Philadelphia signed right-handed Jacob Waguespack According to his transaction tracker on MLB.com, a minor league deal was reached. He has been assigned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Ironpigs’ roster lists Waguespack on the injured list.
Waguespack As of weeks ago, Waguespack was in the 40-man roster. He was designated as an outfielder Jonny Deluca Recovered from 60 days of IL. Waguespack participated in the minor league of Illinois State University at that time. The injured player cannot completely give up the saving throws, so this leaves the Rays with no choice but to release him, which allows him to sign with Pheles.
It is not clear what injuries will bother Waguespack. His last minor league game was on May 20 two months ago. Presumably, Philes wants him to stay healthy sometime before the end of the season.
Anyway, this is a pretty low-risk signing for the Phillies. They didn’t give Waguespack a roster. Plus, they still pay Waguespack this year at a 1.3mm salary since the Rays released him. If Philes calls him at any time, they only have to pay him a percentage of $760,000 in league minimum wage. Anything they pay will be subtracted from Tampa’s promise.
Waguespack didn’t have much major league success, with an average score of 5.11 in 105 2/3 innings. But, a few years ago, he did perform in Japan to be encouraging. He pitched for Orix Buffaloes in 2022 and 2023, recording 116 1/3 innings with a strikeout rate of 4.02 ERA and 29% strikeout rate.
This prompted Ray to sign the Depth Arm by 2024, although he has been in optional tasks and/or injured for a large part since then. Last year, he lost 10 innings in his professional 10 innings and so far he hasn’t played any games. His minor league work is good since the Rays signing, with an ERA of 2.93, strikeout rate of 30.5% and a walking rate of 5.2% in 43 innings.
Image courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Image
