  Villar has a very impressive .268/.377/.511 slash line and 60 homers over 1182 career Triple-A plate appearances, with the caveat that that production came in Sacramento in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.  A rival team in need of infield depth might be impressed enough by those numbers to take a flier on Villar if he does up on the waiver wire in the coming days.

There would seemingly be a lot more interest if the Giants made Schmitt available, as Slusser reports that multiple teams have expressed trade interest this offseason.  The Giants, however, don’t have much interest in moving Schmitt, who is still two seasons away from even gaining arbitration eligibility.  He also has one minor league option year remaining, giving the Giants flexibility in sending him back and forth from Triple-A.

Schmitt has a good track record of Triple-A results, and he showed improvement at the big league level in 2024, albeit in significantly fewer at-bats than he received in his 2023 rookie season.  Schmitt hit .206/.255/.324 in 277 PA in 2023, and then bumped that up to a .252/.283/.477 slash line over 113 PA last year.  In theory, Schmitt should again see limited action now that Willy Adames was signed to bring more stability to San Francisco’s infield, which in turn bumped Tyler Fitzgerald into a regular second-base role.

Giants Notes: Eldridge, Luciano, Villar, Rogers, Stroman

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The Giants announced a wave of cuts from camp this morning, with top prospect Bryce Eldridge and former top prospect Marco Luciano among the most notable names sent out to minor league camp. (Luciano is on the 40-man roster and was thus optioned, technically speaking; Eldridge was reassigned to minor league camp.) Right-hander Mason Black was also optioned to minor league camp.

Though some fans might’ve hoped the 20-year-old Eldridge would break camp this year, that was always an extreme long shot. The 2023 first-rounder has all of 17 games above A-ball under his belt: nine in Double-A (where he hit quite well) and eight in Triple-A (where he struggled in a small sample). Eldridge’s overall .289/.372/.513 slash across four minor league levels helped propel him to the No. 12 spot on Baseball America’s top-100 list and did nothing to dispel the notion that he’s San Francisco’s first baseman of the future. For now, however, he’ll open the season in the upper minors while veterans LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores platoon at first base.

Luciano’s path to the roster was similarly unlikely. The former shortstop is still learning the ropes in his new corner-outfield environs, and San Francisco’s outfield mix has little room to break in. Heliot Ramos will be in left field after a breakout 2024 season. Jung Hoo Lee will be back in center now that he’s recovered from last year’s shoulder surgery. Mike Yastrzemski is in right field for what will be his seventh straight season. With Luciano still adjusting to the outfield, it benefits him to be in a setting where he can play every day and further familiarize himself with the new position.

The starters for the Giants are largely set. Patrick Bailey is the primary catcher. Wade and Flores will split at first base. Tyler Fitzgerald moves from shortstop to second base in deference to free agent signee Willy Adames. Matt Chapman inked a six-year extension late last season. Ramos, Lee and Yastrzemski round out the outfield. There’s more competition for the bench spots, but one player who’s all but squeezed out barring injuries further up the depth chart is infielder David Villar.

Villar impressed with a .231/.331/.455 showing and nine homers in 181 plate appearances as a 25-year-old rookie back in 2022. He’s since hit .170/.243/.346 in the majors while turning in only slightly above-average offense in a hitter-friendly Triple-A setting. Villar is out of minor league options and has less defensive versatility than fellow infielders Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely. Both Schmitt and Wisely have one minor league option remaining, and both can play shortstop. Villar has never played a professional inning at short.

As soon as Chapman and Adames were locked in on the left side of the infield, Villar looked to be an odd man out. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote yesterday that for the former 11th-rounder, spring training this year is more about showcasing himself to 29 other clubs than earning a spot on the Giants’ roster.

Speculatively speaking, the front offices in Milwaukee and in the Bronx have been eyeing cost-effective third base options. Former Giants GM Scott Harris is now president of baseball operations in Detroit and has been looking for right-handed bats. His club just missed on Alex Bregman and lost one third base candidate (Matt Vierling) to a shoulder strain. Another, Jace Jung, has only 94 big league plate appearances and is out to a slow start this spring.

Villar is 28, out of minor league options and has a .200/.288/.400 slash in 358 big league plate appearances. There’s a chance he’d simply clear waivers and stick with the Giants as non-roster depth. But he’s a .268/.377/.511 hitter in three Triple-A seasons and can play both infield corners — in addition to more limited experience at second base. A club with a less-solidified infield mix could be interested in a small trade or waiver claim. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on how he performs for the remainder of the spring.

Shifting a bit away from the focus on what’s currently taking place in camp, Joel Sherman of the New York Post provides some context on earlier offseason trade talks between the Giants and Yankees. Per Sherman, the Yankees approached the Giants about a potential deal that would’ve sent righty Marcus Stroman to San Francisco in exchange for lefty Taylor Rogers. The Giants weren’t interested in that framework, it seems, preferring to move forward with a rotation including Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander, Jordan Hicks and one of Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong or Landen Roupp. (Harrison seems like the strong favorite.)

