Athletics Sign Dany Jimenez

The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Dany Jiménez, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether he’ll receive an invitation to big league Spring Training.

Jiménez was a part of the Oakland organization last offseason as well. The A’s selected him out of the Blue Jays’ system in the Rule 5 draft. He didn’t stick on the roster, though, as Oakland returned him to the Jays in mid-March. Jiménez spent the entire 2021 season with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, tossing 44 2/3 innings of 2.22 ERA ball there but never getting a major league look despite the Jays’ persistent bullpen troubles.

The 27-year-old punched out an incredible 39% of batters faced in the minors, the highest strikeout percentage among the 207 Triple-A East pitchers with 40+ frames. But Jiménez also struggled to throw strikes, issuing free passes at a huge 13.4% clip. Those control issues no doubt played into the Jays’ decision to keep him in the minors all season.

At the conclusion of the season, Jiménez elected minor league free agency. That set the stage for him to land back with the A’s, where he’ll try to get back to the big league level for the first time in two years. His major league experience to date consists of two relief appearances with the 2020 Giants, who’d selected him in the Rule 5 draft over the 2019-20 offseason but also returned him to Toronto rather than keep him in the majors all year.