The Cardinals have designated right-handed reliever Scott Blewett for assignment, reports Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. His roster spot will go to righty Hunter Dobbins, who has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis. The Cardinals now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
The Cards are five games into a stretch of playing 20 days in a row. Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last night that the club would recall Dobbins for a spot start today, to give the other starters a bit of extra rest for that slog.
To get Dobbings up to the big leagues, a reliever had to be pushed out, which is unfortunate for Blewett. He was just added to the roster a few days ago. He had signed a minor league deal with the Cards in the offseason and performed well in Triple-A for a few months. He triggered an opt-out in that deal, prompting the Cards to call him up last week. He tossed two scoreless innings in last night’s 5-1 loss to the Angels. He tossed 42 pitches and was probably going to be unavailable today, so the Cards have tapped him to be the one to depart.
He is out of options, so he has been squeezed into DFA limbo. The Cards can take a few days to explore trade interest but it’s possible Blewett ends up on waivers. He may garner interest from a club who needs a fresh arm. In 74 2/3 career innings, Blewett has a 4.10 earned run average.
As mentioned, he has spent most of this year in Triple-A. He has thrown 48 2/3 innings over 37 appearances. His 5.18 ERA doesn’t look great but that was mostly due to a giant .425 batting average on balls in play. His 28.4% strikeout rate was actually quite strong, with an average-ish 8.6% walk rate and solid 44.4% grounder rate.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
