The Royals announced this morning that they’ve signed reliever Arodys Vizcaíno to a minor league contract. As a minor league free agent, the right-hander remained eligible to sign a non-roster deal over the course of the lockout. Should he crack the big league club, Vizcaíno would lock in a $1MM base salary with an additional $500K available in incentives, reports Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter).
Vizcaíno has appeared in parts of seven major league seasons, with the bulk of his time coming with the Braves. He debuted with Atlanta in 2011, making 17 appearances as a rookie. Vizcaíno required Tommy John surgery the following Spring Training and missed the entirety of the next two seasons. While rehabbing, he was traded to the Cubs. After making five appearances with the North Siders in 2014, Vizcaíno was flipped back to Atlanta, where he’d spend the next few years.
Between 2015-18, the Dominican Republic native was a generally reliable member of the Braves relief corps. He posted 30+ innings with a sub-3.00 ERA in three of those four campaigns, spending a good chunk of time as Atlanta’s closer. Vizcaíno underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in April 2019, though, and he hasn’t appeared in the majors since. Flipped to the Mariners for salary relief, he qualified for free agency at the end of the 2019 campaign. Vizcaíno went unsigned in 2020 and only made seven outings with the Mets Triple-A affiliate last year.
It has now been more than three years since Vizcaíno was a regular member of a big league bullpen. Yet there’s no harm for the Royals in taking a flier on a pitcher with some MLB success on his resume. Vizcaíno has sported a mid-high 90’s fastball in the past. If that velocity returns a few years after his shoulder procedure, it’s possible he’ll factor into the Kansas City bullpen at some point.
Forgot about this guy; I hope he makes it back to the bigs,
Does anyone know how he did in AAA for the Mets? If he was healthy I’m a little surprised he didn’t pitch well enough to make it to the major league roster. He always had nasty strike out power stuff and pitched well whenever he was healthy. He just couldn’t ever stay healthy. Unless that shoulder injury was so serious he’s a different pitcher now I would have thought he would be in the majors whenever he was healthy enough to pitch. Vizcaino always reminded me a bit of Darren O’Day in the sense he was rarely healthy but when he was you wanted him in high leverage bullpen roles.
I hope he makes it back to the majors but he may be a different pitcher now if he was healthy last season and still didn’t even seem good enough to make a major league roster.
7.2 IP, 14 K, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 R. You can just google this stuff going forward.
I could Google it. Or I could just wait for you to answer the question since we all know you’re my secretary. People of my stature just have people like you Google for us. Lol. Just kidding.
What I really meant is did anyone actually watch him and see how his stuff looked. His stats look pretty solid but he didn’t even pitch 8 innings all season long. I think he’s just going to be one of those guys who always stays injured. I’m surprised the Mets didn’t just let him get that action at the major league level. When he’s not walking too many guys his stuff is so nasty it seems pointless to waste it in the minors. I’m assuming he must have gotten injured again if he couldn’t even pitch 8 innings over the entire 2021 season.
A very Royals-like signing. Could be their big news this offseason.
Ain’t that the sad truth…..
Wily Peralta 2.0?
Looks like a decent bullpen piece.
I know it’s a small sample size, but the writer forgot to mention how he struck out 14 batters while only allowing two walks and five hits over those seven outings (7.2 IP) in Triple-A. IF he can stay healthy, and it’s a big if, then he is better than two thirds of the projected Royals pen right now.
He would be an upgrade over Holland in the backend if he’s right.
He could do some damage in the back end.
That’s what she said..(; lol