South Florida Professional Athletes

Strzelecki Moves On From St. Louis

For the first time in his MLB career, Peter Strzelecki is a free agent — and it didn't come without a fight.

The 32-year-old USF product was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Wednesday after being reinstated from the 15-day injured list, a move that coincided with St. Louis activating standout rookie JJ Wetherholt. Rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, Strzelecki exercised his right to elect free agency — a right he earned by having been previously outrighted. It's a distinction that matters: this isn't a roster casualty quietly shipped to the minors. Strzelecki chose the open market.

He had joined the Cardinals on a minor league contract in late July, so the tenure was brief. But the decision to reject the outright speaks to a veteran reliever betting on himself with one of the sport's busiest September windows approaching. What comes next for Strzelecki remains to be seen, but he enters the market with four years of MLB service time and something to prove.

Kerkering's Tough September Continues

If Strzelecki's week ended with a measure of agency, Orion Kerkering's ended with a frank reckoning.

The Phillies reliever was hit hard twice by the Mets in back-to-back appearances. On Friday, Kerkering allowed three earned runs in one inning — including a three-run homer to Juan Soto that sealed a 6-3 Philadelphia loss. He followed that up Saturday with four earned runs surrendered in another inning of work as the Mets rolled, 10-3. His ERA sits at 4.97 on the season.

Kerkering didn't deflect after Friday's outing. "Just a rough couple of months," he said on NBC Sports Philadelphia's postgame coverage. "I think tonight…" — and by his own admission, there wasn't a clean explanation to offer. That kind of honesty from a young reliever is worth noting, even if the results remain a problem the Phillies need solved heading into a potential postseason run.

Around the League

Nationals reliever Brad Lord delivered back-to-back solid outings this week. He tossed two scoreless innings with three strikeouts in Saturday's 9-1 Washington win over St. Louis — a lopsided result that was, by coincidence, the same franchise that cut Strzelecki loose earlier in the week. Lord also appeared Tuesday against Philadelphia, though he lasted just a third of an inning in a 6-3 Nationals win. His ERA sits at 3.94 on the season.

Rockies reliever Jimmy Herget logged two-inning stints in both of Colorado's games this week — a 1-8 loss to Detroit on Sunday and a 3-9 defeat to San Diego on Thursday — without recording an earned run in either appearance. His season ERA stands at 5.76, but the back-to-back clean outings offer at least a small sign of stabilization for a pitcher who has had a difficult year.

The Bulls continue to have one of the more quietly deep rosters of alumni in the majors, with 13 active players across the league. This week, Strzelecki's departure and Kerkering's struggles were the sharpest storylines — but with postseason races tightening across the NL, more USF names figure to surface before October arrives.

Kerkering's Health Becomes Philadelphia's Problem

Orion Kerkering is supposed to be one of the Phillies' reliable late-inning arms heading into October. Right now, he's a question mark — and the foot is why.

The USF product has been managing turf toe in his left foot down the stretch of Philadelphia's postseason push, a nagging injury that MLB.com's Todd Zolecki confirmed after a puzzling extra-inning loss to Atlanta. During that Braves game, Kerkering remained in the bullpen with the Phillies holding leads in three consecutive innings — an eyebrow-raising move that prompted the injury disclosure. He did toe the rubber on September 12 against Atlanta, logging 1.1 innings and striking out two, but his ERA sits at 4.02, a far cry from the sharp reliever Phillies fans expected this late in the season.

The bigger concern isn't one outing — it's what the struggles and the injury have unlocked. According to The New York Times, right-hander Alex McFarlane has stepped into the opening Kerkering's inconsistency created, with the Phillies seemingly willing to let competition determine their bullpen hierarchy before the calendar flips to October. For a team pressing hard toward the playoffs, uncertainty in the late innings is the last thing a contender wants to manufacture.

McClanahan's Injury Reshapes Tampa Bay's Stretch Run

Kerkering isn't the only USF arm dealing with bad news down the stretch. Across the state, Shane McClanahan has gone down with an injury that Sports Illustrated says will meaningfully change the Rays' plans for the final weeks of the season. The left-hander's absence is a significant blow to Tampa Bay's rotation, and the Rays now face a recalibration of how they navigate the stretch run without one of their more experienced starters.

