MLB news

He’ll replace Joshua Báez for the last week and change of the season. Prieto is ultimately just a depth piece for the Cardinals, though perhaps he’ll find some work against lefties.

Prieto returns to the minors with Masyn Winn back from the injured list for Tuesday’s game against the Giants. The 27-year-old infielder has gone 2-for-32 with one stolen base in 14 games with the Cardinals this season.

With JJ Wetherhold (wrist) unexpectedly landing on the injured list on Sunday, Prieto will return to provide infield depth. The 27-year-old has gone 2-for-31 (.065) in his limited action with the Cardinals this season and can be ignored for fantasy purposes.

The Cardinals needed to free up a spot on their active roster for the expected promotion of Joshua Baez from Triple-A Memphis on Saturday and it looks like Prieto drew the short straw this time around. He’ll continue to serve as extra infield depth at the Triple-A level.

With Lars Nootbaar being traded to the Diamondbacks, the Cardinals will call up Prieto, who is hitting .307/.373/.517 in 71 games at Triple-A with 12 home runs and six steals. Bryan Torres will likely play a lot of left field until August 14th, when the team can call up Joshua Baez without exhausting his rookie eligibility.

Prieto had just 17 plate appearances since being called up on May 4, and he did not record a single hit in that timespan. He’ll head back to Triple-A Memphis — where he was hitting .311/.357/.566 before being recalled — and try to get things back on track.

Prieto is hitting .311/.357/.566 in 28 Triple-A games with six home runs and 19 runs scored. He has just a 90 mph average exit velocity and 40 percent hard-hit rate, so the underlying metrics aren’t supporting that level of slugging, especially with a 57 percent groundball rate. The 27-year-old will most likely just be a bench bat for now.

Prieto’s homer traveled 339 feet down the left field line, whereas the double was hit 12 mph harder and went 392 feet to center. The 26-year-old Prieto made his major league debut last season, going 1-for-6 with five strikeouts in three games with the Cardinals. His chances of making the Cardinals as a utilityman took quite a hit when the team signed Ramón Urías earlier this month.