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Sam Clay

Tigers Sign Sam Clay To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have signed left-hander Sam Clay to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had signed a minors deal with the Diamondbacks in the offseason but was released, per the tracker.

Clay, 30 in June, has a bit of major league experience on his ledger to this point in his career. A Twins draftee, he never got the call to the big leagues with them, reaching free agency after 2020. The Nationals then signed him to a major league deal and put him into 58 games in 2021. He didn’t rack up a ton of strikeouts, just 15.9% of batters faced, but he got ground balls at an excellent 60.1% rate. The lefty posted a 5.60 ERA that year but might have deserved better, given his .342 batting average on balls in play and 65.4% strand rate, which were both on the unfortunate side of average. His 4.61 FIP and 4.42 SIERA were each about a full run better than his ERA.

Clay spent most of 2022 in the minors and eventually went to the Phillies and Mets in July with a couple of waiver claims in a span of a week. The Mets would later outright him off the roster in August. Amid all of that bouncing around, he tossed just 5 1/3 innings in the majors with a 8.44 ERA. But in 43 Triple-A innings, he had a much more palatable 3.56 ERA, getting grounders on almost two thirds of balls in play and striking out 24.1% of opponents.

Clay returned to the open market this winter and signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks. He wasn’t terribly effective in four spring outings and was released but will now join the Tigers. Per the transactions tracker, he’s been assigned to the FCL Tigers and will presumably get back into game shape after a layoff of about a month, at which point he’ll likely head to Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers have three lefties in the big league bullpen in Tyler Holton, Tyler Alexander and Chasen Shreve but Alexander currently has a 5.28 ERA on the year and Shreve a 7.84. Clay will give them a non-roster option to potentially turn to in the not-too-distant future.

Diamondbacks Sign Sam Clay To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks inked reliever Sam Clay to a minor league contract this week, according to an announcement from their top affiliate in Reno. The left-hander receives an invite to big league camp.

Initially a Twins draftee, Clay spent six-plus seasons in the Minnesota system but never cracked the 40-man roster. The Twins allowed him to hit minor league free agency, where he drew enough interest to land an MLB deal with the Nationals. Clay spent most of the following season working out of Dave Martinez’s bullpen, making 58 appearances as a rookie. He allowed a 5.60 ERA through 45 innings, striking out a below-average 15.9% of opponents with a slightly elevated 10.3% walk rate.

It wasn’t an ideal start to his big league career, but the sinkerballer showed the ability to rack up plenty of ground balls at the MLB level. He induced worm-burners on around three-fifths of batted balls, showing enough to hold his spot on the 40-man roster for a season and a half. Clay got into six more MLB games this year before Washington designated him for assignment. He made a rapid tour of the NL East, bouncing to the Phillies and Mets on successive waiver claims. In late August, New York succeeded in running through waivers and stashing him in Triple-A for the remainder of season. Clay had pitched just once for them at the MLB level, and he reached minor league free agency again at the end of the year.

The Georgia Tech product spent most of 2022 in Triple-A, where he had a decent season. Between Washington’s and New York’s affiliates, he put up a 3.56 ERA in 43 innings. Clay struck out a fine 24.1% of opponents against a 9.1% walk rate and again posted massive grounder percentages at both stops. Clay held left-handed hitters to a meager .191 batting average and .279 slugging mark in the minors this year, albeit with a 14.6% walk rate that led to a .375 on-base percentage.

Clay will get a look in big league camp to try to earn a spot in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. Arizona has a pair of southpaws penciled into key roles, with All-Star Joe Mantiply pairing with Kyle Nelson. Clay will try to earn a spot behind that duo, likely as a situational grounder specialist. The 29-year-old still has a minor league option year remaining; if he secures a 40-man roster spot at any point, the Snakes can shuttle him between Arizona and Reno as a depth player for another season.

Outrights: Clay, Marrero, Fry

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A roundup of some recent outright assignments for players who cleared waivers following a DFA…

