Nabil Crismatt Elects Free Agency

Nabil Crismatt elected free agency this past weekend after being outrighted by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers cleared up a spot when they selected the contract of Triple-A pitcher Elieser Hernández, adding him to the big league roster. Crismatt had two stints with the Dodgers Major League roster this season, appearing in five big league games.

Crismatt pitched a total of 19.2 innings within the organization, 12.2 coming with Triple-A Oklahoma City and seven with the Dodgers. With the big club, the veteran right-handed carried a 2.57 ERA and 3.29 FIP, with six strikeouts.

He was mainly a low-leverage arm for the Dodgers, using his butterfly changeup at an extremely high rate.

The once-effective reliever has been a useful piece to a Major League bullpen, having his best success with the San Diego Padres from 2021-to-2022. In that span, he totaled a 3.39 ERA in 148.2 innings.

The Dodgers originally signed Crismatt to a Minor League contract in December, assigning him to OKC’s roster. Upon his call-up, they expanded on his under-utilized arsenal, with his changeup being an intriguing piece.

In 2023, his changeup usage was 47.3%, this year, the Dodgers had him throw it 69.9% of the time.

Will Nabil Crismatt receive another big league offer?

The upside of a guy on a Minor League deal is terrific, especially one such as Crismatt, who carries no risk but has a bona fide out pitch with his changeup.

His outrighting from the Dodgers roster wasn’t a performance issue, but a numbers game and him being out of Minor League options. Crismatt is almost guaranteed to receive another opportunity in Major League Baseball with the amount of teams in need of veteran pitching.

If he can’t find another offer from a new club, he could return to the Dodgers on a new Minor League deal, but that seems unlikely at this point.