Guardians right-hander Luis Oviedo has cleared outright waivers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Cleveland had designated him for assignment last week upon reinstating corner outfielder Josh Naylor from the COVID-19 injured list.
The Guardians had just grabbed Oviedo off waivers from the Pirates last month. It was a return to the 23-year-old’s original organization, as he’d entered pro ball upon signing with Cleveland during the 2015-16 international period. Oviedo spent a few seasons in the low minors before the Pirates selected him in the 2020 Rule 5 draft. Pittsburgh carried him on the major league roster last year, but he unsurprisingly struggled in his jump from Low-A to the big leagues. Oviedo posted an 8.80 ERA across 29 2/3 innings, walking 17.7% of opponents in the process.
After securing his long-term contractual rights, the Bucs optioned him back to the minors to open this year. Just a few weeks into the season, they reallocated his 40-man roster spot. The Guardians re-added him to the system, and he’s made five appearances with their Double-A affiliate in Akron since being claimed. Oviedo has struck out 11 and allowed only one run in 9 2/3 innings, but he’s also issued six walks and hit a batter. Those continued control woes prevented another club from taking a shot once the Guardians put him back on waivers.
Oviedo has never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse an assignment. He’ll remain in the Cleveland organization and try to pitch his way back to the majors this season.
Still walking a lot with Akron but it looks like he’s pitching a bit better in the Minors so far. I’m not a Guardians fan by any means, but I always feel a need to root for these post-R5 types to make it back to the Majors.
I felt a little bad for him when he got drafted. The money is of course great, but Cleveland has a rep for developing pitchers and he seemed to be on track here as a starter. Had never even pitched at AA before, so it’s clear he was going to waste just sitting at the end of the Pirates bullpen. Which when combined with the lost 2020 season meant he spend 2 years not pitching.
I hope the suggested international draft comes with a higher age cap than 17. So we no longer have 21 and 22 year olds eligible for the Rule V who are absolutely not ready for the majors.
R5 sucks for good prospects, but for a lot of guys I think the benefits of a guaranteed MLB look is worthwhile simply because of everything that could go wrong. it can throw a guy’s development out of wack, but landing in a good organization and still being fairly young (CLE is a good org for pitching development and Oviedo is still fairly young) can ease some of those issues.
Well Cleveland was where Oviedo was before. And instead he was put in Pittsburgh which is not really well renowned for developing pitchers, and further was thrown into an end of the bullpen role instead of just continuing to start as he was likely to do in Cleveland’s system. If he hadn’t been drafted he would likely have spent 2021 in high a/AA in their rotations, getting a lot of innings and thus a lot of repetitions to work on the craft.
The issue for Oviedo now is that he’s close to minor league free agency and the Guardians have a number of other pitching prospects. When you’re close to that, the team is a lot less likely to invest more innings and opportunities in you. Prospects get 6 years on that initial contract, and between that pandemic and the rule 5 thing, he lost 2 of them
Don’t know anything about this guy but I can see that his experience pitching above A-ball is limited. Why wasn’t he allowed to develop in the minors? Makes no sense for a guy to jump from low-A to the big leagues.
He was a Rule 5 draft pick
What other offensive baseball team names should we change?
Padres for the colonization of this country’s native population
Angels for atheists
A’s for the dyslexic
Giants for people that suffer from marfans syndrome
Yankees see above
Red Sox for the colorblind
White Sox for unhoused individuals who are unable to keep their clothing clean
Dodgers for the fat kids in gym class
Yawn
Take a hike.