The Curious Case of the Player to Be Named Later
David Rainey • July 19, 2025
It’s that time of year again. The excitement of All-Star weekend and the Homerun Derby are behind us, and it’s on to the second half of the MLB season. This is the time where the great teams separate themselves from the good teams. It’s the time for teams to show whether they should be considered contenders or pretenders. And with this time of the year, of course, comes the MLB trade deadline. Arguably the most intriguing trade deadline of all the major sports. Fringe teams will have to decide whether to be buyers or sellers, and the great teams will mortgage their futures for one player they believe will take them to the promise land. Now, as out of left-field as the ending to this year’s All-Star weekend was (raise your hand if you also weren’t aware that swing offs were a thing), the MLB trade deadline features something much more curious. The Player to Be Named Later.
You see, as most of us know, it’s extremely common in Major League Baseball for a team like the Padres, for example, to sell off a handful of their top prospects at the trade deadline for a lefty reliever they hope will help them navigate the difficult waters that is the postseason. But what some people aren’t aware of (outside of us baseball nerds of course) is the use of something, or someone more specifically, called the “Player to Be Named Later (PTBNL)” in these trade scenarios.
For those of you who don’t know, here’s a quick explanation of what exactly the phrase “Player to Be Named Later” means. In baseball, when a team isn’t sure exactly which prospect they want in return or when they are trying to finesse the roster management rules, they will accept a “Player to Be Named Later” in return in a trade. This gives that team the opportunity to further evaluate players and choose who they want in return at a later date. This doesn’t mean that the team will just be able to choose a superstar down the road, there are limitations placed on who can be chosen, and most of the time the player ends up being just another player lost in baseball lore. However, sometimes these PTBNL turn out to be more than just a journeyman or even lead to oddities that only baseball can provide.
So, what are the most famous cases of Players to Be Named Later?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Let’s start with the not so unexpected scenario that actually led to the PTBNL rules to be changed.
Trea Turner
Before 2015, there was a rule in place in the MLB in which prevented players from being traded for a year after being drafted. Trea Turner was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2014 Draft which meant, you guessed it, he wasn’t eligible to be traded until the following year. However, in December of 2014 the Padres, Nationals, and Rays agreed to mega-deal that involved 11 players AND a Player to Be Named Later. So, what does this have to do with Turner? Well, everyone was aware of who that PTBNL would be. Trea Turner. But as I mentioned before, he wasn’t allowed to be traded yet. So Turner had to spend the beginning of the next season playing for the Padres who had already traded him. This led to a rule change in MLB before the next draft to avoid this situation ever playing out again.
But where is Trea Turner now? He’s certainly no journeyman. He had an incredible start to his career with the Nationals, before being traded (again) to the Dodgers with Max Scherzer in 2021. He eventually signed a $300 million deal with the Phillies where he still plays and remains one of the best players in Major League Baseball. But is he the best PTBNL of all time? Not quite.
David Ortiz
Big Papi.
Ever heard of him? Sure you have. But did you know he wasn’t always the mashing lefty for the Red Sox that we know and love? That’s right. Early on in David Ortiz’s career he actually struggled to find a place in the league; and at one point, was even a Player to Be Named Later in a trade. He actually started his career with the Seattle Mariners, but he doesn’t mean much to the Mariners franchise outside of being a PTBNL in a trade in 1996 with the Minnesota Twins for Dave Hollins. As a matter of fact, not only was Ortiz not the player we know on the field, he wasn’t even David Ortiz on paper. At the time, he was actually known as David Arias.
You might be thinking, “Wow. The Mariners really traded BIG PAPI.” Trust me when I tell that the Twins feel even worse. Ortiz would play a handful of seasons for the Twins from 1997-2002; however, even after a solid season in 2002 with the Twins, they would go on to RELEASE Ortiz. That’s right. Even one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a baseball diamond was not only traded as PTBNL but was also outright released.
Of course in 2003, David Ortiz would go on to join the Boston Red Sox.
Ten All-Star games, 3 World Series Championships, a World Series MVP, and a Hall of Fame selection later, David Ortiz would go down in baseball history as one of the most feared batters of all time, and the legend we know him as today Big Papi.
What is the oddest Player to Be Named Later situation?
