Fallen Guardians bullpen star lands with Braves on minor-league comeback deal

In 2022, James Karinchak was one of the most important players in the Guardians’ bullpen. While he lost the closer role to Emmanuel Clase the season prior, he emerged as one of the league’s best setup men, and finished the year with a 2.08 ERA in 39 innings for a Cleveland team that made it all the way to the American League Division Series. 

That still stands as the high water mark of his career, as he struggled with ineffectiveness and a loss of command a year prior before being outrighted off the Guardians roster at the end of 2023. 

He only threw 6 2/3 innings in the minors for the Guardians in 2024 due to shoulder problems, and he’s coming off a season where he had a 2.45 ERA in 29 1/3 innings at Triple-A for the White Sox. 

While that’s an obvious fall from grace for a guy who was once thought of as a piece of the Guardians future, his MLB career got a little more life on Monday night when he inked a minor league deal with the Braves. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported the deal, while 7News Boston's Ari Alexander reported that his deal with be worth $840,000 if he makes it to MLB.

James Karinchak resurfaces on minor league deal with Braves 

While Karinchak had always struggled with his command, things hit a fever pitch in 2023 thanks to the installation of the pitch clock. Prior to the pitch clock, Karinchak’s pre-throw routine consisted of him flipping the ball in the air, grabbing the rosin bag and running his hands through his hair. It was a lengthy, arduous process that resulted in him getting results. 

But those results went away once the process went away. Terry Francona called Karinchak out of the bullpen in a scoreless game on Opening Day, and he promptly got hit with a pitch clock violation before airmailing a pitch to the backstop and giving up a go-ahead home run to Ty France. 

But it can’t be overstated how good Karinchak was in 2022. After impressing a bit across his first 2+ seasons in the bigs, he really settled into a solid eighth inning role for the Guardians, and ended up tossing 24 2/3 straight scoreless innings for the Guardians from July to September. 

He also was in the middle of one of the oddest moments of the year when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli had the umpires check Karinchak’s hair for foreign substances in a game on Sept. 10. Karinchak passed the test and ended up pitching a scoreless eighth inning in a Guardians win.

The biggest thing standing in his way is that aforementioned lack of command. While Karinchak has a career 36.3% strikeout rate in MLB, he also posted a walk rate of 16.5% in Triple-A last year prior to being released. He has a career MLB walk rate of 14.1% as well. 

While his strikeout numbers are great, it’s going to be hard for him to get another chance in MLB as long as he has those command problems. 

He’ll now get a chance to turn things around with the Braves, who are looking to compete after a down season.