Diamondbacks select Noe Ramirez, designate fellow righty Keury Mella

The Diamondbacks announced they’ve selected the contract of righty reliever Noé Ramirez. To create active and 40-man roster space, fellow righty Keury Mella was designated for assignment.

Ramirez has been a member of three organizations this year. The longtime Angel was traded to the Reds as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal over the offseason. He struggled mightily in spring training, so Cincinnati released him before the regular season began to avoid committing to his entire $1.175M arbitration salary. Ramirez quickly re-signed with the Angels on a minor league deal, and Los Angeles added him to the big league roster in mid-May. Just five days later, the Angels designated Ramirez for assignment and passed him through waivers. He elected free agency and signed a minors pact with the D-backs.

The 31-year-old didn’t find much success with Triple-A Reno. He was tagged for eight runs on as many hits (including three homers) and five walks in nine innings, but he did strike out 12 batters in that hitter-friendly environment. Before this year’s trials, Ramirez was a solid middle reliever, pitching to a 3.76 ERA/3.91 FIP from 2019-20.

Arizona just selected Mella to the MLB roster on Tuesday. He made two disastrous appearances in San Francisco this week, allowing six runs while recording just five outs. The 27-year-old has pitched 28 2/3 MLB innings over the past five seasons, compiling a 7.22 ERA/5.10 SIERA. Mella has already passed through waivers once this year and accepted an outright assignment to Reno, but he’ll again have the option to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed on the wire.