There is a rare, but always delightfully bizarre situation in which a player is traded for himself as a Player to Be Named Later. This hilariously absurd scenario is so rare that it has only happened four times in the history of Major League Baseball.
- Harry Chiti – traded from the then Cleveland Indians to the Mets in 1962 for a PTBNL. However, he was so bad that the Mets decided trade him back to Cleveland as the PTBNL
- Brad Gulden – traded (with $100,000) from the Yankees to the Mariners for Larry Milbourne and a PTBNL in 1980. Once again, he performed so poorly that the Mariners traded him back to New York as the PTBNL in the original trade. Are you sensing a theme?
- Dickie Noles – In 1987 the Cubs traded him to the Tigers for a Player to Be Named Later. Sadly, he didn’t do enough during the Tigers playoff run that year for them to want to keep him around. So, they shipped back to the Windy City to complete the trade as the PTBNL.
- John McDonald – The most recent example. He was acquired by Detroit, who clearly didn’t learn anything in 1987, from the Blue Jays in 2005 for, that’s right, a PTBNL. Later that year, he was sent back to Canada for cash considerations.
There you go. Next time you’re hanging out with your buddies on the back porch naming random athletes from your pass, feel free to drop in a “Dickie Noles” reference and explain the wonderful scenario of him being traded for himself.
Baseball is such a beautiful sport in so many ways. For many of us, it’s the first sport we play as children, or the sport we remember watching with our grandparents on the living room floor. It has such an iconic and rich history. It’s known as “America’s past time” for a reason. But throughout that history, there are so many things that have happened that can only be described as strange and uniquely baseball. And that’s why we love it.
So, when you’re scrolling social media or watching ESPN this trade deadline season and see that stud middle reliever traded for nothing but a Player to Be Named Later, maybe you won’t just brush it off this time around. Maybe you’ll wait to see who that player becomes, and maybe they’ll end up being another great piece of baseball trivia.
A quick share helps us a lot!
Sunday Afternoon Recap LSU had to have it. They had to have this series, which meant they had to have this game. Putting themselves directly behind the 8-ball with a loss on Friday night set up an uphill battle. An uphill battle that appeared to be too tall to climb after a disastrous start to the game on Sunday. Since the postgame on Friday night, we had been saying that the importance of Casan Evans battling through 6 innings in game 1 would truly have. In their first weekend without Cooper Moore, the Tiger pitching staff was going to be challenged. The performances of William Schmidt and Zac Cowan in game 2 put them in about as good of a position as they could have hoped for, which allowed Jay Johnson to call upon Gavin Guidry to start on Sunday. There is no one on the roster that is trusted more by Jay, so it was no surprise to see his name listed as starting pitcher about 90 minutes before first pitch. It was surprising just how much Guidry struggled, though. Control was an issue from the very first pitch. It wasn’t much better for a few guys that came after him, either, putting LSU in a deep hole. The pitching rapidly improved with Deven Sheerin and the stabilization on the mound allowed the offense to get to work and complete the comeback. Following a horrid game on Friday night, the Tiger lineup showed signs of life yesterday in game 2. Despite only scoring in 3 innings, they put up crooked numbers in each of them and that was a step in the right direction. Well, today was a gigantic leap in the right direction, because the offense went crazy. Jay described the performance of his team after the game as “zero quit”. After just one hit in the first time through the order, they picked things up in a hurry during the second trip through. Once they got going, there was no slowing them down. LSU scored in 5 of their final 6 at bats, with three of those times being 4+ runs. It was big swing after big swing, something we have rarely seen this year. Time will tell if this was truly the breakout game that they had been looking for or just an anomaly, but either way, they showed up when they were needed the most. Pitching It could not have been a worse start for Gavin Guidry. Needing as much length as you can possibly get from every pitcher that stepped on the mound today, a 39 pitch 1st inning was less than ideal. After an infield single to start the game, followed by a stolen base, he recorded a flyout for the first out. Guidry then issued three straight free passes to give Kentucky their first run since Friday night. A strikeout and an 0-2 pitch count would get him just one pitch away from escaping with minimal damage, but he’d lose him to give up his 3rd walk and bring in another run. A wild pitch would make it 3-0 before Guidry recorded a strikeout