Minnesota claimed Brujan off waivers a week ago, designating him catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper (which has since been claimed by the Nationals) for assignment in a corresponding move. They will now likely try to put Brujan through waivers themselves in an attempt to slot him into Triple-A St. Paul as a depth option. Brujan is out of minor league options and faced an uphill battle in making the roster, so the quick turnaround in this morning’s DFA isn’t all that surprising.
Now 28 years old, Brujan held a spot as Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect for four years, but has yet to straighten things out in the majors. He has seen big league time in five consecutive seasons between the Rays, Marlins, Cubs, Braves and Orioles (one at-bat), but only managed a .199//.267/.276 batting line in 645 trips to the batter’s box. He used to rate as a plus runner, but according to Statcast he was only in the 37th percentile of major leaguers in average sprint speed last year.
Despite the lack of Major League production, Brujan has been a useful and versatile player in Triple-A. He has just over 1,000 innings at the highest minor league level and posted a collective .273/.356/.450 line with a nice 10.6% walk rate and a 16.5% strikeout rate, which is significantly lower than average. The switch-hitting Brujan was originally signed by the Rays as a 16-year-old middle infielder, but he has gained significant experience in all three outfield spots in recent seasons and now has more than 1,500 career innings on the grass.
Gray, who replaces Brujan on the 40-man roster, has virtually no outfield experience to speak of, but has experience at all four infield spots. Crucially, he also has minor league option remaining, so he can provide similar versatility in the infield but more flexibility from a roster vantage point.
The Twins have five days to trade Brujan before he must be placed on waivers (although he could also be placed on waivers at any time before that five-day deadline). Waivers are a 48-hour process, so we should have an outcome on Brujan’s DFA within the next week.
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