The Braves have signed right-handed pitcher Brandyn Sittinger to a minor league deal, according to the club’s transactions log at MLB.com. Sittinger was eligible to sign during the lockout because he was outrighted in October of last year and elected minor league free agency after the season.
Sittinger was originally drafted by the Tigers but was released after topping out at Double-A. The reliever then signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks prior to the 2020 season. He wasn’t able to pitch in organized games that year due to the pandemic wiping out the minor leagues. Last year, between Double-A and Triple-A, he threw 39 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.12. His walk rate was a bit high at 10.6%, but he offset that with a tremendous 33.1% strikeout rate.
That was intriguing enough for the Diamondbacks to give him a shot at the big leagues, as they selected his contract in September. Sittinger was able to log 4 2/3 innings of MLB action, though that small sample yielded a 7.71 ERA, 9.5% walk rate and miniscule 4.8% strikeout rate.
The 27-year-old will now join the reigning World Series champs as minor league depth. The club’s reliever corps was dented somewhat at the end of the season, as hurlers such as Jesse Chavez, Richard Rodriguez, Chris Martin and Josh Tomlin reached free agency. Sittinger still has options, meaning that he can provide Atlanta with a relief arm that can be shuttled between Triple-A and the big leagues, if he can earn himself a roster spot.
This should take the sting off of eventually losing Freeman.
BadaBoom (rimshot)!
At least he’s 5 years younger than Freeman and isn’t looking to be paid until he’s almost 40.
Hammer, when you are no longer as good at your job, do you expect to stop being paid also?
I expect my income to decrease when my production decreases. Yes.
Every time I see….. “Braves sign…..” My Brain automatically wishes it is Freddie Freeman…. Then reality kicks in and my brain realizes the lockout is still in place….
I think we might still have a very long wait ahead of us. I think if they don’t get a deal done on Monday this thing is going to last well into the regular season. I don’t expect a deal this weekend. I’m not sure if they are even meeting over the weekend. I think Monday is pivotal after MLB said they would cancel games if a deal wasn’t in place by then.
Tick tock tick tock….. sigh…
Glad hangem fastball Rodriguez is gone. Need to get Chavez back.
Freeman ain’t coming back. That ship sailed already.
And yep, this is going to take awhile.
Rich-Rod is going to own Atlanta in an opposing pen this season. that was a big mistake to let him go.
I thought that was a weird move by the Braves. Trade Bryse Wilson and another prospect to get a teams closer and then release the closer when he still had 2 years of control left. I think his production from last season is unsustainable but he was only expected to get around $3 million. They must really have no faith in him at all. He has one pitch he throws almost 90% of the time. I guess they traded Wilson because he was about to run out of options. They would have had to keep Wilson on the roster for the next 5 years just to have him finish out his contract. That’s the only logic I can make out of that trade because they treated both Wilson and Rich Rod like they had virtually no value at all.
The world wouldn’t be right if Freeman had on another jersey…. Just sayin’…..
It’s hard to imagine…I always thought he’d be this teams chipper, but it certainly ain’t looking good..especially with Freeman saying he’s looking to sign within 48 hours of a new labor agreement…
If they couldn’t get it done for two years, I highly doubt they’ll get it done in two days…sigh..
That’s gonna be a hard thing to witness…. Even as a Fan of a different team…
What’s even worse is likely seeing him sign with the Dodgers…
Then, there would almost be no way in living heck, the Braves could get past then again…
The Braves just released their revenue from last year..They have plenty enough money to get the deal done..There is no excuse McQueef, loosen the purse strings, stop running this team strictly like a business, have a dang heart, and let AA sign this man!!
They have a great window right now to compete for division titles and make extended runs in the playoffs. They should be doing whatever they can to repeat!! Much less keep your face of the franchise for the past decade!!
I agree there…. I have a very assholeish friend who is a Dodger fan that will never let the signing of Freeman die… He was the loudest guy in the room about Trea Turner and Mad max…. This would be his loudest song and dance….. Selfishly I could not think of a worse place for him to end up…. Almost anywhere but there I could accept… But No place except Atlanta is the only right place for Freeman to ever be…
We need to resign Chavez. Rich-Rod has no action on his fastball.
All the great trades AA made last offseason, the one that ended up pretty bad was the Wilson for Rich Rod deal. I mean, I thought it was a fine deal at the time although I’m higher on Wilson than the avg fan… but the fact that Rod had no impact and is gone really stings. He had team control… that was kind of the beauty of his deal. Solid pitcher, with team control. At last though, the story of the ups and downs of mlb relievers
Until this deal, Brandyn was saying, “I’m just Sittinger waiting to sign a contract.”
The truth, finally.