The Diamondbacks have sent left-hander Kyle Nelson outright to Triple-A Reno, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Nelson, 28, has the right to elect free agency but probably won’t exercise that right. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit any remaining salary commitments in order to do so. Nelson is in that three-to-five window. He and the Snakes avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a salary of $825K for this year, a bit above the $760K major league minimum. He presumably wants to keep collecting that salary for the rest of the year and will therefore report to Reno.
A few years ago, the southpaw was a solid piece of the Arizona roster. In 2023, he tossed 56 innings for the Diamondbacks with a 4.18 earned run average. He paired a 28% strikeout rate with a 5.9% walk rate.
Unfortunately, he required surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome early in 2024, which put him on the shelf for most of that season. He’s back on the mound here in 2025 but his results haven’t been great so far. The Snakes have kept him on optional assignment and he has tossed 17 Triple-A innings with an ERA of 8.47. His 14.6% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate at that level are both clear downgrades from his major league work of a few years ago, with diminished velocity as well.
Given the uncertainty there, it’s unsurprising that no club put in a claim. Assuming Nelson accepts his assignment, he’ll try to get back on track with Reno. Perhaps he can regain some velocity and some better results as he moves further away from his surgery. If he’s not added back to the roster by the end of the year, he’ll be able to elect minor league free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.
Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images
He’s nothing but a batting practice pitcher now.