The Mariners have agreed to a deal with right-hander Nick Wittgren, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (via X). The contract is presumably a minor league pact, as Wittgren was previously playing on a minors deal with the Royals before he became a free agent earlier this week. Since Wittgren has over five years of MLB service time, he had the right to choose free agency when the Royals tried to option him to Triple-A.
A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Wittgren was released by the Cardinals in July 2022 and didn’t land with a new club until signing his minor league contract with the Royals in December. K.C. selected him to the 26-man roster in May, and Wittgren had a 4.97 ERA over 29 innings in Royal blue.
It’s not a big improvement over his 5.32 ERA with Cleveland and St. Louis in 2021-22, but while advanced metrics indicate that Wittgren was a little unlucky to post such an ERA in those seasons, his SIERA this year is 5.03. While Wittgren hasn’t really been a big strikeout pitcher throughout his career, his K% has plummeted over the last two seasons. He has done an excellent job of keeping the ball in the park in that same time span, yet batters have been making hard contact.
Wittgren did pitch well at Triple-A Omaha this year, and he was a very reliable bullpen arm in his heyday as recently as the 2020 season. The 32-year-old will give the Mariners some more experienced relief depth as they prepare to try and thread the needle between staying in contention and managing the innings of their several young pitchers. Seattle is already set to go to a six-man rotation to help keep everyone fresh for the pennant race (and, the M’s hope, into October), and more bullpen help will also be required.