The Nationals announced that left-hander Anthony Banda has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. The lefty had been designated for assignment by the club on the weekend.
Banda, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Nats in the offseason and made the club’s Opening Day roster. He threw seven innings over 10 appearances but with a disappointing 6.43 ERA. He combined a 17.1% strikeout rate with a 14.3% walk rate and 40.9% ground ball rate, with all three of those being worse than league average.
It’s a small sample but most of the lines moved in the wrong direction compared to last year, when Banda struck out 22.2% of opponents while walking 9.6%. In his big league career, he’s spent time with the Diamondbacks, Rays, Mets, Pirates, Blue Jays and Yankees before joining the Nationals this year. He has an overall ERA of 5.69 in 118 2/3 innings dating back to the 2017 season.
Banda has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency on account of having been previously outrighted in his career, though it’s not clear at this time if he’s chosen to do so.
Banda Express to Rochester
Banda Brothers…
Banda on the run
Kind of expected this out of the gate with Banda, as he wasn’t projected to make the big league roster out of camp, but the bullpen needed lefties. I hope Matt Cronin takes this as an opportunity to make the big league squad.
King Fu Banda
Banda Banda Mu
When Banda dies, his obit will note that he will have been DFAd for the final time.
South paw cast off? Elias is salivating at another chance to fix a lefty reliever. Maybe the Orioles can turn him into a high level bullpen piece.
Needs more tattoos. For sure