The Diamondbacks introduced that left-hander Kyle Nelson has been designated for project. That’s the corresponding 40-man transfer for the signing of righty Jake Woodford, a transfer that was beforehand reported.
Nelson, now 28, has been with the Diamondbacks for years. He was claimed off waivers from the Guardians within the 2021-22 offseason. He confirmed some potential at instances however required surgical procedure to deal with thoracic outlet syndrome in April of 2024 and his numbers since that process have been tough.
He missed the rest of the 2024 marketing campaign after going underneath the knife. Right here in 2025, he has been on optionally available project, having tossed 17 Triple-A innings. He has allowed 16 earned runs in that point, resulting in an 8.47 ERA. That’s a small pattern of labor however he additionally solely has 12 strikeouts, a price of 14.6% of batters confronted. He has averaged simply 89.9 miles per hour on his fastball.
There’s a giant hole between that efficiency and what he was in a position to do a couple of years in the past. In 2023, he logged 56 main league innings for the Snakes with a 4.18 ERA. He struck out 28% of batters confronted whereas averaging 92 mph on his fastball.
Overcoming a thoracic outlet syndrome analysis is notoriously tough. Pitchers like Matt Harvey and Chris Archer declined considerably later of their careers whereas Stephen Strasburg primarily had his profession ended by the situation. However, Diamondbacks like Merrill Kelly and Ryan Thompson have every managed to engineer stable post-TOS seasons.
Nelson will now head into DFA limbo, which may final so long as every week. The waiver course of takes 48 hours, so the Snakes might take 5 days to discover commerce talks. Based mostly on his damage absence and up to date outcomes, there will not be a lot curiosity.
If Nelson clears outright waivers, he may have the proper to elect free company however will in all probability resolve to remain. Gamers with not less than three years of massive league service time have the proper to reject an outright project, however these with lower than 5 years need to forfeit their remaining wage with a view to train that proper. Nelson is in that three- to five-year window. He and the membership prevented arbitration within the offseason by agreeing to a wage of $825K this 12 months, a bit north of the $760K main league minimal.
Picture courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Pictures
