The Nationals announced that left-hander Matt Krook, whom they designated for assignment a few days ago, cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Rochester. Krook opted for free agency, as was his right as a player with a previous career outright.
Krook, 31, oddly has a very limited big league track record but has still racked up some miles. He only has 14 2/3 innings pitched in the majors but those have come in four different seasons and for five different teams, suiting up for the Yankees, Orioles, Athletics and Nationals. He has a 14.73 earned run average in that small sample of journeyman work.
Despite the awful ERA in the big leagues, teams are clearly intrigued by the profile, which is why he keeps getting chances. He doesn’t have huge velocity, averaging about 90 miles per hour on his sinker, but also deploys a slider, cutter and changeup.
In the minors, he has used this arsenal to rack up huge strikeout numbers and ground balls, but has also given out a lot of walks. Dating back to the start of 2023, his first as a full-time reliever, he has a 3.08 ERA in 154 2/3 Triple-A innings. He has struck out 31.7% of batters faced in that time and induced grounders on more than half the balls in play he has allowed but also given out walks at a huge 15.7% pace.
In the most recent offseason, Krook had to settle for a minor league deal with the A’s. He showed good results for Triple-A Las Vegas, including an 11.8% walk rate that is still high but pretty good for him. That got him a brief look in the big leagues with the A’s and then a waiver claim took him to Washington for about a week. Now that he’s a free agent again, he’ll probably be looking at more minor league offers.
Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images
