The Padres have brought in southpaw Christian Friedrich on a minor league deal, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. It appears that he’ll join the major league side of camp.
Friedrich will presumably join a lively bullpen battle in San Diego. Indeed, he’s not even the only southpaw to enter the fray today, as the club also reportedly reached terms with veteran Matt Thornton.
The 28-year-old Friedrich, a former first-round draft pick, had spent his entire previous career in the Rockies organization. He was designated for assignment and claimed by the Angels just a few weeks back, but that claim was reversed when an issue arose in his medicals.
Friedrich first reached the majors as a starter back in 2012, but didn’t stick at the time. He spent all of last year in the Colorado pen, making for his first full MLB campaign, but was only able to manage a 5.25 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 to go with a 47.4 percent ground-ball rate over his 58 1/3 frames of action.
There are some positives to his year last year. He held lefties to a .659 OPS, managed a 4.08 FIP, and allowed only 0.8 HR/9 despite pitching in Colorado. If the issues that the Angels had with his physical aren’t too serious, he could be viable lefty specialist.
He always pitched well in SD also. I remember he had an awesome start against the Padres in his rookie year. I still think he could be much more than just a simple LOOGY. But that might be my purple-colored glasses at work.