Zack Burdi was designated for assignment as part of the Los Angeles Dodgers completing a trade with the Texas Rangers and needing to make room on their 40-man roster for Ricky Vanasco. The Dodgers traded fellow Minor League pitcher Luis Valdez in the deal.
Burdi joins Wander Suero, Dylan Covey, Austin Wynns and Jake Reed as players the Dodgers have DFA’d this season. They also made such a decision with Trevor Bauer in January and subsequently released him.
It’s plausible Burdi remains part of the Dodgers organization should he clear waivers. That was the case for Suero and Reed, who both were assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City after being removed from the 40-man roster.
Wynns was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies and the Philadelphia Phillies claimed Covey.
Burdi joined the Dodgers when they claimed him off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays. That took place on the same day the Dodgers were beginning a series at Tropicana Field.
The 28-year-old was in position to be claimed by the Dodgers after being DFA’d by the Rays for a second time this season. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham the first instance.
Burdi made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2020 and spent a portion of the following year with them and Baltimore Orioles.
He didn’t pitch in the Majors last season and only appeared in three games for the Rays this year. Burdi threw a combined three scoreless innings in his first two appearances before allowing six runs (five earned) in a blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Zack Burdi made good first impression
After being claimed by the Dodgers and assigned to Oklahoma City, Burdi made just one appearance, which was a scoreless inning complete with two strikeouts.
Burdi was teammates with Will Smith at the University of Louisville, and got picked six spots ahead of the Dodgers’ catcher in the first round of the 2016 MLB Draft at No. 26 overall.
More must-reads: