Cleveland Guardians Claim Lefty From A's

According to the MLB.com transactions page, recently DFA'd left-hander Matt Krook has been claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Guardians after a short stint in the big leagues with the Athletics.

Krook made three appearances with the A's, tossing a total of 3.1 innings and giving up two earned runs, leading to a 5.40 ERA. It was his last appearance that was the lone one in which he surrendered runs in, going 1.1 innings against the Los Angeles Angels last week. When he entered the game, the score was 7-5, but the bases were loaded and there were no outs.

He got a ground ball on the second pitch he threw to record two quick outs, even nabbing the runner trying to score. He did uncork a wild pitch to allow one of those inherited runners to cross home, though, but he'd work out of the jam without allowing more damage. It was arguably a pretty good job on his part.

But since the A's bullpen has been worked so heavily of late, given that the team has a 7-19 record this month, he was asked to go back out for the ninth. The Angels went single, sac bunt, single, double, scoring two runs off Krook, before he was lifted.

Krook, now 30 years old, was selected in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants, and has since bounced around a bit. A couple of weeks ago, right after he was called up, he was able to pitch at Oracle Park against the Giants, so we asked him what is was like finally pitching in the ballpark he'd dreamed of playing in when he was drafted.

He mentioned that of course that's where he initially envisioned himself pitching, because everyone thinks their career path will be fairly linear. He also noted that most of the time, that path isn't exactly what ends up happening.

This next step in his journey with the Guardians will be seen as a new opportunity for Krook to make his mark in the big leagues.

The past three seasons, he's made brief stops with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and now the Athletics. In total, he has racked up 8.1 innings of work and holds a 16.20 ERA. That said, his work in the minor leagues this season has been terrific, with the left-hander holding a 3.21 ERA across 14 innings of work.

He does tend to issue some free passes, but he has a wicked slider and his control was much improved in his small sample with the A's this season.

The Guardians have already optioned Matt Krook to the Columbus Clippers. The hope for the southpaw is that he'll get more of a chance to showcase what he can do when he's not just trying to eat innings for an overworked bullpen.