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Guardians Acquire Peter Strzelecki From D-backs, Zak Kent From Rangers

By Steve Adams | March 28, 2024 at 10:20am CDT

The Guardians announced this morning that they’ve completed a pair of trades for pitching depth. Cleveland acquired right-hander Peter Strzelecki from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash and acquired righty Zak Kent from the Rangers in exchange for international bonus pool space. Arizona designated Strzelecki for assignment earlier in the week. Both pitchers will be added to the Guardians’ 40-man roster, which had two vacant spots but is now at capacity.

Now 29 years old, Strzelecki broke into the majors as an unheralded 27-year-old rookie with the 2022 Brewers and quickly became a vital part of their bullpen that season. The undrafted righty made 30 appearances out of the ’pen and tossed 35 innings with a 2.83 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate in 35 innings. As an extreme fly-ball pitcher (31.1% ground-ball rate) in a hitter-friendly park who’d had some good fortune in terms of home runs (0.51 HR/9, 5.3% homer-to-flyball rate) there was always some potential for regression, but Strzelecki stumbled in 2023 for what appeared to be different reasons.

While Strzelecki managed to continue yielding home runs at a much lower rate than the average pitcher, he also lost more than a mile per hour off his fastball and saw his strikeout rate drop notable, from 27% to 22.7%. He offset some of that drop in whiffs with more grounders (38.1%) and fewer walks (7.4%), but his earned run average still jumped to 4.38 in last year’s 37 frames. Metrics like FIP (2.94 in 2022, 3.93 in 2023) and SIERA (3.47 in ’22, 3.93 in ’23) felt his jump in ERA was deserved, though perhaps not quite to the extent it actually increased.

The Brewers sent Strzelecki to the D-backs in a deadline swap that brought veteran lefty Andrew Chafin back to Milwaukee. Arizona only gave him 1 1/3 innings in the big leagues following that trade, and Strzelecki was designated for assignment earlier this week when a spot on the 40-man roster was needed for backup catcher Tucker Barnhart. The right-hander still has a minor league option remaining and is controllable for five more seasons if he can get back on track in his new surroundings.

Kent, 26, was the Rangers’ ninth-round pick back in 2019 but climbed into the middle tiers of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects and was selected to the 40-man roster following the 2022 season. At the time, the move was made to protect Kent from being selected in that year’s Rule 5 Draft — which seemed quite likely to happen had he gone unprotected. Kent had just wrapped up a 2022 season that was split between Double-A and Triple-A, wherein he pitched a combined 109 2/3 innings of 3.94 ERA ball with roughly average strikeout and walk rates. Baseball America credited him with a plus heater and slider in addition to a solid-average curveball but below-average command.

Kent missed time in 2022 with back, hip and oblique injuries, and health troubles (oblique and shoulder issues) hindered his 2023 season even further. He pitched just 40 2/3 frames last year — plus another 16 2/3 in the Arizona Fall League. He showed slightly improved strikeout and walk rates when healthy, though he was still hit hard during AFL play. Kent appeared in three spring games for the Rangers but was tagged for five earned runs with more walks (three) than strikeouts (two) in 3 2/3 innings. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining.

The Guards are opening the season with righty Gavin Williams on the injured list and will be without frequently injured pitching prospect Daniel Espino for the entire season. They also lost setup man Trevor Stephan to Tommy John surgery, while relievers James Karinchak (elbow) and Sam Hentges (finger) are on the injured list as well. Strzelecki and Kent aren’t likely to step right onto the active roster, but they’ll give Cleveland some additional depth to help navigate that slew of injuries to begin the season.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Cleveland Guardians Texas Rangers Transactions Peter Strzelecki Zak Kent

MLB Places Wander Franco On Administrative Leave
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View Comments (15)
Post a Comment

15 Comments

  1. lucas0622

    1 year ago

    Guardians are opening season with 5 arms on the IL and only one pitcher in AAA on the 40-man, they needed depth like we need air

    6
    Reply
    • Big whiffa

      1 year ago

      Yet the media, who does not know how to generate independent thought, had Bieber ok the blocks all off season lol

      1
      Reply
  2. DimTillard

    1 year ago

    SCRABBLE!

    Reply
    • bestno5

      1 year ago

      Mark Rzepczynski

      3
      Reply
  3. User 899214610

    1 year ago

    Interesting.

    1
    Reply
  4. Non Roster Invitee

    1 year ago

    Jeff Kent’s kid? Or Clark’s?

    2
    Reply
  5. JRamHOF

    1 year ago

    I LOVE GUARDIANS BASEBALL >:) WORLD SERIES BOUND

    Reply
  6. Hotdog 2

    1 year ago

    Why is MLB placing wander on leave and why are comments banned

    2
    Reply
    • DarkSide830

      1 year ago

      Why? Have you lived under a rock for the past ~8 months.

      4
      Reply
    • Hawktattoo

      1 year ago

      Maybe you should read the article about him.

      Reply
    • tigers182

      1 year ago

      For betting on baseball

      4
      Reply
    • solaris602

      1 year ago

      Because officials in the DR are in the midst of his investigation that promises to rival the SFPD’s epic case in their pursuit of the Zodiac killer. MLB cannot start theirs until DR concludes theirs, so the league MIGHT make a determination within a year or two. Considering it took them about 18 months to announce Bauer’s fate, this one just feels like it’s gonna surpass that in time at least.

      5
      Reply
  7. Go Go Power Rangers

    1 year ago

    I saw a video of Zak Kent throwing a bullpen at TreadAthletics awhile back. Guy has nasty stuff.

    1
    Reply
  8. UWPSUPERFAN77

    1 year ago

    Good luck Pete, enjoyed watching you play in Brew Town!

    Reply
  9. Dumpster Divin Theo

    1 year ago

    Wait what they got a guy from Rangers in exchange for a bigger pool

    Reply

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