  • Mets lefty Sam Clay passed through waivers unclaimed and was assigned outright to Syracuse, tweets Michael Mayer of MetsMerized. The ground-ball specialist appeared in just one big league game with the Mets this season and allowed an unearned run on a hit and a walk with two punchouts. Clay carries a 5.90 ERA in 50 1/3 Major League innings but also boasts a mammoth 62.5% ground-ball rate in that time. He also has a career 3.81 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate in 59 Triple-A innings, making him a nice depth piece to have on hand in the upper minors, even if he’s yet to find real success in the big leagues just yet.
  • Veteran infielder Deven Marrero also cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse by the Mets after being designated last week. The team didn’t make a formal announcement on the matter, but Marrero, who could’ve rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, was back in the Syracuse lineup last night. Marrero, who’ll turn 32 tomorrow, appeared in three games at the big league level and went hitless in four plate appearances, though he did swipe a base. He’s a career .192/.247/.280 hitter in parts of seven big league seasons but is a well-regarded defender capable of handling any of shortstop, second base or third  base. He’s appeared in 33 games with Syracuse and hit .229/.323/.349 in 125 plate appearances.
  • Left-hander Paul Fry cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks and was assigned to Triple-A Reno, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Fry has previously been outrighted and could rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, but he’d have punted the remainder of this year’s $850K guarantee in doing so, as he doesn’t yet have five years of Major Leaguer service time. The 30-year-old pitched just one MLB frame with the Snakes this season, plus another dozen with the Orioles, with whom he’s spent the prior four years. Fry was a solid lefty in the Baltimore ’pen in 2020 and for much of the 2021 season before a late collapse last year (due primarily to repeat drubbings at the hands of the Rays). Fry hasn’t regained his form in either the big leagues (6.23 ERA in 13 innings) or Triple-A (5.50 ERA, 18 innings).

Mets Select Nate Fisher, Designate Sam Clay

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11:30am: Tim Britton of The Athletic relays the full slate of moves. Fisher has been selected while Jose Butto has been recalled. To make room on the active roster, Zastryzny was optioned, righty Stephen Nogosek was placed on the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain and lefty Sam Clay was designated for assignment.

11:25am: The Mets are selecting the contract of left-hander Nate Fisher, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Fisher is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move of some kind will be required.

To say that Fisher is not a top prospect would be underselling his journey. As noted by Passan, he was out of baseball and working a finance job in Omaha last year. He joined the Mariners’ organization in 2019 but was released in May of 2020. He signed another minor league contract with Seattle in June of 2021, eventually throwing 37 1/3 innings with a 2.89 ERA cross multiple levels of the minors.

He reached free agency in the offseason and was signed to a minors deal by the Mets. He’s split his time between Double-A and Triple-A this season, throwing 72 innings with a 3.37 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. Now 26 years old, Fisher has made the improbable jump to the big leagues after not even being in the sport just over a year ago.

Though Fisher has made some starts this year, it seems the Mets likely try to utilize him for left-handed relief. Joely Rodriguez has been the only southpaw in the club’s bullpen for most of the year, with Rob Zastryzny just getting added yesterday.

Mets Select Rob Zastryzny

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The Mets made a few roster moves in between games of their doubleheader with the Phillies, as left-hander Rob Zastryzny’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Syracuse.  In other transactions, left-hander Sam Clay was optioned to Triple-A, while recently-designated right-hander R.J. Alvarez was outrighted to Syracuse after clearing waivers.

Zastryzny pitched 34 2/3 innings for the Cubs over parts of the 2016-18 seasons, and has since bounced around with three other MLB organizations (Dodgers, Orioles, Marlins) and the independent Long Island Ducks before joining the Mets back in May.  The 30-year-old has made a solid accounting of himself in Syracuse, with a 3.61 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, and 9.1% walk rate in 47 1/3 Triple-A innings, starting six of his 26 games.

While the Mets’ bullpen has been good overall, left-handed batters have found some success against the team, in part due to New York’s lack of southpaw relievers.  Joely Rodriguez has been the only left-handed constant in the relief corps all season, so if Zastryzny is able to even come close to his Syracuse numbers, he could earn himself a longer look in his return to the big leagues.

Mets Place Eduardo Escobar On IL, Designate R.J. Alvarez

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The Mets announced to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday, a series of roster moves. One of them is the previously reported selection of prospect Brett Baty, along with lefty Sam Clay being recalled to the active roster. The club also placed infielder Eduardo Escobar on the 10-day injured list with a strained left oblique and designated right-hander R.J. Alvarez for assignment.

Escobar, 33, has been playing hurt for most of the past week, leaving Friday’s game with the team referring to his ailment as “side tightness” at that time. Though he’s played in a couple of games since, it seems that the issue hasn’t abated and will now send him to the injured list. The infield depth was further banged up by Luis Guillorme suffering a groin strain and landing on the IL on Monday. With Escobar now following Guillorme onto the shelf, it seems the path has been cleared for Baty to get some regular work with the big league club.

The Mets and Escobar agreed to a two-year, $20MM deal in the offseason, though the infielder has hit just .216/.269/.384 for a wRC+ of 89. Outside of a miserable showing in the shortened 2020 season, that’s hit worst output in terms of wRC+ since 2016. He’s also striking out at a career-worst rate and walking less than he has in recent seasons. What role he has when he returns from the IL could depend on how well Baty fares in his first taste of MLB action.

