The D-Backs have signed reliever Ricky Karcher to a minor league contract, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The Snakes also brought back Humberto Castellanos on a non-roster deal.
Karcher joins the second organization of his career. The Reds selected him in the 13th round of the 2017 draft. The 6’4″ righty moved to the bullpen full-time in 2021. He has shown the ability to miss plenty of bats in the minor leagues but also demonstrated significant control issues. In parts of six minor league seasons, he owns a 26.4% strikeout rate while walking a massive 20.4% of batters faced.
Despite the strike-throwing concerns, Cincinnati added Karcher to the 40-man roster last offseason. That kept him out of the Rule 5 draft. They called him up for the first time in early June. He pitched once, tossing a scoreless inning against the Royals. Karcher averaged just under 98 MPH with his fastball in that appearance, pointing to the power arsenal he has shown in the minors.
That wasn’t enough to hold his roster spot with the Reds. The 26-year-old had a rough season at Triple-A Louisville, where he walked almost a quarter of his opponents over 60 1/3 innings. He posted a 4.77 ERA in 51 outings there, with Cincinnati outrighting him from the 40-man around the All-Star Break. Karcher qualified for minor league free agency at season’s end.
Castellanos is a depth starter who logged 100 2/3 MLB innings with the Astros and D-Backs between 2020-22. A soft-tossing control specialist, he owns a 5.45 ERA with a modest 16.6% strikeout rate. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2022. Arizona ran him through waivers last offseason and he missed this year rehabbing. If he’s healthy next spring, he could head to Triple-A Reno as rotation or long relief insurance.
this news is two weeks old!!!!
The Ricky Karcher game was one of the most craziest/amazing games I have ever watched. If you guys can find footage of the inning he pitched, you’re in for a treat.
Epic interview youtu.be/HOVsV1dmNFo?si=diVldwbjg34bKaGQ
Lol yes.
Yes I said that night that’s one of the coolest & most exciting innings I ever seen pitched for my team & at the same time I hope I never see that guy pitch for my team again:)
It was literal like watching a real life Wild Thing before the glasses:)…
After the first out, I knew deep down that it would be one of those ridiculous moments in life where it would all work out. And it did. His post-game interview was even better after that. As I’m typing this, MLB Network is replaying the Reds-Pirates game where the Pirates came back from a 9-0 deficit. Such is the duality of life.
Karcher’s fastball came with 1/4” of killing the Royals Michael Massey – literally. Scariest moment I have ever seen in baseball. Massey’s reaction wasn’t anger at Karcher but more like “who the frick would let this guy take the mound. He has zero clue.”
Despite getting a shaky Save in that outing, the Reds had no choice but to send Karcher back to the minors – dangerously wild.
And it was still a strike wasn’t it because Massey was bunting?
Massey bunt-fouled it off and saved his life.
Otherwise it’s right between his eyes.
Karcher came within 1/4” of killing the Royals Michael Massey – literally. That was just one of a dozen+ pitches that were crazy wild.
And Massey’s anger wasn’t directed at Karcher but instead was a highly perturbed “Who the frick would run this guy out to the mound? He has zero clue.”
Despite the shaky Save in Karcher’s MLB debut, the Reds had no real choice but to send him back to the minors, where he stayed.
Pardon the duplicate postings. It’s sometimes hard to tell if a post went through when posting via mobile…
Pitch by pitch
reddit.com/r/Reds/comments/1487vxw/ricky_karchers_…
Thanks!