The D-Backs announced they’ve added left-hander Blake Walston to the 40-man roster. That ensures he won’t be selected in next month’s Rule 5 draft. To clear a spot, the Snakes outrighted righty Chris Rodriguez off the roster.
Arizona drafted Walston 26th overall in 2019. The 6’5″ hurler was an upside flier out of a North Carolina high school. His minor league résumé has been somewhat mixed, although he still draws praise for his projectable frame and athleticism. Baseball America rated him as the #5 prospect in a quality Arizona system midseason.
Walston spent all of 2023 at Triple-A Reno. That’s an exceedingly difficult environment for a young pitcher. He posted a decent 4.52 ERA in 149 1/3 innings covering 30 starts. That came without particularly impressive strikeout or walk numbers, though. He punched out only 15.6% of opponents while walking 14% of batters faced.
Arizona just claimed Rodriguez off waivers from the Angels a couple weeks ago. They’ve succeeded in passing him through unclaimed, meaning he’ll remain in the organization without occupying a 40-man spot. A hard-throwing reliever, Rodriguez has battled shoulder and back injuries for the better part of three years. He has barely pitched since 2021. He’ll hopefully be able to put the injuries beyond him and compete for a bullpen job in Spring Training.
No comment
Which in actuality is a comment.
Shhh!
But do you know what it means?
It means you wanted Robinson on the 40-man?
Yes that’s true, but I understand why he is not. I just don’t like the gamble, even though I think it will work. Robinson isn’t ready. He struggled in a brief appearance at AA, so there is virtually zero chance he could survive a full year on a team’s major league active roster. Even if somebody takes a flyer on him, they will probable end up offering him back to the Dbacks before mid-season.
But I still believe in him long term, so I’d rather not talk about him for a month until after the Rule 5 draft. That’s what I was really saying “no comment” and “shhh” about.
Walston was the one guy who always made the most sense. Didn’t necessarily have a great year in Triple-A, but the team doesn’t have a lot of quality left-handed arms. Relatively low ceiling due to velocity concerns, but could carve out a 5th starter role long term if he doesn’t get lit up in MLB.
Kristian Robinson and Deyvison De Los Santos were the only other players even worth a consideration. Considering Robinson passed through outright waivers earlier in the year, the likelihood he gets selected are pretty low. Still only has 11 games in AA, with a K% of 31.7% on the season. De Los Santos might have been a 40-man addition if he didn’t struggle for the first half of the year. Tried to sell out for pull side fly balls and instead hit a lot of rollover ground balls, which with his (lack of) speed are easy outs. Spent 2 weeks in July back at the complex to fix his swing, came back to hit .322 with 14 homers in 56 games to key a Texas League championship run for Amarillo. The 59 to 6 strikeout to walk ratio over that stretch is a major red flag.
What happened to Kristian Robinson? He was being called the 2nd coming of Justin Upton a few years ago.
He was dealing with an assault charge as the result of a particularly bad mental health breakdown during 2020 (when he wasn’t permitted to go home to the Bahamas and wasn’t permitted to play baseball).
That then led to issues obtaining a work visa, which then led to three years of missed development time.
He’s way behind the 8-ball now.