The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Dan Altavilla. The club already had a 40-man vacancy. Right-hander Will Klein was optioned to open an active roster spot.
Altavilla, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason. He has since made 24 appearances for Triple-A Omaha, allowing 2.63 earned runs per nine innings. That’s at least partially luck, as he has been giving out walks at a 12.8% clip and can’t continue stranding 91.8% of baserunners forever. But his 27.5% strikeout rate with the Storm Chasers was quite strong and he’s also been getting grounders on 44.6% of balls in play.
That performance will get Altavilla back to the big leagues for the first time since 2021. He made 119 appearances in the majors from 2016 to 2021 with a 4.03 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, 12.1% walk rate and 38.8% ground ball rate. But he underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2021 and hasn’t made it back to the majors until now.
He signed a two-year minor league deal with the Red Sox and didn’t pitch in any official capacity in 2022. He returned to the mound last year but struggled to get back in form right away. He tossed 12 innings on the farm last year with an ERA of 3.00, but he was helped by a tiny .194 batting average on balls in play as he only struck out 14.3% of opponents while giving out walks at a 10.2% clip.
The Sox released him in August but his new deal with the Royals seems to have allowed him to get back on track. It was reported last week that the Royals are looking for bullpen help, with some more swing-and-miss a specific target area. Altavilla could perhaps give the club an internal source of that upgrade they are looking for, based on his strikeout numbers this year and earlier in his career.
If Altavilla clicks, perhaps that will alter the club’s approach prior to the July 30 trade deadline. If it doesn’t work out, he’s likely to end up designated for assignment since he is out of options. But if he manages to hang onto his roster spot through the end of the schedule, he can be retained for next year via arbitration since he has less than five years of major league service time.
Figured the Royals would make a bullpen move prior to tonight’s game against the Yankees, with Klein going down. They’re in a stretch with few off days, and starters haven’t gone very deep lately. Forgot they had Altavilla, though.
Good luck with that.
McArthur is the next man up for role-replacement.
Altavilla had an upper 90’s fastball with the M’s. He was a significant arm out of our bullpen at times. Best of luck on the comeback trail, Dan.
Altavilla looked good tonight vs the Yankees – 3 up, 3 down, 2 via strikeout
He definitely should have deleted his social media posts upon making the big leagues
what did he say? :3
So what did he say