The Mariners have claimed reliever Phillips Valdez off waivers from the Red Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma, per a club announcement. Seattle already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no additional moves were necessary.
Valdez lost his roster spot in Boston earlier this week. The right-hander had made 13 appearances this season, pitching to a 4.41 ERA across 16 1/3 frames. He had a modest 18.1% strikeout rate and 7.7% swinging strike percentage, but he induced ground-balls at a very strong 58.7% clip. That’s generally in line with the career track record for Valdez, who has a 4.56 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate and a 53.9% grounder percentage through 102 2/3 innings between the Rangers and Red Sox over the past four years.
The 30-year-old has an even better 64.1% grounder rate through 14 appearances with the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester this year, although he’s walked an untenable 19.4% of hitters at the level. He’s in his final option year, so the M’s can keep him in Tacoma for the remainder of the 2022 campaign if he sticks on the 40-man roster.
Good, you can have him
Our next Paul Sewald or Diego Castillo.
I do believe this ranks right up there among the brightest spots of the season.
He’s not just one Phillip but Phillips.
We’ll call him not just Phil, but Phils, for short.
Can be part of the 90s band Wilson Philipps?
Hope he can find some success in the majors. He occasionally showed flashes with us… but never worked out
Waivers are cookies, Show us some yum
Yaaaaawn
Thank you, Seattle! He kept showing up in Boston when we didn’t want him to. Now he’s the Mariners problem.