Braves Sign James Karinchak To Minor League Deal

The Braves have signed right-hander James Karinchak to a minors contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  Should Karinchak make Atlanta’s roster, he’ll earn $840K in guaranteed money, as per 7News Boston’s Ari Alexander.

Best known for his days as a strikeout artist in Cleveland’s bullpen, it has now been more than two years since Karinchak last pitched in a big league game.  His 2024 workload consisted of just 6 2/3 innings in the minors due to shoulder problems, and after the Guardians outrighted him and allowed Karinchak to enter free agency last winter, he landed with the White Sox on a minor league deal.  Karinchak posted a 2.45 ERA and a 28.1% strikeout rate over 29 1/3 innings for Triple-A Charlotte before he was released in June.

Those seemingly strong numbers in Triple-A were undermined by a 16.5% walk rate, which is essentially the story of Karinchak’s career.  He owns an eye-popping 36.3% career strikeout rate over his MLB career, and he also posted a 3.10 ERA over 165 2/3 innings with Cleveland from 2019-23.  However, a 14.1% walk rate and some problems with the home run ball limited Karinchak’s effectiveness, plus injuries like his shoulder woes or a teres major strain in 2022 provided further obstacles.

The Guardians have one of baseball’s more celebrated pitching development staffs, so the fact that the Guards chose to move on from Karinchak doesn’t bode well for the possibility that he might solve his control problems.  Still, Karinchak’s strikeout potential is so tantalizing that it isn’t at all surprising to see teams like the White Sox or Braves take minor league fliers on the righty to see if he can get things on track, or perhaps Atlanta’s coaches think they might have a fix.  Karinchak is still only 30 years old and he has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, so there’s hidden-gem potential for the Braves if Karinchak can manage even average control.