Padres claim Pat Neshek

The San Diego Padres recently claimed reliever Pat Neshek off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. Neshek has thrown just over 20 major league innings over the past three seasons. However, he was an extremely effective reliever for the Twins in 2006 and 2007, before Tommy John surgery derailed his career. Neshek has a career 3.05 ERA in 129.7 innings, striking out 151, walking 45, and allowing 16 long balls. Thanks to an unorthodox sidearm delivery, Neshek is very tough on righties, holding them to a .176/.242/.301 career line against. Most of that work was done a long time ago, though. We’ll have to see what Neshek has left in the tank. For what it’s worth, FanGraphs had his fastball velocity at 85.6 miles per hour last season, compared to 90-91 when he was a dominant reliever for the Twins. Reports from this spring have Neshek’s velocity on the rise. Here’s a video of Neshek warming up. He’s certainly not a hard guy to root for.