The Astros have agreed to a minor league cope with left-handed reliever Steven Okert, per their transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee in spring coaching and would earn $1.2MM upon making the roster, MLBTR has realized. The contract incorporates extra incentives and a number of opt-out dates for the veteran southpaw.
Okert, 33, spent the 2024 season with the Twins group after they acquired him in an offseason swap sending utilityman Nick Gordon to the Marlins. He appeared in 44 video games and pitched 35 1/3 innings with a 5.09 earned run common. Minnesota designated Okert for task over the summer season and despatched him outright to Triple-A. He grew to become a minor league free agent at season’s finish.
Regardless of the tough run-prevention numbers in ’24, Okert has a strong monitor file of lacking bats. His strikeout price dipped to twenty.6% with the Twins, and it’s of word that he did lose a couple of mile per hour off each his four-seamer and slider. Nonetheless, from 2021-23, Okert was a mainstay within the Marlins’ bullpen and pitched nicely, logging a 3.51 ERA in 146 frames whereas selecting up loads of punchouts. He fanned 28.9% of his opponents in that stretch, and whereas his 10.7% stroll price was a pair share factors north of common, he typically prevented opponents’ barrels nicely sufficient to mitigate these free passes.
Okert nonetheless prevented onerous contact properly with the Twins — actually posting career-low marks in common exit velocity and opponents’ onerous hit price. When opponents did barrel him up, nevertheless, it was too usually for optimum injury. Okert’s 1.53 homers per 9 frames have been the best of his profession by a large margin. That, paired with extra balls in play as a result of dip in strikeout price, labored in opposition to the 6’2″ southpaw.
The Astros will attempt to restore a few of the velo and whiffs that Okert misplaced in 2024. In the event that they’re in a position to assist him proper the ship, they’ll be selecting up a lefty reliever who pitched fairly nicely from ’21-’23 at a low value. Past nearer Josh Hader, the ’Stros solely have two different left-handed relievers on their 40-man roster: Bryan King, who has all of 26 1/3 MLB innings to his credit score, and Bennett Sousa, who has 29 1/3 MLB frames and missed the 2024 season following thoracic outlet surgical procedure. Including some reasonably priced lefty depth to the bullpen is sensible, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see one other signing or two alongside these traces.
