Reliever Daniel Zamora has signed with the Dodgers, he announced this evening on Twitter. Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic reports that it’s a minor league contract.
Zamora, 28, has appeared in three of the past four big league seasons. He broke into the majors with the Mets in 2018, and saw some time as a situational left-hander for two years. Zamora made 33 combined appearances but tallied just 17 2/3 innings, facing 41 left-handed hitters and 37 righties. The Stony Brook product actually had more success against opposite-handed batters, but it’s unlikely teams will put any stock in those splits in such a limited sample of work.
New York assigned Zamora to their alternate training site for the entirety of the shortened 2020 season. He got off to a dismal start last year with Triple-A Syracuse, and the Mets designated him for assignment in May. The Mariners picked him up off waivers and gave him four big league appearances before designating him themselves the following month. Zamora cleared waivers that time around and spent the rest of the season with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Over 37 innings with the Rainiers, he worked to a 4.14 ERA, striking out an impressive 29.2% of opposing hitters.
Zamora owns a 4.50 ERA over 22 MLB innings. He’s flashed some decent bat-missing ability against top-level hitters, punching out 28.4% of batters faced on the strength of an 11% swinging strike rate. There’s no downside for the Dodgers in giving him a look in Spring Training, although they already have a fair amount of left-handed bullpen depth. Alex Vesia, Caleb Ferguson, Víctor González, Justin Bruihl, Garrett Cleavinger and Darien Núñez are all already on the Los Angeles 40-man roster.