Veteran right-handed reliever George Kontos has been released by the Nationals, per an announcement from Paul Braverman of the Fresno Grizzlies PR department (Twitter link). He’d been with the Grizzlies since signing a minor league pact back in late May.
Kontos, 34, has had a tough year in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. It’s worth noting that more than a third of the total runs he’s allowed came between two meltdown appearances, but that doesn’t exactly discount the fact that his bottom-line results haven’t been pretty. In 46 innings with Fresno, he’s posted a 6.07 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.37 HR/9 and a 38.6 percent ground-ball rate.
A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Kontos pitched for four clubs from 2017-18, tallying a 3.68 ERA and an 85-to-27 K/BB ratio in 93 innings of work between the Giants, Pirates, Yankees and Indians. He’s best known for his time as a solid middle reliever/setup piece for the Giants, with whom he won a pair of World Series rings (posting a sub-3.00 ERA in both 2012 and 2014). Kontos logged 309 2/3 innings as a Giant from 2012-17, recording a tidy 3.05 ERA with averages of 7.3 punchouts and 2.6 walks per nine innings pitched along the way.
this dude cant keep a job for whatever reason.
Maybe his brother Stelios can get him a job at Kinkos
U made me hear Stelios’ theme music in my head!
Hilarious
But seriously, hope good things for George too
He was a good Giant
Every time I see this name I think of American dad and Stan getting his butt kicked
STELIO!
Kontos turned out to be a great trade for the Giants — they had DFA’d Chris Stewart and the Yankees decided to make a swap. He ended up throwing over 300 innings over 6 seasons in relief and helping the Giants win a couple championships. I’ll always remember him as a good Giant.
I thought it was strange that they let him go to keep Federowicz in the roster
With his rings and the advanced statistics Kontos will likely end up in the Hall of Fame. He will latch on with another team, continue his excellence and retire bound for the Hall.
he played 7 more games with the Yankees then he needed to.