The Dodgers have signed left-hander Ryan Sherriff to a minor league deal, as revealed by the pitcher himself via social media. Sherriff announced he was heading to Los Angeles with a tweet, and he updated both his Twitter and Instagram pages with Dodgers tags. Alex Freedman of the Oklahoma City Dodgers announced the deal today.
The southpaw inked another minors contract with the Red Sox during the offseason, which resulted in five appearances and 6 2/3 innings for Sherriff at the big league level. Boston designated Sherriff for assignment earlier this month and he elected to forego an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency — Sherriff had that right because he has previously been outrighted off a 40-man roster earlier in his career.
The five games with the Red Sox marked Sherriff’s first Major League action since 2021, as he spent last year pitching in the Phillies’ minor league system and on the injured list due to a shoulder strain. Since making his MLB debut in 2017 with the Cardinals, Sherriff has only 49 appearances and 51 total innings over parts of five seasons, as injuries (most prominently a Tommy John surgery) have repeatedly stalled his career.
When Sherriff has pitched, the results have been decent, as he has a career 3.53 ERA and 52.6% grounder rate over his 51 innings in the Show. His 18.5% strikeout rate isn’t noteworthy, but Sherriff’s ability to keep the ball both on the ground and in the ballpark altogether (only three homers allowed to MLB hitters) makes him a useful relief asset. However, the three-batter rule is an obstacle to a manager’s ability to shield Sherriff from his drastic splits, as right-handed batters have a hefty .891 OPS against him over 132 career plate appearances. Conversely, Sherriff has shut down left-handed hitters to the tune of a .382 OPS.
At the cost of just a minor league contract, there isn’t any risk to the Dodgers in taking a look at the 33-year-old Sherriff to see if he can contribute to their big league bullpen. Los Angeles has been hit with a number of injuries to both relievers and starters this season, and pitching figures to be a priority for the team heading into the trade deadline. Adding a big-name arm or two is certainly possible, but the Dodgers have had enough past success in finding hidden pitching gems that taking a flier on Sherriff might prove quite valuable.
There’s a new Sherriff in town.
And that town is Oklahoma City , very fitting
Complete the set, go get Nottingham.
Who’s next? Kaleb Ort?
Fraudman dumpster diving again
Fraudman dumpster diving again.
Dodgers should play kike at backup catcher. Barnes is horrible and his defense has started slipping, game calling too. Dodgers are 1 game over .500 when Barnes starts. His rCERA (fangraphs version of catcher ERA) is one of the worst of any catcher with 10 innings this year. His bat and game calling have been historically bad. I guess Dodgers are in 1st place in the division and can carry a player that bad, but it has to be costing them games.
Maybe they should have swapped Barnes for Wong too plus another minor leaguer
Dodgers have a guy at AAA who smashes righties and high velocity.
prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2022/11/9/the-bes…
“Hunter Feduccia is one of the best fastball hitters in the game, and it is likely that his success against the fastball will translate against higher level competition. There is nobody in the entirety of professional baseball who saw as many fastballs, and matched Feduccia in both contact rate and wOBAcon. He also showed no cracks based on location, speed, or movement.
Feduccia is actually better against fastballs that are thrown with at least MLB average velocity. If the pitch is at 93.7 MPH+, Feduccia has a .557 xwOBAcon with an 86.2% contact rate. The only player better than Feduccia against MLB caliber velocity is the player we just covered, Edouard Julien.”
The guy is a perfect backup to Smith and handles a pitching staff well. Spring trading ML experience this year with Smith and Barnes at the WBC. Dodgers either have to trade him or put him on the 40 man.