The Mariners have claimed reliever Taylor Williams off waivers from the Brewers, per a club announcement. The Seattle org designated fellow 28-year-old righty Phillips Valdez to create roster space.
Williams, who recently lost his spot in the Milwaukee bullpen mix, seemed like a possible waiver target. While the hard-throwing righty hasn’t yet entrenched himself in a MLB relief unit, he turned in 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball at the Triple-A level last year. He racked up 9.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 while carrying a strong 54.0% groundball rate.
As for Valdez, he was claimed earlier in the winter but didn’t last long in camp before losing his roster spot. If he clears waivers, he’ll presumably remain on hand as a non-roster player. Valdez debuted in the majors last year, recording 16 innings of 3.94 ERA ball, but spent most of the year as a swingman at Triple-A. He worked to a 4.92 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and a 51.6% groundball rate in 78 2/3 innings of action in the PCL.
Seems like a good fit for a retooling club..Young RP with good AAA numbers.
I agree, but he’s also 28 years old. Not that young.
28 is not old for a reliever.
Hard working kid who will become a valuable set up guy.
He’s one of those guys who seems to have good stuff but can’t get it right when the moment is big a la Jacob Barnes. Wish him well in Seattle!
People need to value Phillips Valdez more, I mean for god’s sake Jeff Todd didn’t even mention what team he was on last year! (The Rangers btw) He finally makes it to the big leagues after being in Cleveland’s farm system for years, and at 28 years old he is finally being able to live his dream of being a baseball player. And he was really good for the most part out of the pen for Texas (one outing made his era spike to 3.94). But before the bad outing his era was around 2.3. Give the man some credit, and I hope he comes back to Texas where he can get playing time.
he has a largely mediocre track record in the Minors while always playing at a level below where most players his age are.
He mostly came up in the Nationals system. Cleveland only had him 2 seasons.
Called this on the last post when he got designated
Cookie for you!
Williams was a serviceable bullpen piece for the Brewers just 2 seasons ago so he could still be a decent option for the Mariners, change of scenery and all…
He’s a AAAA player. Every year in spring training guys say he’s got stuff like kimbrel but he’s never put it together in the bigs
Brewers had a better Brock Holt to replace Williams with. Gl to him.
Williams has never been able to command his stuff at the major league level. If you like relievers who come in tight games and walk the leadoff hitter, you’ll love Taylor Williams. It’s not like he didn’t get chances. He got plenty of chances with Brewers and wasn’t up to the task despite stuff that suggested he should be.