Zack Littell was activated by the Diamondbacks this afternoon after signing a major league contract over the weekend. The veteran righty told the Arizona beat the team informed him he’ll be working out of the bullpen, at least to begin his tenure (video provided by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports).
The Snakes activated Michael Soroka from a six-week injured list stint due to a left glute strain. He’s going tonight against the Rockies, who are countering with rookie righty Gabriel Hughes. The Snakes aren’t making any other changes to the starting staff. Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and rookie Mitch Bratt will continue as starters. Bratt and Kelly are lined up for the final two games of the Colorado series.
Littell has been a starter for the last three and a half seasons. The Rays built him up midway through the ’23 campaign after he’d pitched in relief to that point as a big leaguer. Littell found some success as a back-end starter with Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. He never missed many bats but was among the game’s stingiest pitchers at avoiding walks.
The production fell off after Littell joined the Nats on a $7MM free agent deal last offseason. Washington essentially used him as a starter all year, though they quickly took to pitching an opener in front of Littell and Miles Mikolas in a lot of their respective turns. Littell took the ball 23 times and posted an ERA just under 5.00 across 112 1/3 innings. He struck out a career-low 14.6% of opposing hitters and allowed 25 home runs, fifth most in the majors.
There’s not much downside for the Snakes in stashing Littell in a low-leverage relief role. He’s playing on a league minimum salary, with Washington paying the rest after him releasing him last week. The D-Backs mostly have journeymen types in middle relief and didn’t make any pitching acquisitions before the trade deadline. Littell figures to stay stretched out in a multi-inning role in case any injuries necessitate using him as a starter.
