The Blue Jays announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed right-hander Dillon Tate off waivers from the Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A. Right-hander Paolo Espino was designated for assignment to make room for Tate on the 40-man roster.
Tate, 30, was taken by the Rangers as the fourth overall pick in the 2015 draft and was a part of two blockbuster trades before he made his MLB debut. First, he was swapped from Texas to the Bronx in the deal that made Carlos Beltran a Ranger in 2016, and then two years later he was dealt from the Yankees to the Orioles at the 2018 trade deadline as part of the package that sent Zack Britton to New York. Once he joined his third organization, Tate made his big league debut in fairly short order when he debuted with Baltimore during the 2019 season. That first season in the majors did not go especially well, as he pitched to a lackluster 6.43 ERA in 21 innings of work.
After struggling to start his big league career, Tate managed to settle in over the next few years to become a reliable member of the club’s bullpen. From 2020 to 2022, the right-hander pitched to a solid 3.65 ERA with a 3.88 FIP in 141 appearances, becoming a stable middle relief option for Baltimore. That includes a particularly strong performance during the 2022 season, when the Orioles surged back over .500 for the first time since the 2016 season. That year, Tate was excellent with a 3.05 ERA and 3.28 FIP in 73 2/3 innings of work. While he struck out just 20.5% of opponents that year, he made up for that with a walk rate of just 5.5% and an elite 57.4% groundball rate.
Unfortunately, things went off the rails for Tate following that excellent 2022 season. Elbow and forearm issues wiped out the right-hander’s 2023 season in its entirety, and when he returned earlier this year he didn’t appear to be the same pitcher he was in 2022. In 33 1/3 innings with the big league club this year, Tate struggled to a 4.59 ERA and saw his strikeout rate drop to just 15.5% while his groundball rate dropped to a diminished (but still excellent) 50.9% figure. Those lackluster results and shaky peripherals were enough to convince the club to designate Tate for assignment just a few days ago, and now he’ll look to get back on track with the Orioles’ division rival Blue Jays. If Tate’s time in Toronto goes well, they’ll have the opportunity to retain the right-hander for the 2025 season via arbitration.
As for Espino, the 37-year-old righty has spent the 2024 season with the Blue Jays after signing a minor league deal with the club back in December. He’s pitched 8 2/3 innings for the club to brutal results with an 8.31 ERA and 9.06 FIP across three appearances, and his 5.18 ERA in 17 starts at the Triple-A level hasn’t been much better. The veteran hurler sports a 5.12 ERA and 5.06 FIP in 265 2/3 career innings of work spread across parts of six seasons since he made his big league debut back in 2017, and figures to return to Triple-A with Toronto to continue eating innings in the likely event that he clears waivers.
With Tate it is about the health. If he is right or he isn’t. Full stop.
At his best though in 2022 he carried a 97th percentile groundball rate. He’s a guy who didn’t really have to rely on strikeouts to gets outs. It’s not a bad low risk move, he definitely has the highest upside of all the other middle reliever waiver guys they’ve brought in.
Yeah. Tate is another of those whatever happened to this guy cases. He was so hyped coming into the draft in ’15. Just looked over that 1st round again and remembered it was thought (then) that it was a deep, like 1st 10 picks and not as much afterwards, with Tate being onee of the best that year.
It doesn’t always work out that way. That Vandy kid went 1st rd cpl times lately.. What’s his name? Rocker? He’s got to be mid 20’s by now and heard zippo regarding him for few years..
They can’t all make it..
@johnsilver
Prospects will break your heart 99% of the time.
I was hoping that he wouldn’t catch on with another AL East team so Baltimore didn’t have to face him. wish him all the best, esp in getting back to his high leverage past ability.
Tate for Espino is an upgrade as Tate has some upside perhaps.
Jays now have two thirds of the package the Yankees received for Beltrán.
If they can convince Nick Green to return to baseball and add him to their 40, they complete the set and have a monopoly.
Better to take a flier on a guy who might contribute in the big leagues over a guy who probably won’t. Let’s see what happens.
If u need a reliever to get through the 6th inning with noone on base and bottom of the order up then Tate is your guy. Any other situation and nope