The Guardians announced a couple of roster moves today, activating right-hander Carlos Vargas from the 60-day injured list and optioning him to Double-A Akron. To make room on the 40-man roster, left-hander Tanner Tully has been designated for assignment.
Tully, 27, has been on and off the Guardians roster all year. He was first selected as a COVID substitute in April, being removed from the roster five days later. (COVID substitutes can be removed from rosters without being exposed to waivers.) He was selected to the roster in the more traditional sense in June, before being designated for assignment a couple of days later. A few days ago, he was selected back to the team but has now been DFA’d for a second time this season.
With all of that roster shuffling, he’s only been able to throw six MLB innings this year, his first taste of the majors. Though those innings came in three relief appearances with the Guardians, he’s been working as a starter in the minors. In 14 Triple-A starts this year, he’s thrown 76 1/3 innings with a 4.95 ERA, 51.4% ground ball rate, 16.9% strikeout rate and 3.3% walk rate.
The Guardians will have one week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him. If he were to clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency by virtue of having previously been outrighted in his career.
Enjoy the trash tanner !!
Uncle Louis can’t be very happy. The Guardians surely know that he is the Key Master!
Josh Tomlin type of pitcher
I’m not sure if you’ve watched them both or if you’re just using his minor league numbers to compare them but Tomlin had a ton of baseball intelligence and just knew how to pitch, and I don’t necessarily see that in Tully. (That isn’t a knock on him, Tomlin was just an extreme example and could be a really good pitching coach someday.)
Tully also doesn’t throw hard and throws a lot of strikes, but I wouldn’t say that every soft-tossing strike thrower is necessarily a Tomlin type.
As you said, I was just comparing him to Tomlin based on the numbers. That said, Tully is a poor man’s Tomlin because he gets less strikeouts and walks more batters. Tomlin IS definitely an extreme example for sure.