The Padres launched right-hander Matt Festa, who’d been pitching with their Triple-A affiliate in El Paso, per the MiLB.com transaction log.
Festa, 31, has appeared in elements of 4 seasons with the Mariners. He inked a minor league cope with San Diego over the winter. The previous seventh-round choose sports activities a profession 4.32 ERA and three.93 SIERA with a robust 25.3% strikeout price towards a less-encouraging 10.9% stroll price. Festa’s time with the M’s was break up between the 2018-19 seasons and the 2022-23 seasons. He had an elbow harm in 2020 that finally required Tommy John surgical procedure, fully erasing his 2020 season and limiting him to 25 2/3 minor league frames late within the ’21 marketing campaign.
It’s been a good begin to the season for Festa in El Paso. He’s pitched to a 4.50 earned run common — eight runs in 16 innings — whereas fanning 21.6% of his opponents with a 9.5% stroll price. He’s usually been a fly-ball pitcher previously however this yr sports activities an above-average 46% grounder price. He’s been tormented by a .360 common on balls in play, with fielding-independent metrics pegging him a couple of run decrease than his precise ERA.
Festa has pitched moderately nicely, and mid-Could is a typical time for minor league contracts to incorporate opt-out dates, so it’s doable (if unlikely) that such a clause got here into play right here. The Padres solely have three bullpen spots on the roster they’ll shuffle up, as none of Robert Suarez, Wandy Peralta, Enyel De Los Santos, Yuki Matsui or Rule 5 choose Stephen Kolek will be optioned. That leaves righty Jeremiah Estrada, lefty Adrian Morejon and lengthy reliever Jhony Brito as the one gamers who might’ve been despatched down if the Friars had wished to pick out Festa to the massive league roster. Every member of that trio has carried out pretty nicely this season, nonetheless, and Festa himself is out of minor league choices. As such, deciding on his contract would’ve solely additional restricted San Diego’s bullpen flexibility.
Because of this, Festa will head again to the open market and look to latch on with one other membership looking for some skilled bullpen depth. He’s not a flamethrower, averaging simply 92.6 mph on his heater in his profession, however he’s however managed to overlook bats at a excessive degree. His 12.5% profession swinging-strike price checks in north of the league common, and he sat at a fair heftier 14.3% in that regard from 2022-23. In elements of 5 Triple-A seasons (108 2/3 innings), Festa owns a 2.15 ERA, a 27% strikeout price and a 9.5% stroll price.