to finally get out of the 1st. Jay sent him back out for the 2nd, but it wasn’t much better. He recorded a flyout to start the inning, but then the hit barrage from the Wildcat bats got started. Guidry gave up a single, double, and then a walk, and was out of the game with the score 4-0. Final line: 1.1 IP / 3 hits / 6 runs / 2 Ks / 4 BBs / 48 pitches (24 strikes, 50%) Santiago Garcia took over after Guidry and immediately gave up a base-clearing double that made the score 6-0. He fought back for a flyout and a groundout, but the Tigers were already in deep trouble. Back for the 3rd, Garcia would walk the leadoff hitter and then LSU nearly turned a rare double play that doesn’t involve Steven Milam, but Zach Yorke was unable to scoop Seth Dardar’s low throw. A 4-pitch walk would be the end of the junior LHP’s day. Final line: 1.0 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 0 Ks / 1 BB / 20 pitches (7 strikes, 35%) Connor Benge entered with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out, coming off of a good outing on Tuesday where he put out a fire. His job got even tougher after a passed ball on Omar Serna allowed both runners to move up, which set up a sacrifice flyout to centerfield to make it 7-0 and that would be all for Benge. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs / 5 pitches (2 strikes, 40%) Cooper Williams took over and was able to end the inning with a lineout. He returned in the 4th for another good inning. Despite a 1-out walk, the lefty struck out Kentucky’s 3 and 5-hole hitters, along with a nice defensive play by John Pearson on a slow roller. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 1 BB / 23 pitches (13 strikes, 57%) After a fantastic outing by Mavrick Rizy on Friday where he threw 80% strikes, it was the opposite story today. He struggled from the very beginning and walked two of Kentucky’s worst hitters in their lineup, as per batting average. Their 7-hole hitter Will Marcy came in with a .200 average, while 9-hole hitter Carson Hansen was at .227 and Rizy walked them both with a strikeout between them. Following the second walk, his day was over. Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 2 runs / 1 K / 2 BBs / 18 pitches (8 strikes, 44%) Jay had to call upon Deven Sheerin far earlier he would have liked, especially considering that was the last of his “top” arms that was completely fresh for the weekend. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out, Sheerin was being asked to come through in a huge spot with the Tigers having closed their deficit to 7-6. With the infield drawn in, Steven Milam took a ground ball and fired home to nab a potential run for out number to. Sheerin then had the next hitter down 0-2, but was struggling to finish him off with four straight foul-offs. Luke Lawrence eventually slapped a ball the other way off of the left field wall to drive in both runs. Bell followed with an RBI single and just like that, LSU was back down 10-6. From that point on, the big righty was nails. Sheerin struck out three in a row going in to the 6th, which ended up being the first 1-2-3 inning of the day for the Wildcats. After recording two outs to start the 7th, which made for 6 retired in a row, he hit a batter and that would be the end of the day. His ability to battle past the early hiccups played a massive role in bridging the gap to the end of the game for the bullpen. Sheerin earned the win to extend his record to 3-0. Final line: 2.1 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 3 Ks / 1 BB / 1 HBP / 50 pitches (35 strikes, 70%) Danny Lachenmayer entered with two outs in the 7th for what was his second appearance of the weekend. This one was the biggest spot he has been in as a Tiger, though, and he delivered. He recorded a flyout to end the threat and preserve the 11-10 lead that LSU had just taken. He returned for the 8th, but gave up a base hit with to the open part of the field with the infield shifted. Final line: 0.1 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs / 5 pitches (3 strikes, 60%) Grant Fontenot entered and despite his shaky performance on Tuesday, he has been pretty good for the past month. After recording a flyout, he initiated a 4-6-3 double play that was beautifully turned between Dardar and Milam. Back in the 9th and now pitching with a 7-run lead, Fontenot cruised. Despite a 1-out single, he struck out two, including the final hitter of the game to clinch the game and LSU’s first SEC series win of the season. