The Royals announced that they’ve signed former Twins right-hander Yohan Pino to a Major League contract and designated right-hander Casey Coleman for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster.
Pino, 31 in two weeks, made his Major League debut with the Twins this past season and wound up spending a fairly significant amount of time in the rotation despite less-than-stellar results. Pino made 11 starts and posted a 5.07 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 28.6 percent ground-ball rate. Pino’s 88.3 mph fastball and extreme fly-ball tendencies make it a bit surprising that he landed a big league deal, but the Royals are a team that is well equipped to handle those deficiencies, given their excellent outfield defense. Of course, that assumes that Pino will make the club, which is far from a given at this time, despite the MLB contract he signed.
Coleman, 27, posted a 5.25 ERA in 12 innings for the Royals this past season and owns a lifetime 5.72 mark in 177 2/3 big league innings. He’s averaged 6.2 strikeouts and 4.5 walks per nine innings pitched to go along with a 46.5 percent ground-ball rate. Coleman was always a bit of a soft-tosser, but his average fastball spiked from about 90 mph to 94 mph this season.
