The Phillies announced that they have claimed right-hander Michael Mariot off waivers from the Royals. Mariot was designated for assignment 10 days ago when the Royals set their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
The 27-year-old Mariot logged just three innings with the Royals in 2015 but filled in for 25 innings in 2014 with less-than-stellar results. He has a 6.11 ERA with a 22-to-14 K/BB ratio in 28 total big league innings but has a considerably better minor league track record.
Mariot spent this past season at the Triple-A level, where he worked to an outstanding 2.32 ERA with 10.5 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 62 innings of relief work. He hasn’t always enjoyed such success in Triple-A, but he’s shown an increased ability to miss bats at that level when compared to his results at lower levels. Mariot has averaged 9.9 K/9 in 150 2/3 innings of Triple-A relief after averaging six to seven strikeouts per nine innings when spending time in the rotation in the lower levels of the minors. He’s averaged 91.7 mph on his fastball in his brief big league time (92.6 mph in his very limited 2015 work) and also features a slider and changeup.
Mariot will join fellow Phillies waiver claims Dan Otero and A.J. Achter in competing for a bullpen job in Spring Training. The Phillies now have 38 players on their 40-man roster, so they could add one more player in the next 10 days and still have room to make the top selection in the Rule 5 Draft.
Anyone think our waiver pickups make the roster?
I think Otero does. Achter and Mariot are taxi squad guys in case of injuries. I can see them trading from their stack of righties for a rule V pick.
I’d guess Otero does out of the three. He has a better MLB track record, with just 1 bad season last year, but great in the years previous…
i think 1/4 of the 40 man roster is now made up of mediocre right handed relievers.