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 0 BBs / 22 pitches (15 strikes, 68%) Hitting Set h Dardar was not only the offensive MVP of the day, but he was the best player at the plate for LSU all weekend. Today, his 6th inning 3-run homerun on to the roof of the Marucci hitting facility gave the Tigers their first lead after they fell behind 7-0 after the top of the 3rd. That wasn’t all for Dardar, as he also doubled and finished 3-5 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. His defense was impeccable all weekend. Jay has been searching for someone to take over the second base position and, as of now, the local kid has done just that. The other giant swing of the day belonged to John Pearson. A 2-out grand slam in the 3rd brought the Tiger back to within just 2 runs and brought both LSU and Alex Box Stadium back to life. Speaking of players taking control of positions, the sophomore has done just that at 3rd base. He has also shown big strides of improvement defensively, garnering praise from Jay after the game. Pearson finished 1-4 with the 4 RBI and a run scored, while also walking once. Derek Curiel had himself a huge day and was a part of every single big inning. He scored 3 runs and those came in the 3rd when LSU closed the deficit, in the 6th when they took the lead, and then in the 8th when they extended it way out of reach. He hit his second homerun of the year, a beautifully struck backside blast on a pitch that was on the outer half of the plate. Curiel finished 3-5 with 3 RBI, the 3 runs scored, and a walk. It wasn’t his first time leading off this season, but Chris Stanfield has not been in that position very much. Today, he may have shown why he should stay there. The senior went 4-5 and also drew a walk. He doubled and had two opposite field singles. One of those was immediately following when he fouled a ball right off of his knee and went down to the ground in major pain. Jay told us after the game that when he went out to check on his leader, Stanfield looked at him and said that he was ok and was going to come through. He did just that, lining a base hit to right field and driving in a run. He also walked and scored twice. Jake Brown didn’t drive in a single one of LSU’s 17 runs and the importance of that can not be overstated. I have mentioned multiple times in the past week that it is imperative that other players step up, because opposing teams are not going to allow Brown to beat them. Why would they? Pitchers have not given him much to hit and he’s had to work with what he’s given in many of these games. Despite the “quiet” day by his standards, Brown finished 2-5 with a couple of singles and scored 3 runs. Zach Yorke may not have driven in a ton of runs, either, but he was very active by getting on base four times. He finished 1-3, but he drew 3 walks and scored twice. Up Next LSU will stay home and welcome Southern for a midweek matchup on Tuesday. First pitch is for 6:30 pm central. The Tigers improved to 19-10 (4-5 SEC) with the win today. The Jaguars will come to Alex Box with a record of 10-16. They took 2 of 3 in a series with Prairie View A&M at home this weekend. Their common opponents with LSU include both Grambling, who Southern beat, and two games with McNeese, in which they split. Follow me on X for much more @DCBilliotJr
Saturday Afternoon Recap Saturday was as much of a must-win game as you can find halfway through the season. After dropping game 1 of the series last night and having no defined starting pitcher for game 3 on Sunday, LSU simply had to have this game. Give credit to Jay Johnson and his squad, because they showed up and played like it. William Schmidt pitched in and out of trouble as he has all season. Kentucky did a fine job of making him work, a hallmark of pesky offenses like theirs. He refused to give in, though, shutting them down at every turn. Schmidt earned the win to improve his record to 4-1. Zac Cowan followed him and was just as magnificent, if not more. Jay said after the game that he believed that was Cowan’s best performance in his LSU career, which had plenty of them in 2025. He also explained just how important he is to their team, saying that Cowan was a top 5 reason that they won the College World Series a year ago. He earned his first save of the season. The offense was much better. Although they only scored three times in their eight at bats, they put up crooked numbers each time and never appeared satisfied. LSU recorded 9 hits as a team and only struck out 5 times, a far cry from last night. The most promising note is that they did their damage with only 3 combined hits from Jake Brown, Derek Curiel, and Steven Milam, the typical leaders of the team. Today, it was two freshman that delivered multiple times and that is something this team has been lacking. Pitching William Schmidt was looking to get off to a more efficient start and despite a 1-out infield hit off of Zach Yorke’s backhand attempt, he did just that. Things got interesting for a bit, as Omar Serna hesitated on a steal attempt and then threw the ball in to centerfield to put the runner on third base. Schmidt delivered back to back breaking balls to 4-hole hitter Hudson Brown to strike him out and end the threat. After a 3-pitch strikeout to start the 2nd, he allowed another 1-out single, but another fantastic play by Steven Milam and a pop out to Serna would lead to a quick 9-pitch inning. The 3rd inning was the stiffest test, yet, for the sophomore. After a leadoff infield