The Diamondbacks will designate right-hander Paul Sewald for assignment, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Arizona Sports. Sewald returned to the Snakes on a one-year deal in free agency this past offseason and has spent the bulk of the season as Arizona’s closer. He started strong but hit a wall in late June and hasn’t been able to recover.
For the season’s first three months or so, Sewald was genuinely excellent. He piled up 18 saves by June 19 and did so while holding opponents to just 10 earned runs on 13 hits and eight walks with 32 punchouts in 28 1/3 innings. The resulting 3.18 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate all stood as strong marks.
There were, however, some red flags. Sewald gave up hard contact at worse-than-average levels. That’s not a glaring problem in and of itself, but the veteran righty posted only a 13.8% ground-ball rate in that run of three months. Just over 10% of that mountain of fly-balls he surrendered turned into home runs. That’s a slightly better than average percentage, but Sewald was keeping the bases empty in part due to a tiny .131 average on balls in play that no one can sustain.
As more hitters began to reach base, Sewald’s home run woes were exacerbated. He was rocked for seven homers in his final 10 2/3 innings, which played a major role in 17 runs crossing the plate during that time. Sewald has given up runs in seven of his past 14 outings — two or more runs in five of them. He has a 14.34 ERA dating back to June 23 and now sits with an ugly 6.23 mark on the season as he heads to DFA limbo.
Sewald’s one-year deal to return to the D-backs contained only a $1.5MM base. MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen notes that he’s already picked up an additional $350K worth of incentives on the season by virtue of bonuses unlocked for his 25th, 35th and 45th appearances as well as 20, 25 and 35 games finished. Arizona’s tab for their four-month (and change) reunion with Sewald will close at $1.85MM.
Since the trade deadline has come and gone, the only move the D-backs can make with Sewald is to place him on waivers. He’s very likely to clear release waivers and become a free agent. A contending club could then add him on a minor league deal and stash him as a depth option in Triple-A while they try to get him back on track.