The Mariners announced that they have claimed right-hander Domingo González off waivers from the Braves and assigned him to Triple-A Tacoma. Atlanta designated him for earlier this week when they claimed righty Connor Seabold. Seattle’s 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.
González, 25, has no major league experience yet. Originally an international signing of the Pirates, Atlanta nabbed him in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. A couple of years later, after the 2024 campaign, Atlanta added him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency.
He had done some starting while in the Pirates’ system but has been almost exclusively a reliever since joining the Braves. His only two starts since switching organizations were two-inning stints as an opener. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he logged 106 1/3 innings with a 3.55 earned run average. His 11.9% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he struck out 34.3% of opponents.
Given that performance, it’s understandable that Atlanta didn’t want him to get away and gave him a roster spot. But his results have backed up a bit this year. He has thrown 42 Triple-A innings with a 4.29 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. Those numbers seemingly prevented him from getting a big league call-up and also nudged him off the 40-man and onto the waiver wire.
For the Mariners, they had a free roster spot and have used it to scoop up González. Since he is in his first of three option years, the M’s could potentially be patient in trying to get him back on track. He has no major league service time yet, so he’ll be cheaply controllable for years to come if he can develop into a serviceable big league arm, though he’ll first have to show enough promise to hang onto a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images