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Jaime Schultz

Rays, Jaime Schultz Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rays are signing reliever Jaime Schultz to a minor league deal, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Schultz has plenty of familiarity with the Tampa Bay organization. He began his professional career as a Rays draftee in 2013. Within a few seasons, he garnered some prospect attention as a potential high-leverage bullpen arm. That hasn’t materialized, as Schultz has battled scattershot command and injuries that have kept him from establishing himself in an MLB relief unit.

The High Point product pitched at the highest level in 2018-19, with the first of those seasons spent in Tampa Bay. He made 22 appearances for the Rays and four more as a Dodger the following season. Between the two clubs, he’s posted a 5.86 ERA across 35 1/3 MLB innings. Schultz struck out roughly 26% of opponents while averaging around 95 MPH on his fastball. That came with an alarming 13.6% walk percentage, leading Los Angeles to outright him off their roster towards the end of the 2019 season.

Schultz has signed minor league deals with the A’s and Mariners in recent years but been limited to five combined Triple-A outings since 2020. He didn’t sign with any team for 2022 but returns to the affiliated ranks this year. He’ll add a live arm to the upper levels of the Rays’ minor league system. Schultz figures to open the season with Triple-A Durham. He’s out of option years, so he’d have to stick on the active roster or be made available to other teams if he earns a call-up at any point.

Athletics, Jaime Schultz Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Athletics have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Jaime Schultz, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training and vie for a bullpen job in camp.

Schultz, 28, has spent the past two seasons in the Rays and Dodgers organizations, where he’s scuffled to a combined 5.86 ERA in 35 1/3 innings at the MLB level. Schultz has averaged 9.7 K/9 during that time but has also surrendered an average of 5.1 walks and 1.8 homers per nine innings of work. That said, Schultz averaged just under 96 mph on his fastball in 2019, has a career 12.5 percent swinging-strike rate in the big leagues and was in the 87th percentile of MLB pitchers in terms of fastball spin rate this past season, perhaps suggesting there’s more in the tank.

Schultz has also appeared in parts of four Triple-A campaigns and notched a 4.42 ERA with 12.1 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in 226 innings. He’s been more of a fly-ball pitcher since moving to the bullpen a few years back but did post an above-average 47.2 percent mark in that regard with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/15/19

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The latest minor moves from around baseball….

  • The Dodgers sent right-hander Jaime Schultz on an outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City.  Schultz cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.  Already a regular for the Triple-A affiliate this season, Schultz had a 5.85 ERA, 11.7 K/9, and 5.1 BB/9 over 47 2/3 innings at Oklahoma City, also appearing in four games for the Dodgers at the Major League level.  The 28-year-old joined the Dodgers organization last January after being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay.

Latest On Rich Hill

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9:51pm: Hill suffered a strained left MCL, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweets. It’s not yet clear how much time he’ll miss, though it obviously doesn’t sound promising.

7:05PM: Hill’s outing only lasted six batters and two-thirds of an inning, as Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link) that Hill had a problem with his left knee.  A strain to that same knee put Hill on the IL for the first month of the season.

2:10PM: The Dodgers have officially activated veteran left-hander Rich Hill from the 60-day injured list, as Hill will start tonight’s game against the Orioles.  To create roster space, right-hander Jaime Schultz has been designated for assignment.

Hill last took the mound on June 19, as a flexor tendon strain sidelined him for close to half the season.  As per the team’s plan to get Hill ready for the postseason, he’ll only throw two innings or 30 pitches tonight (essentially working as an opener) and then gradually build up his workload over four outings before the end of the season.  If all goes well, Hill will be in line to take the fourth starter role for Los Angeles in the playoffs, behind Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Walker Buehler.

Hill has been no stranger to injuries over his career, and as per usual during the southpaw’s late-career renaissance, he has been very effective then he has been able to pitch.  Hill had a 2.55 ERA, 5.08 K/BB rate, and 10.4 K/9 over 53 innings in 2019, also missing the first month of the season due to a knee sprain.  Though his numbers included a career-high 1.7 HR/9 (perhaps not usual for any pitcher in this homer-happy season), Hill’s .265 xwOBA put him in the 91st percentile of all pitchers.

