Veteran reliever Jake Petricka is headed to High Point, N.C. to suit up for the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League. The right-hander somewhat quietly signed a deal with the Rockers midway through Spring Training, and he tells Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he’s hoping for a resurgence with the indie league club.
Reusse writes that Petricka, 33, had a workout for multiple big league clubs this spring but didn’t land a deal after the fact. “To give it another shot, my hand was kind of forced to find the best option in independent ball,” Petricka tells Reusse. “And that was High Point.”
Petricka spent the 2020 season in the Blue Jays organization but didn’t get a call to the big leagues, instead working at their alternate training site for most of the year. He tossed eight innings with the 2019 Brewers and logged 45 2/3 frames with Toronto back in 2018, producing a combined 4.36 ERA in those 53 2/3 innings of relief. The former White Sox setup man is a veteran of seven big league seasons, during which time he’s compiled 231 2/3 innings — all out of the bullpen — and recorded a 3.96 ERA with a 17.2 percent strikeout rate, a 9.5 percent walk rate and an excellent 59.1 percent ground-ball rate.
Petricka will hardly be the only big league veteran on the Rockers’ roster this summer. He’ll report to High Point and team up with the likes of Logan Morrison, Mike Carp, Michael Martinez and Tyler Ladendorf, among others.
Jake Petricka has had such a weird MLB career. He was a stud in the bullpen for the White Sox from 2013 to 2015, got hurt, then returned and was bad. He somehow pitched in 41 games for the Blue Jays in 2018, without me noticing. I hope he is good with the Rockers and finds his way back to the majors.
Lol I remember his time with my Sox, respect.
Same story whether in a waterway or baseball- Carp wishes he was a Trout.
I would have tried to get him to sign with an NPB team if I was his agent