The Angels signed reliever Dillon Tate to a minor league contract and assigned him to their Arizona complex. He’ll build up in rookie ball before presumably reporting to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Tate has been a free agent since the Blue Jays ran him through waivers at the end of last season. The 32-year-old righty made five appearances for Toronto early in 2025. He accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A and briefly pitched his way back onto the MLB roster in September. The Jays optioned him back down after one game and dropped him again at the start of the offseason.
A former fourth overall pick, Tate has pitched parts of six seasons in an MLB bullpen. He has spent the majority of his career with the Orioles and posted a 4.09 ERA across 222 innings. Tate allowed just 2.06 earned runs per nine across 39 1/3 Triple-A frames last season. He struck out a league average 22.8% of opponents while issuing walks at a 12% clip.
The Angels are 24th with a 4.62 ERA from their relief group. They’re middle of the pack in strikeouts but have the sport’s second-highest walk rate. They have a much better 3.21 ERA over the last month despite continuing to struggle finding the strike zone. It’ll likely be at least a few weeks before Tate is under consideration for any kind of MLB look. There’ll probably be opportunity after the deadline, as impending free agents Kirby Yates and Brent Suter should be moved if the Angels find any trade interest.