Alvarez, 31, pitched in the majors in 2014 and 2015 but then didn’t appear in the big leagues again until last night. He was selected to the roster yesterday and then thrust into action when starter Taijuan Walker left after just two innings due to back spasms. Alvarez lasted 2 1/3 innings, surrendering four hits, three walks and three earned runs. He now loses his roster spot after a stint of nearly 24 hours and will head to the waiver wire in the coming days since the trade deadline has come and gone. Should he clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment by virtue of having been previously outrighted in his career. In 34 2/3 Triple-A frames this year, he has a 3.38 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate.

As for Walker, he underwent an MRI and received “pretty good news, all things considered,” in the words of manager Buck Showalter, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. There was apparently no structural damage found by the MRI, though Walker may miss his next start to rest up a little. Since Carlos Carrasco was placed on the IL yesterday with an oblique strain, the club’s rotation with be doubly shorthanded until Walker is ready to take the mound again. The Mets have Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Chris Bassitt lined up to pitch tonight through Friday, though it will get tricky after that. They are scheduled to play a doubleheader against the Phillies on Saturday and don’t have an off-day until next Wednesday, August 24.

Down the road, one hurler who could potentially rejoin the staff is lefty Joey Lucchesi. He’s been out of action since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year but will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday, Showalter tells DiComo. After such a long layoff, Lucchesi will need some time to ramp back up and won’t be able to help the Mets with their current arms shortage. However, rehab assignments for pitchers are a maximum of 30 days, meaning he should be an option for helping the team by mid-September.

Mets Claim Sam Clay Off Waivers, Designate Jake Reed

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The Phillies have announced that left-hander Sam Clay, whom they designated for assignment on Friday, has been claimed off waivers by the Mets. In order to open a spot on their 40-man roster for Clay, the Mets have designated right-hander Jake Reed for assignment. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those who relayed the news on Reed.

It’s been a busy month of July for Clay, who now joins his third organization this month, just ten days in. He started the season with the Nationals, who designated him for assignment on July 1. He was then claimed by the Phillies and designated for assignment yet again three days later, before now landing with the Mets.

Clay was originally a Twins draftee but reached minor league free agency without ever being selected to their 40-man roster. The Nationals decided he was worth a roster spot and signed him to an MLB deal before the 2021 season. Unfortunately, their optimism didn’t translate into results, as Clay put up a 6.02 ERA in 49 1/3 big league innings between last year and this year before being shuffled off the roster.

The Nats aren’t the only teams able to see the potential, however, as evidenced by the Phillies and Mets putting in claims on him over the past few days. Even in that mediocre MLB showing, Clay got ground balls at an excellent 61.8% rate, with the league average usually coming in around 43%. He hasn’t racked up many strikeouts at the big league level so far, with just a 15.6% rate. In the minors, however, he’s often been above 20% and occasionally above 30%. The potential for a lefty reliever who both gets grounders and strikeouts is understandably tantalizing, especially considering most clubs are always a bit short-handed when it comes to southpaw relievers.

The Mets certainly fall into that category, having used only three lefties all season. David Peterson is in the rotation and Chasen Shreve has been released, leaving Joely Rodriguez as the only southpaw in the bullpen. That makes Clay a fairly sensible addition for the club, as they hope he can find better results in Queens than he did in D.C.

Reed, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Rays in August of last year. The Rays had claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers just about a week before that. Between the Dodgers and Mets, he has just 16 1/3 innings of MLB experience with a 6.61 ERA. He’s thrown 13 innings in the minors this season with a 4.85 ERA, 25% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate. The Mets will have one week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him.

Phillies Designate Sam Clay For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that left-hander Kent Emanuel has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To create room on the 40-man roster, fellow lefty Sam Clay has been designated for assignment.

Drafted by the Twins in the fourth round in 2014, Clay eventually reached minor league free agency at the end of the 2020 season without ever getting selected to the big league team. However, the Nationals liked him enough that they gave him a major league deal a couple of weeks later.

The Nats were likely hoping for better results than they got, as Clay put up a 5.60 ERA over 45 MLB innings last year. That came with a 15.9% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate, both of those numbers being worse than typical averages and Clay’s own track record in the minors. He did continue inducing ground balls, though, getting them at a 60.1% rate.

This year, it’s been a mixed bag for the 29-year-old, as he has a bloated 10.38 ERA in the big leagues, but in a tiny sample of just 4 1/3 innings. In 20 1/3 Triple-A frames, it’s a 3.10 ERA with a 64.5% ground ball rate, 21.7% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.

This is the second DFA for Clay in the past week, as he was just cut from Washington’s roster and claimed by the Phillies in recent days. The Phillies likely knew that Emanuel was nearing a return from the injured list, making it possible that they claimed Clay with the express purpose of trying to pass him through waivers and retaining his services but without him taking up a roster spot. Regardless of their intentions, they will have one week to work out a trade, pass Clay through waivers or release him.

