Cubs are assigning right-handers Robert Stock for attribution, by Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (Twitter link) The move makes room in the list of 40 left-handed players Kyle Ryan, which was activated from the COVID-19 list, by Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago claimed exemptions from Red Sox shares last December.
A former Cardinals’ chosen in the second round as an attractive prospect, Stock was eliminated as a position player, but clicked after a conversion to the mound. The strong shot reliever won a major league job with Padres 2018 and showed some promise, launching for an ERA of 2.50 / 3.61 SIERA over 39.2 innings.
Stock was unable to maintain that success for the following seasons, however, largely thanks to the difficulty of hitting. He has an ERA of 7.13 out of 24 entries in the past two seasons with San Diego and Boston. The 24.6% stock elimination rate in that period is adequate, but he has issued an unsustainable rate of 15.3%.
Despite his control problems, it’s easy to see why Stock continued to attract the interest of teams with available space at the end of the 40-man squad. Stock’s four-seater fastball is in the mid-90s. He managed hitting and failing at a rate close to the league average and induced balls to land in 50.8% of the balls in play throughout his major league career . Perhaps there is still hope that the late flowering stock can develop adequate control and remain in the midst of a mix of relief from the team.
Cubs have a week to trade shares or place them under exemption. He has not yet reached arbitration and still has a year of remaining second division options, so he would be a very flexible piece of depth for potential acquiring clubs.