The Blue Jays announced this afternoon that reliever Dillon Tate accepted an outright to Triple-A Buffalo. He cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Friday.
Tate, 31, first landed in Toronto last September. The Jays claimed him off waivers from the division-rival Orioles, with whom the former fourth overall pick had pitched parts of five MLB campaigns. Toronto dropped him over the offseason in lieu of a projected $1.9MM arbitration salary. They re-signed him midway through Spring Training on a split deal that pays at a $1.4MM rate in the big leagues and $500K for whatever time he spends in the minors.
The Jays have mostly kept him in Triple-A early this year. He opened the season on optional assignment to Buffalo. The Jays recalled him in mid-April and kept him on the active roster for around two and a half weeks. He made five appearances, allowing three runs on seven hits and six walks over 5 1/3 frames. He fanned seven hitters but got whiffs on only 6.8% of his total pitches. The results have been much better over his six innings with the Bisons: one run on six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts and a huge 18.2% swinging strike rate.
Tate has spent most of his career working in middle relief. His best season came in 2022, when he provided the O’s with 73 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball behind a 57.4% ground-ball percentage. A flexor strain wound up costing him the entire following year. Tate avoided surgery but was unable to progress through multiple attempts at a rehab assignment.
He wasn’t as effective when he returned last season, allowing 4.66 earned runs per nine across 36 2/3 frames. His stuff hasn’t been as sharp since the injury. Tate’s sinker averaged 94 MPH during the ’22 season. It was down to 92.6 last year and is checking in below 92 MPH on average through this season’s first six weeks.
Tate entered this season with four years and 144 days of major league service. He has collected another 17 days on Toronto’s roster this season. Players reach a full service year at 172 days, meaning Tate will tip beyond the five-year threshold with 11 more days in the big leagues. At that point, he’d be able to refuse any optional assignments and retain his salary if he declines an outright and elects free agency after clearing waivers. Until then, he’d need to forfeit his salary to test free agency, so it’s no surprise that he decided to accept the assignment back to Buffalo.
poor guy, his career progression has been on a steady decline. he’s still not that old, maybe he can find that pitch to contact success again. he was a good piece for the Orioles for a bit.
I wouldnt call anyone playing minor league baseball for $500k “poor”
That’s not what he said.
Tate didn’t look right the last time out. His shoulder looked wonky to me. I think that they call it loose shoulder. Somneone needs to have a look at this guy.
I remember him for how quickly the Rangers gave up on him. He was the overall #4 pick in 2015, and was traded by 8/1/16. That’s 74 IPs. You’ll see that occasionally when trading for a real star, but he went in a package for a 39 year old Beltran. They must’ve seen stuff that they really didn’t like.
It’s too late for Dillon Tate.