The Royals announced Friday morning that they’ve signed right-hander Dinelson Lamet to a minor league contract. He opted out of a minors pact with the Dodgers early last month and has been a free agent for the past six weeks. Presumably, given that layoff, he’ll ramp up at a low-level affiliate before heading to Triple-A Omaha. Lamet is repped by the MVP Sports Group.
The 31-year-old Lamet pitched 4 1/3 innings with L.A. back in April before he was designated for assignment. He originally accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City but opted out a couple months later. Lamet allowed one run in his brief Dodgers stint. He spent the rest of his time with the organization in the Triple-A rotation, working to a 4.82 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate in 37 1/3 frames.
At one point in his career, Lamet looked like one of the more promising young arms in the National League. He debuted as a 24-year-old with the Padres in 2017 and held his own with a 4.57 ERA and hefty 28.7% strikeout rate in 21 starts. He missed the next year due to Tommy John surgery but returned in 2019 with a 4.07 ERA and massive 33.5% strikeout rate. The shortened 2020 season brought a full-fledged breakout, as the righty finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting on the heels of a pristine 2.09 ERA, a career-high 34.8% strikeout rate and a strong 7.5% walk rate.
Forearm and back injuries have derailed his trajectory since. His 2021 season was marred by a pair of forearm strains, limiting him to just 47 innings. The Padres moved him to the bullpen late in the season in hopes that a move to short relief would help keep him on the field, but while he’s been relatively healthy since, his fastball has deteriorated even while moving to shorter stints. Concurrently, he’s seen his command struggles not only resurface but climb to new heights.
Dating back to Opening Day 2022, Lamet has pitched 64 1/3 big league innings between four teams but posted an 8.25 ERA. He’s still fanned more than a quarter of his opponents but has also issued walks at a 14.1% clip and plunked another five opponents (1.6%). Lamet’s heater averaged a blistering 97 mph during his breakout ’20 campaign but sat at a more pedestrian 93.7 mph during his brief run with the Dodgers earlier this season.
Royals GM J.J. Picollo talked last month about wanting to add to his club’s bullpen, acknowledging the lack of swing-and-miss in a Royals relief corps that now ranks 29th in the majors with a 19% strikeout rate. That leads only the Rockies’ 18.4% rate. Lamet will need to ramp up and perform well in Omaha with the Storm Chasers before he’s even considered a viable option, but for all his struggles in recent seasons, he’s still quite capable of missing bats thanks to a slider that regularly racks up plus whiff rates. He’s a long-shot play at this point in his career, but there’s no risk in bringing him aboard on a minor league pact to see if he can get back on track in the minors.