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The Rockies announced that infielder Aaron Schunk has passed through waivers unclaimed and been sent outright to Triple-A. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the club signed left-hander Scott Alexander. He stays in big league camp but now as a non-roster invitee.
Schunk, 27, was selected to the club’s roster in June. He got to make his major league debut last year, stepping to the plate 98 times across 39 games. He put up a line of .234/.265/.330 in those, walking just 4.1% of the time and striking out at a 31.6% clip. Defensively, he split his time between second base, third base and shortstop.
His offense has been better in the minors. Over the past three seasons, he has 1,304 plate appearances on the farm, drawing walks in 7.6% of those and getting punched out 22.2% of the time. He hit a combined .278/.335/.450 for a 98 wRC+ over those seasons.
That wasn’t enough for any club to put in a claim. Since this is Schunk’s first career outright and he has less than three years of major league service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the Rockies and provide them with some infield depth but without taking up a roster spot.
The Rockies have Ryan McMahon locked in at third base and Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop. Second base is a bit more open after the club moved on from Brendan Rodgers. Prospect Adael Amador is perhaps the long-term plan, though he’s played just ten games above the Double-A level thus far and still has options. Thairo Estrada should hold down the position for now, with Kyle Farmer on the roster as a bench/utility infielder.
The Rox have guys like Owen Miller and Keston Hiura in camp as non-roster invitees, with Schunk now joining them in that category. If Schunk gets added back to the roster at any point, he has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time.
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