Davila Done for the Year in Seattle

In Seattle, USF right-hander Nick Davila won't be getting a September callup — or anything else this season. The Mariners moved Davila from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL after he was diagnosed with an SC joint sprain, effectively ending his 2026 campaign. To fill the roster spot, Seattle promoted outfield prospect Michael Arroyo from Triple-A. Davila's season ends quietly, a tough outcome for a pitcher still working to establish himself at the big-league level.

Lord Keeps Carrying Weight in Washington

Not all USF alumni are facing adversity. Brad Lord has been one of the more dependable arms in the Nationals' bullpen this week, even if the results haven't always gone his way. Lord worked 1.2 innings against the Dodgers on September 7, allowing one earned run in a 5-4 Washington win. He followed that with a 2.0-inning appearance against San Diego on September 9, though he allowed two earned runs and saw his ERA tick up to 3.76. A rough outing against the Angels on September 12 — three earned runs in one inning — pushed that number to 4.06, but the volume of work Lord is absorbing speaks to the trust the Nationals have placed in him late in a lost season.

For a rebuilding Washington club, Lord's innings are developmental reps. For Kerkering and the Phillies, every outing between now and the wild card is a referendum on whether he can be trusted when it matters most.

McClanahan's Forearm Scare Clouds Tampa Bay's Stretch Run

The timing couldn't be worse. Shane McClanahan — the unquestioned ace of the AL-leading Rays — was placed on the 15-day injured list with left forearm tightness entering the week, casting a shadow over Tampa Bay's postseason positioning just as the calendar turns to September.

McClanahan's last outing on Friday, Sept. 4 against the Rangers was a rough one: 5 innings, 4 earned runs, 3 strikeouts — the kind of line that raises questions in retrospect. His ERA sits at 3.36 on the season, but it's the location of the injury, not the number, that has Rays fans uneasy. Forearm tightness in a left-handed pitcher is an injury evaluators treat with particular caution; it sits one step removed from ulnar collateral ligament territory. Tampa Bay has offered few details on severity.

This is also McClanahan's second IL stint of 2026 — he missed two starts in late July with back tightness. Right-hander Alex Cook was recalled as the corresponding roster move, a significant step down in rotation depth for a club trying to hold off the AL pack. The Rays have built their identity around pitching, and losing their South Florida-bred headliner at this moment is the most consequential Bulls story in baseball right now.

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Kerkering's Struggles Becoming a Phillies Headache

In Philadelphia, Orion Kerkering is facing a different kind of pressure — the slow burn of a reliever who's lost the trust of his coaching staff and his results.

Kerkering's week illustrated the problem clearly. On Friday, Sept. 4 against Atlanta, he surrendered a two-run home run to Mauricio Dubon in a 5-2 Phillies loss — a blow that effectively sealed the game for the Braves. His ERA has now climbed to 4.12 after sitting at 3.86 just days earlier, a trendline moving in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.

Interim manager Don Mattingly addressed the situation bluntly after the Braves loss, stopping short of committing to Kerkering in high-leverage situations going forward. Multiple outlets have noted that the Phillies' Kerkering problem has grown too large to paper over — and with Philadelphia chasing a division title, the margin for bullpen errors is gone.

The week wasn't entirely damning: Kerkering picked up a strikeout across 0.2 innings in a Sept. 1 win over the Diamondbacks and worked 1.1 innings against the Angels on Aug. 30, though he allowed a run there too. The pattern is consistent — flashes of the former high-leverage arm interrupted by costly misfires at the worst moments.

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A Quieter Week for the Rest of the Bulls

Elsewhere in the brief, Brad Lord continued to carve out a legitimate role in Washington's bullpen, spinning 3.1 innings with 6 strikeouts against the Braves on Sept. 2 while maintaining a 3.58 ERA — work the Nationals are noting as they plan their 2027 roster. Jimmy Herget had a bumpy week for Colorado, posting outings on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5 for a Rockies team with little at stake.

But make no mistake — this week belonged to McClanahan and Kerkering, two South Florida products whose situations sit at opposite ends of the same anxious spectrum: one hurt, one struggling, both mattering enormously to their clubs' October hopes.