Right-hander Vinny Nittoli and the Orioles have agreed to a deal, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com on X. The righty will report to Triple-A Norfolk. Earlier today, Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune reported on X that the righty had elected free agency. He was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week but passed through waivers unclaimed.
It was just over a week ago that Nittoli elected free agency after he was outrighted by the Athletics. That led to him signing a major league deal with the Cubs, though he was bounced off the roster one day later without appearing in a game as the Cubs selected Jorge López. He’s out of options and also has the right to reject outright assignments by virtue of having previously been outrighted in his career, with both of those factors contributing to his many transactions in recent days.
The 33-year-old Nittoli signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and started the season pitching well in Triple-A. He tossed 23 1/3 innings for Sacramento, allowing 2.70 earned runs per nine. His 11% walk rate was on the high side but he also struck out 36% of batters faced and got grounders on 45.1% of balls in play. He may have benefited from an 82.7% strand rate but was also pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and allowed a .347 batting average on balls in play.
That got him called up to the big leagues and he continued putting up good numbers, allowing just two earned runs in eight innings pitched for the A’s. He only punched out 15.6% of major league hitters but in a small sample of work. Despite that fairly solid performance, he lost his roster spot with Oakland and has been in suitcase mode for over a week now, thanks to getting that Cubs deal but then promptly being DFA’d again.
For the O’s, there’s no real risk in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal and getting an up-close look at him. As mentioned, he was racking up strikeouts in bunches in Triple-A earlier this year. This is his fourth straight season with MLB work but he’s never had a lengthy stretch in the show, currently with just 14 2/3 total innings on his résumé from those four seasons. In 159 Triple-A innings since the start of 2021, he has a 4.19 ERA. His 29.8% strikeout rate in that time is strong and his 8.3% walk rate close to average, but his 29 home runs allowed have pushed the ERA up.
If he can earn his way onto Baltimore’s roster, his grip on a spot may be tenuous, as it was with the A’s and Cubs. Though if he happens to have a roster spot at season’s end, he can be retained well into the future since he has less than a year of service time.
Print the playoff tickets !
This wasn’t funny the first 100,000 times we’ve all heard it. Just shows you know nothing about baseball.
If Diego Castillo is still available I’d like to see the Orioles take a chance on him.
worth the flyer. pen is tired and giving up a lot of walks already. I like that he has some K potential. the Baltimore pen really hasn’t been the same since Coloumbe had that procedure with the bone spurs. Kimbrell has been the exception but it seems he is really best with a lot of rest. something the starters aren’t giving the pen. this stretch of bad Irvine starts combined by the lack of off days has been tough. still, clinging onto 1st.
Seattle series is going to be important. hope Dean Kramer is okay in his return.
Vinny, there’s a spot for you if you can earn it.
Like “Vinny” first name.
Hope he gets to OPACY. Curious to see how he would get introduced in to a game. Maybe as he’s walking from CF bullpen to the mound the PA announcer says something like “now pitching Vinny “Boom Boom” Nitolli” as the Sopranos theme song blares away in the background.
Fun to watch him hit a jack over Walltimore against the Bronx Bombers. And then mock whiney Judge.
He’s ITALIAN, get it?! /groan
Orioles marketing department is a pretty creative bunch in many ways including cooking up interesting player entrances in to games. The Omar Little character from The Wire whistling version of “Hunting We Will Go” when Bautista enters is amazing. A little pop culture activity mixed in with game action, I find entertaining. No groan!
not sure what I was thinking there about him batting..got caught up in the Sopranos reference. was imagining Tony roughing up someone.
maybe if Elias can capture the fickle reliever magic again, we can send Vespi back down to see if Vinny can get a few games up to prove his abilities.
As a Cubs fan I’ll always remember the legendary Vinny Nittoli era.