Arizona Diamondbacks to Sign Kendall Graveman

Per Jesse Rogers, the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to sign right-handed reliever Kendall Graveman. The right-hander's deal is pending a physical and is for one year. He is guaranteed $1.35 million on the deal. The team has not announced the move.

It is a Major League contract, so he will take up a spot on the 40-man roster which is currently full. This will require the D-backs to designate a player for assignment.

He's expected to be a late-inning weapon for Manager Torey Lovullo to utilize in close games. He spent years doing that for the Astros and White Sox.

Graveman missed all of last season with a shoulder injury but is fully recovered and ready to play once again. The injury was a torn labrum which caused him to miss all of last season while with the Astros.

Reports say that he had a normal off-season and preparation for the season and should have no ill effects of the injury from last year as he starts to pitch for this season.

The 34-year-old reliever last pitched in 2023 with the Astros when he threw 22.1 innings over 23 games with a 2.42 ERA in the second half of the season after being traded from the White Sox. He struck out 24 but did walk 16.

Graveman isn't a closer, but has had the ability to lock down saves with 24 saves since 2021. He's known for being a strong late-inning reliever.

In fact, over 2021-23, Graveman recorded 4.5 WAR thanks to a 2.74 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 193 strikeouts, and 82 walks. He did all that in just 187.1 innings and 186 games, with a 24.5% strikeout rate and a 10.4% walk rate.

His fastball averaged 95.9 MPH in 2023. He throws a sinker, slider, four-seam, changeup, and the occasional curveball.

In 2023, his slider had an expected batting average of .180 while his four-seam fastball had an xBA of .144. The downside is that when batters made contact against his sinker or slider, the ball was generally hit hard and far.

However, he induced a whiff rate of 37.3% on his slider and an even higher whiff rate of 45% on his four-seam fastball. He got just a 16.8% whiff rate on his sinker.

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