Dodgers, Joe Jacques Agree To Minor League Contract

The Dodgers reached agreement with reliever Joe Jacques on a minor league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link). The Gaeta Sports Management client receives an invite to big league Spring Training.

Jacques elected minor league free agency a few weeks ago. He’d been squeezed off the Diamondbacks’ roster midseason. Arizona designated him for assignment when they acquired A.J. Puk a week before the trade deadline. Jacques cleared waivers and spent the rest of the season on an outright assignment to Triple-A Reno.

A 6’4″ lefty, Jacques has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons. He made 23 appearances for the Red Sox in 2023, turning in 26 2/3 innings of 5.06 ERA ball. Jacques only pitched twice in the majors this year — once apiece for the Sox and D-Backs. He gave up three runs in as many innings. The Manhattan College product pitched in 40 games in the minors, all but one of which came at the Triple-A level. He allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine across 42 2/3 innings. Jacques struck out 20.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at a slightly elevated 10.6% clip.

Like a lot of lefty relievers, Jacques relies on a sinker-slider/sweeper combination. He doesn’t throw hard, sitting in the 90-91 MPH range with his fastball. That limits the swing-and-miss upside, but he has done an excellent job keeping the ball on the ground. Jacques induced grounders at a 60.4% clip en route to a 2.54 ERA in Triple-A in 2023. He has a similarly impressive 61.9% ground-ball percentage in his MLB career. He’ll vie for a situational role in Spring Training. Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia, Zach Logue and youngster Justin Wrobleski are the only left-handers on L.A.’s 40-man roster.