Phillies Claim Sam Clay

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The Phillies have claimed left-handed reliever Sam Clay off waivers from the Nationals, per a team announcement. Clay, who was designated for assignment by the Nats last week, has been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the time being.

The 29-year-old Clay is a former fourth-round pick of the Twins who has spent the past two seasons with the Nationals organization. The southpaw inked a Major League deal with the Nats before ever pitching in a big league game, with the Washington front office likely drawn to his solid minor league season in 2019, which featured an eye-popping 71.2% ground-ball rate.

Clay, however, hasn’t panned out as hoped in D.C. He debuted last season with 45 innings of 5.60 ERA ball and, while his 60.1% grounder rate was brilliant (as advertised), his 15.9% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate were both sub-par. Clay has had a decent run in Triple-A Rochester, where he as a 3.10 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 64.5% ground-ball rate through 20 1/3 innings, but he’s been hit hard in 4 1/3 Major League frames so far. Overall, he has a 6.02 ERA in 49 1/3 MLB innings, all coming out of the Nationals’ bullpen.

Clay has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season, high-end ground-ball tendencies and a decent track record in the upper minors, so he’s a sensible enough flier for the Phillies to take. Then again, with so much of Clay’s game predicated on forcing opponents to beat the ball into the ground, a Phillies team that ranks 27th in the Majors in Defensive Runs Saved both third base and shortstop (and 29th overall in DRS) isn’t necessarily the best fit. That’s not to say a ground-ball pitcher can’t succeed on their staff, of course, but Clay’s best trait isn’t necessarily going to be supported by the fundamental makeup of his new club’s roster.

Nationals Designate Sam Clay For Assignment

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The Nationals have designated left-hander Sam Clay for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 26-man and 40-man roster will go to righty Mason Thompson, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Washington also optioned catcher Riley Adams to Triple-A Rochester and recalled fellow backstop Tres Barrera in his place.

Clay, 29, signed a big league deal with the Nats in the 2020-21 offseason despite never having pitched at the Major League level. The former Twins fourth-rounder had posted solid numbers between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019 before the canceled 2020 minor league season, with his enormous 71.2% ground-ball rate likely holding particular appeal for the Nats.

Unfortunately, things haven’t panned out as the Nationals or Clay himself hoped upon signing that deal. He made his big league debut in 2021 when he tossed 45 innings out of Davey Martinez’s bullpen, but Clay’s 5.60 ERA was one of many contributing factors to a disastrous Nationals season. Clay posted an excellent 60.1% grounder rate last year but also turned in a well below-average 15.9% strikeout rate and a fairly bloated 10.3% walk rate.

So far in 2022, things haven’t gone much better. While Clay has a solid 3.10 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 64.5% ground-ball rate in 20 1/3 Triple-A frames, he’s again been ineffective against big leaguers. He’s pitched 4 1/3 innings for the Nats this season, yielding five runs on three hits and three walks as well as four hit batsmen in that time. That shaky performance has inflated his career ERA in the Majors to 6.02.

Clay has a decent track record in the upper minors, one minor league option remaining beyond this season, and a clear ability to induce grounders — all of which could conceivably hold some appeal to another club with different ideas about how to maximize his results. The Nats will have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him.

Replacing Clay on the roster will be the 24-year-old Thompson — a hard-throwing, 6’7″ righty who came to the Nats last summer in the deadline deal that shipped reliever Daniel Hudson to the Padres. Thompson, a third-round pick by San Diego back in 2016, pitched just one scoreless inning this season before landing on the injured list with a biceps strain that has kept him out since.

He made his MLB debut last season, tossing 24 2/3 innings between the Padres and Nats. In that time, Thompson logged a 4.01 ERA with more questionable secondary marks, including a 19% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate. He sat at 96.3 mph with his sinker and kept 50% of the balls in play against him on the ground, however, and his slider is considered an above-average offering as well.

As for the swap behind the dish, Adams will head to Rochester and presumably receive the regular playing time that has eluded him behind fellow rookie Keibert Ruiz this season. The 26-year-old has appeared in 27 games and tallied just 88 plate appearances so far this season, batting .192/.284/.321 along the way. Adams has plenty of raw power and consistently high walk rates, but he only played in a total of 36 Triple-A games before being called to the Majors. The Nats apparently feel it’d be better for his development to get more consistent looks in Rochester than playing sparsely behind Ruiz.

The 27-year-old Barrera, meanwhile, was hitting .256/.342/.439 in Triple-A and has long projected as a possible backup catcher. The Nats selected him in the sixth round back in 2016, and he’ll now get another look in the big leagues. He appeared in 30 games last season and hit .264/.374/.385 through 107 plate appearances.

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