The Rockies brought right-handed reliever Matt Carasiti back on a minor league deal, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. He’ll surely be in camp as a non-roster player after tossing 24 1/3 innings for the Rox in the big leagues last year.
Carasiti, 32, was drafted by the Rockies in the sixth round back in 2012. He made his big league debut for Colorado in 2016 before being traded to the Cubs in 2017 and then bouncing to the Giants, Mariners and Red Sox via minor league free agency. Last year’s 24 1/3 innings in his Rockies return resulted in a 6.29 ERA, 14.5% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and huge 56.1% ground-ball rate out of Bud Black’s bullpen. He posted better results in Triple-A, notching a 3.33 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate in 27 frames.
Carasiti has a 6.89 ERA in 49 2/3 big league innings over parts of three seasons — two with the Rockies and one (2019) with the Mariners. He still averaged 95.4 mph on his sinker last season. The Rockies’ bullpen was loaded with question marks even before word of Daniel Bard’s knee surgery.
Justin Lawrence, Tyler Kinley and Nick Mears are all likely locked into spots. Lawrence stepped up as the team’s closer in 2023, while neither Kinley or Mears can be optioned to the minors. Righty Jake Bird’s 2023 performance presumably earned him a spot as well. There are still several open spots, and even if Carasiti doesn’t grab one of those, his prior big league experience could make him an option whenever a need arises in the coming season.
Another guy that I’ve never heard of that Towinagain will complain that SD should have signed. Keep em coming.
How does Bill Schmidt still have a job for continuous incompetence when other FO execs are fired around the league? Oh he’s best friends with the owner and they’re both profiting off the team.
He is an all-start at AA, so send him to there and enjoy his AA-superstar career.
Matt Eddy with the swoop on this breaking news story!!! Nicely done.
Matt Carasiti throws a forkball.
Who?
So glad to see the Rockies are making the big moves to counter the Dodgers buying every superstar on earth. Looks like we have a race in the NL West (to see how many games out of first Colorado can finish).