The Angels are designating infielder Keston Hiura for assignment, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (X link). The move opens an active roster spot for the reinstatement of Luis Rengifo from the 10-day injured list. The Halos now have two vacancies on their 40-man roster.
Rengifo missed around three weeks with inflammation in his right wrist. It doesn’t seem all that serious. The Halos fortunately managed to get him back a week before the deadline, giving him a few games to demonstrate he’s at full health. The switch-hitting Rengifo is one of the better offensive options who should be available this summer. He’s hitting .315/.358/.442 across 269 plate appearances.
While he’s unlikely to maintain a .349 average on balls in play, Rengifo should still be an above-average hitter. He makes a ton of contact and topped 15 homers in 2022 and ’23. Over the past two and a half seasons, he owns a .275/.325/.437 line over more than 1200 trips to the plate. He has destroyed left-handed pitching while turning in league average results against righties. Rengifo isn’t a great defender anywhere, but he’s capable of bouncing around the infield and occasionally logging corner outfield reps.
Rengifo is making $4.4MM this season. He’s controllable through arbitration for one more season. MassLive reported yesterday that the Red Sox have shown some interest, though they’re likely one of many teams that’ll be in touch with the Halos. Speculatively speaking, the Yankees, Pirates and Royals are a few others that would make sense as suitors for Rengifo.
Hiura got the call in conjunction with Rengifo’s IL placement. The former #9 overall pick went 4-27 (all singles) and struck out 10 times in as many games. That was Hiura’s first major league work since 2022. Since an excellent rookie campaign five years ago, he’s a .203/.287/.384 hitter with a 38.5% strikeout rate at the MLB level.
The UC Irvine product has continued to hit well against Triple-A pitching, but he hasn’t carried that over against MLB arms. He owned a solid .270/.346/.536 slash over 68 minor league contests with the Tigers and Angels before being called up. He’s out of options, so the Halos couldn’t send him back to the minors without taking him off the 40-man roster. It’s unlikely they’ll find a trade partner, so Hiura is likely to hit the waiver wire this week. He has already cleared outright waivers once in his career and could elect free agency if he goes unclaimed again.