The Giants eventually traded Rogers and $6MM to the Reds, ducking out from half the money they still owed to the veteran lefty and adding minor league righty Braxton Roxby to their system in the process. The Yankees spent much of the offseason trying to move Stroman but now might be glad to have hung onto him; Luis Gil is dealing with a shoulder injury that’s thrust Stroman back into the rotation outlook in the Bronx.

Giants Designate Derek Hill For Assignment

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder Mark Canha, acquired before the trade deadline, was added to the roster. They also selected outfielder Jerar Encarnación, a move that was previously reported, and reinstated right-hander Sean Hjelle from the bereavement list. To open roster spots for those three, the club optioned catcher Blake Sabol and infielder David Villar while outfielder Derek Hill was designated for assignment.

Hill, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Rangers just over a week ago. He got into five games since then, producing a line of .250/.308/.417 in 13 plate appearances. Combined with his time with the Rangers earlier in the season, he has a line of .255/.293/.455 for the year, which translates to a 107 wRC+ in 58 plate appearances.

Despite that generally cromulent performance, Hill keeps getting nudged off rosters since he’s out of options. The Rangers signed him to a minor league deal in the offseason and he got up to the majors with them for a couple of weeks starting in late May before being cut and re-signing another minor league deal with that club. He was selected back to the roster in late June and got another few weeks before going to the Giants on waivers.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, Hill will be on waivers again shortly since the Giants will have no other choice. Perhaps Hill will be claimed by some club that just did some selling at the deadline and has playing time available. If he were to be grabbed off waivers, the claiming club would be receiving a guy who has yet to qualify for arbitration and who can be controlled for four additional seasons after this one.

He hasn’t been able to do too much with his major league opportunities. Despite this year’s performance, he has a career line of .233/.281/.337 in 362 plate appearances. But he has 12 steals and some decent marks for his outfield glovework at all three spots. He’s also hit .297/.360/.492 in just under a thousand plate appearances in the minor leagues since the start of 2021, with that production translating to a wRC+ of 115, which could tempt a club to give him some at-bats down the stretch here in 2024.

Giants Activate Kyle Harrison From 15-Day IL

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The Giants officially reinstated left-hander Kyle Harrison from the 15-day injured list this afternoon, as Harrison is set to make the start in today’s game with the Guardians.  San Francisco also called up southpaw Kolton Ingram from Double-A, and right-hander Spencer Bivens and infielder David Villar were both optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding moves.

Regarded as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects, Harrison made his MLB debut last season and was slated to take a regular spot in the Giants’ rotation this season.  A sprained right ankle sent him to the IL on June 13, but before Harrison became the latest Giants hurler sidelined by injury, the results in terms of bottom-line numbers were pretty solid.  Harrison had a 3.96 ERA in 14 starts and 77 1/3 innings, as well as an above-average 6.7% walk rate.  Since control was a big question mark for Harrison in Triple-A in 2023, that decent walk rate is a very nice sign of the 22-year-old development as a big league starter.

The rest of the secondary metrics weren’t as glowing for Harrison, as he is allowing a lot of hard contact and his 20.6% strikeout rate ranks only in the 38th percentile of all pitchers.  Harrison is getting great results from the four-seamer he throws 62.5% of the time, but batters have been feasting on his secondary pitches, giving Harrison something of a predictable repertoire.

Plenty of adjustments are sure to come for a pitcher who is still so early in his pro career, as Harrison was a third-round pic in the 2020 draft.  Perhaps most importantly for the 2024 version of the Giants, Harrison was both effective and durable prior to his ankle injury, and his return allows the Giants to fill one hole in what has been another makeshift rotation for the club.  Logan Webb and reliever-turned-starter Jordan Hicks have been San Francisco’s other two stable starters, but the Giants have cycled multiple pitchers through the other two rotation spots with little success.

Blake Snell is expected to return from his latest IL stint this week, as the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner looks to finally get his Giants tenure on track after a horrific first three months.  Robbie Ray (Tommy John surgery) and Alex Cobb (hip surgery) should both return from their lengthy rehabs in the second half to provide some further reinforcement, so if the 44-45 Giants can at least tread water in the playoff race, they could look to be buyers at the July 30 deadline.

Ingram’s recall gives San Francisco another fresh arm in the bullpen, and it also puts Ingram in line for the first MLB action of what has been a tumultuous five months for the 27-year-old left-hander.  Since the start of February, Ingram has been a member of six different organizations due to recurring series of waiver claims, and just last week, the Cardinals’ decision to designate Ingram for assignment opened the door for the Giants to again pluck him off the waiver wire.  Ingram made his Major League last season, tossing 5 1/3 innings over five appearances with the Angels.

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