The Marlins are designating right-hander Bryan Mitchell for assignment, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald was among those to relay. The move creates an active roster spot for top pitching prospect Edward Cabrera, who has officially been recalled to make his major league debut tonight against the Nationals. Mitchell’s designation also creates a vacancy on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 39.
Miami selected Mitchell to the big league club last week. He’s since made two appearances, tossing four innings of two-run ball out of the bullpen. He struck out four batters while issuing one unintentional walk in that time. That brief showing marked Mitchell’s first big league work in three years, as he hadn’t made it back to the majors after struggling to a 5.42 ERA over 73 innings with the 2018 Padres.
In the intervening seasons, Mitchell has bounced around between a few organizations. He’s spent most of the past couple years at Triple-A, and that’s been true in 2021 as well. Mitchell signed with the Phillies and began the year with their top affiliate in Lehigh Valley. He was released with a 6.04 ERA and a mediocre 20:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 28 1/3 frames with the IronPigs. But Mitchell has looked better after landing with the Marlins on a minors pact. He tossed twelve innings of four-run ball with fourteen strikeouts and six walks for Triple-A Jacksonville to earn the long-awaited call back to the majors last week.
Mitchell will now find himself on waivers over the coming days. If he passes through unclaimed, he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency because he has previously been outrighted in his career.