After tossing 30 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay in his rookie season, Schultz pitched only five innings over four MLB games for the Dodgers in 2019, spending the bulk of the year at Triple-A Oklahoma City.  He had a 5.85 ERA over 47 2/3 Triple-A innings, though unlike many pitchers in the Pacific Coast League, homers weren’t the problem — Schultz had only an 0.6 HR/9, as the larger issue was a 5.1 BB/9, continuing the control issues that have bothered the 28-year-old for much of his pro career.  Also as per the norm for the hard-throwing Schultz, he posted some strong strikeout numbers, whiffing Triple-A batters at a rate of 11.7 K/9.

Dodgers Acquire Jaime Schultz

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The Dodgers have struck a deal to acquire right-hander Jaime Schultz from the Rays, per Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Fellow righty Caleb Sampen is headed to Tampa Bay in return.

Schultz was bumped from the Tampa Bay 40-man roster recently when the club added fellow righty reliever Oliver Drake. Now 27 years of age, Schultz has in the past been seen as a quality prospect, though he posted rough results at Triple-A and in the majors during the 2018 campaign.

It’s not hard to see why the Dodgers front office — which is, of course, led by former Tampa Bay GM Andrew Friedman — decided to take a shot on Schultz’s right arm. Though his MLB debut last year did not go as hoped, he did show a mid-nineties fastball. Schultz has struck out 11.7 batters per nine over the course of his minor-league career, though that has also come with more than five free passes per nine.

Sampen, meanwhile, debuted last year after being taken in the twentieth round of the 2018 draft. He pitched to a 5.04 ERA in 30 1/3 Rookie ball innings, but did record a promising blend of 43 strikeouts against just nine walks.

Rays Acquire Oliver Drake, Designate Jaime Schultz

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The Rays have acquired right-hander Oliver Drake from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations, as per an announcement from the Jays.  In order to open a spot for Drake on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay announced that fellow righty Jaime Schultz has been designated for assignment.

Toronto designated Drake for assignment last week to open a spot on the roster for newly acquired southpaw Clayton Richard.  It’s the second time Drake has landed with the Rays this offseason; Tampa Bay claimed him from the Twins on Nov. 1, only to later lose him to the Jays via waivers.

Drake, 32 next week, is baseball’s most well-traveled player over the past calendar year. The right-hander pitched for a record-setting five teams in 2018, spending time with the Brewers, Indians, Blue Jays, Angels and Twins. Though he struggled with four of those clubs, Drake actually pitched quite well in Minnesota, giving the Twins 20 1/3 innings of 2.21 ERA ball with 22 strikeouts against seven walks over the life of 19 relief appearances.

Many were puzzled that Drake continually was claimed on waivers despite sub-par results for much of the 2018 campaign, but Drake’s blend of missed bats (13.2 percent swinging-strike rate, 9.6 K/9), solid control (3.2 BB/9) and ability to keep the ball on the ground at a roughly league-average rate (44.6 percent) continue to hold appeal around the league. He’s not a spin rate savant by any stretch of the means, but fielding-independent pitching metrics like FIP (3.24), xFIP (3.51) and SIERA (3.48) all paint a much better picture of Drake than his unsightly 5.29 ERA. His strong finish with Minnesota likely only further enhanced his appeal.

As for Schultz, the 27-year-old was once considered one of Tampa Bay’s more promising minor league arms. However, he struggled to a 5.64 ERA in 30 1/3 innings last year, and while he racked up 35 strikeouts in that time, he also issued 17 walks and hit three batters. He also underperformed in Triple-A last season and has never been able to consistently avoid issuing free passes in the upper minors. Schultz does have a nice track record of missing bats, though, and he averaged a solid 94.9 mph on his heater last year, so perhaps another club will be interest in taking a look.

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