The Padres are in agreement with righty reliever Andrew Bellatti, as first reported by Mad Friars and reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’ll likely begin the season at Triple-A El Paso.
Bellatti has spent the past few years with the Phillies. He turned in a strong season in middle relief three years ago. Bellatti rattled off 54 1/3 innings of 3.31 ERA ball while striking out more than a third of opposing hitters. His numbers dropped off dramatically the following season. Bellatti’s strikeout rate fell to 22.1% while his ERA climbed by nearly two runs. That cost him his roster spot during the 2023-24 offseason.
Philadelphia ran Bellatti through outright waivers last February. He spent the entire season in Triple-A, where he allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine over 42 2/3 innings. He recorded a mediocre 20.8% strikeout rate and walked over 16% of batters faced. His fastball averaged 92.4 MPH, down two ticks from its 2022 level.
San Diego can assign Bellatti to Triple-A to begin the season. He’s out of options, so if he does pitch his way to the majors at any point, they wouldn’t be able to send him back down without running him through waivers.
Nice grab, AJ!
Scraping the bottom of the barrel
Familiar place for you, since its where you live judging from your consistently negative comments Butter.
The young man has overcome a lot of shame and turmoil in his life, paid his dues and is still trying to live his dream. I wish him well.
Why not? If Bellatti’s stuff bounces back? The Padres just got a high-strikeout middle reliever for free.
If not? They move on without risk.