This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks . It was a surprising and marvelous year for the team as they won 84 games to make the postseason. They advanced all the way to Game Five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at-bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR (average WAR-Wins Above Replacement) produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.
Peter Strzelecki started his season out of the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen. It was his second year of pitching in the MLB and he had a decent 4.54 ERA over 36 games and 35.2 innings. He allowed just 10 walks and struck out 37 batters which was good for a 3.79 FIP. This was before he was sent down to the minor leagues. However, at the trade deadline, the Brewers needed a left-handed reliever. So, they traded Strzelecki to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Andrew Chafin. Upon the D-backs announcing the trade, he was sent down to the Reno Aces.
He eventually did get called up to serve as an extra reliever for the D-backs when they had a doubleheader against the San Diego Padres in August. He pitched in one game serving as part of the bulk rotation for a bullpen game. After the game was over, he was sent back to Triple-A where he pitched for the rest of the season.
The Reno Aces ballpark and environment is not one that pitchers enjoy pitching in. It's similar to Colorado. This helps explain why Strzelecki struggled mightily in his first experience with the Reno air and mound. Over his 13 games there, he had a 8.76 ERA and went 0-1 across his 12.1 innings. He gave up 12 runs and 12 hits while walking an alarming 16. He struck out 16 batters as well. The walks were at an abnormal rate for him as he had never walked more than 4.7 per nine innings in any other minor league or MLB stop that lasted for more than a game.
2024 Status and Outlook:
Peter Strzelecki is still on the 40-man roster and isn't yet eligible for arbitration. He's entering his age-29 season and will continue to serve as depth for the bullpen. There's a decent chance he can make the MLB Opening Day roster out of Spring Training if he pitches well. The D-backs need relievers as does every team. Plus, with Strzelecki's past history of success in the MLB, never a FIP above 3.93, then the D-backs very well might have another good reliever who doesn't reach free agency until 2029. He wouldn't be into arbitration until 2026. The outlook on Peter Strzelecki is quite good, so long as those walk issues in Reno were just a byproduct of it being Reno and not a new issue. Only time will tell.
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