The Guardians are in agreement with right-hander Jaime Barria on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (on X). The former Angels hurler elected free agency after clearing outright waivers last month.
Until that point, Barria had spent his entire career with the Halos. He signed out of Panama in 2013 and reached the big leagues five seasons later. Barria debuted as a 21-year-old and turned in a strong rookie season, working to a 3.41 ERA over 26 starts.
While he hasn’t recaptured that level of success, Barria has shouldered a decent number of innings in a swing role over the past few seasons. The results have been inconsistent. He allowed an ERA of 4.61 or worse in each of 2019, ’21 and this year. Barria fared better in a limited sample during the shortened season and had a strong 2.61 mark over 79 1/3 relief innings in 2022.
The Halos have mostly deployed him in lower-leverage situations. Barria doesn’t throw especially hard or miss many bats. He has struck out a below-average 17.1% of batters faced in each of the past two seasons. A spike in home runs dramatically flipped the script on his run prevention this year. Barria was tagged for 5.68 earned runs per nine in 82 1/3 frames spanning 34 appearances (including six starts).
The 27-year-old owns a 4.75 ERA in 333 1/3 big league innings over the last five years. He has a modest 17.8% strikeout percentage but has kept his walks to a solid 7.2% clip. He’ll presumably get a look in big league Spring Training and can compete for a long relief role with the ability to step into the rotation as needed. Barria is out of minor league options, so if he cracks the MLB roster at any point, he’d need to remain with the big league club or be designated for assignment. He has a little over four years of MLB service. If he carves out a role on the major league staff, Cleveland could retain him via arbitration for at least one additional season.
Thank you Guardians. Thank you very very much.
Regards, all Angels fans
The Guardians successfully outbid both the Yankees and the Mets for Baria….a sold signing.
This also increases the chances of the Guardians as the front runners to sign Ohtani as he and Baria have been inseparable teammates.
@nukeg
What kind of ridiculous comment is that? The Angels had already bid him adieu and CLE is giving him a job in Columbus instead of pitching him in the majors like the godforsaken Angels felt the need to do all these years.
@avory
The angels chose to not offer him a ML contract and arbitration. He could’ve easily went back on a minor league deal. Prob why he was happy.
Interesting note on him (to me) is that he almost entirely ditched his sinker last year, instead relying more on 4 seam/slider. Last year was also by far the worst year of his career. Would be interesting to see if the Guardians have him bring that back – though they’re not usually an org that focuses on sinkers. Maybe he thinks the 4S/SL combo is the way to go and the Guardians just have the best staff to get the most out of a pitcher like him?
If CLE can’t fix him, nobody can. You see that Zach Plesac is still unemployed, and the Rockies are about to find out why they got Quantrill for practically nothing.
Thank for take that trash can out never like him
Jaime Barria was involved in one of the best at-bats I’ve ever seen in person, which set the MLB record for most pitches in one at bat. It was just foul after foul.
sports.betmgm.com/en/blog/mlb/whats-the-longest-at…
About where he belongs (minors)
. Glad to not see him back.
Considering where he’s played the last 6 years (Anaheim), he should fit right in.
Are you having a stroke?
I know he wasn’t very good, but for some reason, I always really liked him. We are better without him but I’ll miss him!
Makes sense. The Guards pitching depth is thin beyond their starting 5. Xzavion Curry or Hunter Gaddis is the next man up. & They might end up in the rotation immediately if Bieber gets moved.
Low risk move. Insurance depth. The Angels aren’t good at developing pitchers. Doesn’t mean the talent isn’t there. If Cleveland signed him, they aren’t dummies.