The Mt. Diablo Devils and Mission Viejo Maulers struck a last minute deal Monday morning as GM Jason Watson announced the acquisition of right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (3/$1). The move will include six picks changing hands with the Devils landing the 15th, 37th, 87th and 102nd picks in exchange for the 6th and 21st picks overall.
After making 32 starts the previous season, Nathan Eovaldi was limited to 20 outings as he lost time early with back inflammation and then down the stretch with shoulder tightness. His four-seam and cutter velocity dropped, perhaps explaining a 22.4% strikeout rate, the lowest level since 2017. Eovaldi's biggest issue was a return of gopheritis as he yielded 21 homers in only 109.1 innings. His cutter and slider were particularly ineffective as they accounted for 41% of his homers allowed despite being thrown a combined 22% of the time. In contrast, Eovaldi upped his split finger usage to 21% and he surrendered only one homer with the pitch. Other than 2021, Eovaldi has missed at least a quarter of each season, so durability is an issue but that generally comes with a $1 arm. His miniscule walk rate keeps his WHIP in a fantasy friendly range but his dalliance with the long ball puts his ERA at risk. Eovaldi joined the Rangers on a two-year, $34 million contract, so he'll see a lot of the AL West and Globe Life Field, which ranks mostly as a neutral park for both hitters and pitchers.
Eovaldi was held back due to an oblique issue but made his return Friday against the Brewers, allowing four hits and striking out five over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. This was Eovaldi's second Cactus League start but first since he sustaining the injury at the beginning of the month. The right-hander's fastball, which averaged 95.8 mph last season, sat in the upper 90s, touching 99 mph multiple times, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. "I felt like I was ahead in the counts, felt like I used all my pitches," the pitcher said. "The only thing I need to work on doing better at is executing with two strikes." As suggested earlier by manager Bruce Bochy, both Eovaldi and fellow Rangers starter Jacob deGrom could be on restricted counts early.
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