His fastball in particular was excellent. It has solid vertical movement and great velocity with big extension. In 2025, the swinging strike rate was among the best in the league at 15.6%, while the ideal contact rate was a great 31.3%. His cutter was a reliable strike-getter and also limited hard contact.
Kittredge, 36 later this month, spent the bulk of the 2025 season with Baltimore after signing a one-year, $10MM contract in free agency. The O's flipped him to the Cubs in July, netting teenage shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz in that deadline swap. Chicago then traded Kittredge back to Baltimore following the season, before the decision on his 2026 club option was due.
He didn't lose that bulldog presence and he kept attacking the zone. They kept hitting him a little bit, but he kind of limited the damage. If we were watching an NFL game, it was like the 'bend don't break' situation. The way he talked about it, it was more mature than a normal freshman.
I felt great taking on different roles. And I think for me this year just getting into a more solidified role, whether it's middle relief, whatever it was back of games, but I think just keeping spirits high, keep working, simplify things, and just keep communicating with our coaches about what needs to get done and game planning and everything along those lines,
The older brother of fellow Dodgers righty River Ryan, Ryder is a 30-year-old reliever who's pitched in parts of two major league seasons. He saw time with the '23 Mariners and the '24 Pirates, combining for 21 2/3 innings during that brief pair of looks. He yielded 13 runs (5.40 ERA) on 21 hits and 10 walks with 19 strikeouts.
Castro just turned 31 a few weeks ago, but the well-traveled right-hander has already pitched for seven teams across parts of 11 major league seasons. Because he debuted as a 20-year-old and has managed to stick in the majors for the bulk of the past decade, he's just three days from reaching nine full years of major league service time.
The Tigers signed reliever Burch Smith to a minor league contract, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press. The righty receives an invitation to MLB camp and will be guaranteed a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster. Smith, 36 in April, has played for seven big league clubs over a 15-year career that has taken him around the globe.
Yates gives the Angels yet another veteran reliever with some closing experience who's in need of a rebound - in his case, ahead of what'll be his age-39 season. The Halos will hope to finally get a full workload out of Robert Stephenson in the final season of his three-year, $33MM contract. They've also signed former Jays closer Jordan Romano and veteran reliever Drew Pomeranz to low-cost, one-year contracts this offseason as well.
The Atlanta Braves have added right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton on a non-guaranteed deal. The team announced the transaction earlier this evening. Hamilton spent the last several seasons working out of the New York Yankees bullpen. Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2016, Hamilton made his MLB-debut in 2018. After bouncing around multiple organizations, Hamilton found regular work in the Yankees bullpen in 2023, appearing in 39 games and picked up two saves.
"I mean, I would've done anything just to be in The Show, pitching in the playoffs. Just to get a little taste of the playoffs at such a young age, that was huge. Just to be a part of the clubhouse, be with all the guys, be out on the field, record some big outs, that's what Roki was able to do."
If you remember back about a year ago at this time, things looked pretty wild for the Washington Nationals and former closer Kyle Finnegan. The righty was coming off an All-Star 2024 campaign, but his underlying metrics told more of the full story. Finnegan had been a beneficiary of some good luck, and his lack of swing-and-miss stuff was keeping him from unlocking his true potential as a late inning option for the Nationals.
