The Diamondbacks have outrighted lefty Steve Hathaway off of the 40-man roster, per a club announcement. He was first reinstated from the 60-day DL.
Shoulder issues kept the 27-year-old Hathaway out for all but one appearance this year. That made for a disappointing campaign for the former 14th-rounder, who cracked the majors last year despite opening the season with just 56 low-minors relief appearances under his belt.
Hathaway obviously piqued the D-Backs’ interest in 2016, when he threw 45 innings of 2.60 ERA ball in stops at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Though he managed only 7.8 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 along the way, that effort earned Hathaway a first shot at the big leagues. Through 14 2/3 innings spread over 24 appearances, he surrendered eight earned runs on 18 hits while recording 15 strikeouts against six walks.
A bit surprised he passed through unclaimed. The fact that he’s a lefty who can hit around 96 is huge and also, he is controllable through 2019 even after being outrighted. Certainly would’ve been worth a $20,000 claim for pretty much any team in need of relief depth. He looked great before getting hurt and he pitched very well in the PCL. I would not be shocked to see him back up, and up for good, once he proves he’s healthy.
Seems like a good fit for the Cardinals. They’re having to restructure their whole bullpen. Must be something else going on with him for the Diamondbacks to just let him go??????
Not a ton of fat on the D-Backs roster. Id imagine Negron Fuentes and Koch meet the same fate soon, but the rest of the “dead-weight players” are non-tender candidates. Makes no sense to cut bait now when you might see trade interest at some point. Happens every year, Derek Norris, Jim Johnson, Tony Cruz, Trumbo, Pomeranz, Scrabble and Alonso etc. while theres no guarantee to get something back might as well give it a month.
The fact that they sent him outright to AAA now was smart. He’s more likely to clear now compared to in a month when every team has 10 open roster spots.
He wont become a free agent, however, as he was drafted in 2013 making him controllable through 2019.