Mariners sign lefty Ryan Buchter to minors deal

The Mariners have signed left-handed pitcher Ryan Buchter to a minor league deal, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The southpaw has been invited to big league camp.

Buchter, 35, has 285 MLB games under his belt, having taken the mound for the Braves, Padres, Royals, Athletics, Angels and Diamondbacks. At the end of the 2019 season, he had a career ERA of 2.86, but was somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the A’s. Although he kept his ERA to 2.98 that year, his walk rate climbed up to 11.6% and he also had an unsustainable 91.4% strand rate, evidently concerning the club enough that it cut ties.

He made the Angels’ roster in 2020 but was optioned to the team’s alternate training site. Due to the pandemic wiping out the minor league season, he was only able to pitch six innings on the year. In 2021, he bounced on and off the D-Backs roster, throwing 16 1/3 fairly ineffective innings in the majors. His ERA was 6.61, along with a 20.5% strikeout rate and alarming 16.7% walk rate. He was much better in 16 Triple-A innings last year, however, logging an ERA of 3.38 with a 29% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate.

The Mariners are a bit thin on lefties, with Anthony Misiewicz and Justus Sheffield the only two on the 40-man roster that are projected to be both healthy and in the bullpen to start the year. With Buchter around, they’ll have a veteran fallback option. Despite his age, he has less than five years of MLB service time, meaning he could be retained for another year if he can regain his pre-2020 form and earn a roster spot.