single, Schmidt started the second hitter 3-0, but came back to record the big out. Kentucky executed a perfectly drawn up hit-and-run to put runners on the corners with 1 out with Tyler Bell coming to the plate. A 96 MPH fastball on the inside corner with a 3-2 count locked up the star shortstop for a massive second out. A fly out would keep the Wildcats off of the scoreboard, yet again. They got right back on the basepaths in the 4th, drawing a leadoff walk, but a beautifully turned 6-4-3 double play by Milam and Seth Dardar, followed by a one pitch flyout would quickly get Schmidt off of the field with an 8-pitch inning. Schmidt danced around more trouble in the 5th after hitting the leadoff hitter, despite starting him 0-2 and then throwing a wild pitch to allow him to second base. A 1-out single put runners on the corners and set up the defensive play of the game. On a shallow flyball to Jake Brown, Kentucky tried tagging up to score, but the former pitcher gunned him out at home to a raucous applause from the Alex Box crowd. The day would end for Schmidt in the 6th after allowing a walk and a single, with a flyout between. He finished with 88 pitches and battled throughout the day. Kentucky got at least one baserunner on in every single inning for the first 6 innings. Final line: 5.1 IP / 6 hits / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 2 BBs / 88 pitches (52 strikes, 59%) Zac Cowan was a name many considered as a possibility to fill Sunday’s TBA spot, but he was called upon with runners on 1st and 3rd and only 1 out with LSU holding a 5-0 lead. A quick stolen base put both runners in scoring position, but the senior struck out consecutive hitters to leave a Wildcat runner on 3rd base for the fourth time in the game. The 7th inning was the first 1-2-3 inning for the Tigers all day. In the 8th, Cowan had to pitch through some trouble, but as it was all day, it was no issue. The inning started with a very good play on a slow-roller by Dardar, but then a walk and a single put runners on 1st and 3rd with only 1 out. Like he did when taking over for Schmidt in the 6th, Cowan struck out back to back hitters to end the threat. Two more Ks in the 9th helped only the second 3-up, 3-down of the day and LSU closed out a 7-0 victory to even the series. Final line: 3.2 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 7 Ks / 1 BB / 54 pitches (39 strikes, 72%) Hitting Mason Braun made the start at DH and despite not playing as much recently as he did earlier in the season, he delivered multiple times today. His RBI double in the 2nd was just the first impact swing, but it wasn’t even his biggest. In his next at bat in the 4th, Braun launched a 3-run homerun through a strong wind that was blowing straight in. That swing pushed LSU’s lead to 5-0 and was the type of insurance that they have struggled to find at times this season. The freshman finished 2-4 with 4 RBI and a run scored. Omar Serna made his third consecutive start at catcher and continued to deliver in every facet. After throwing out a base-stealer last night, he followed up with a stellar job of blocking pitches in the dirt and preventing extra bases for Wildcat runners. At the plate, he went 2-4 and also drew a walk. Steven Milam only finished 1-4, but his one swing was huge. In the 6th, LSU had put runners on 2nd and 3rd base with 0 outs. A groundout with the infield drawn in and a pop out to the second baseman kept both runners in place and it appeared as if they may miss a giant opportunity. Milam stepped in and ripped a ground ball down the 1st base line to bring both runners home and extend the lead to 7-0. Jake Brown’s numbers aren’t going to jump off of the page today with a 1-5 finish, but it is worth noting that his 8th inning single was his first time on base today and that makes it 27 of 28 games that the star outfielder has reached base in 2026. As I mentioned earlier, he also threw out a runner at home with a rocket of a throw that helped preserve the shutout. Seth Dardar followed up his 3 doubles night with a 3 walks performance. Officially, he finished 0-1, but he reached base at a .750 rate today and he also scored once. The senior also played excellent defense at 2nd base today, drawing praise from Jay Johnson in his postgame press conference. John Pearson and Zach Yorke each finished 1-2. Pearson had a double, walked twice, and also scored twice. Yorke drew a walk, scored twice, and drove in an RBI. Up Next LSU and Kentucky will return for a massive rubber match tomorrow. First pitch is set for 12 noon central. Jay Johnson told us after the game that they needed to sit down as a coaching staff and look at what options they have available to decide who they will start, as it is currently listed as TBA. Junior LHP Ben Cleaver will start for the Wildcats. He started game 1 for Kentucky last week at Ole Miss and went 3.2 IP and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, while striking out 4 and walking 2 hitters. Follow me on X for much more @DCBilliotJr