Phillies sign two pitchers to Minor League deals

The Phillies signed relievers Nabil Crismatt AND Guillo Zuñiga to minor league contracts earlier this month. Both agreements are reflected in the team’s transaction log on MLB.com and in the players’ respective social media accounts.

Both pitchers saw limited major league action in 2024. Crismatt, who turned 30 on Wednesday, made five appearances for the Dodgers to start the year. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, which he split between three organizations. Crismatt pitched in the minors between Los Angeles, San Diego and Texas. He had a rough performance in the Pacific Coast League, allowing 5.81 earned runs in nine through 79 innings. Crismatt struck out a slightly below-average 20.7% of batters faced against a decent 7.5% walk rate.

The Colombian-born pitcher struggled for six Triple-A seasons. His major league track record is much better. Crismatt owns a 3.71 earned run average through parts of five MLB campaigns. Most of that production came during two strong years in San Diego between 2021 and 2022. He logged 20 major league innings over the past two seasons.

Zuñiga, 26, made his debut in two starts with the Cardinals in 2023. St. Louis traded him to the Angels for cash in February. Zuñiga made 15 appearances for the Halos. He pitched 17 2/3 innings, allowing 10 runs with 12 strikeouts and eight walks. Zuñiga pitched 26 innings at the Triple-A level, where he posted a 5.19 ERA with a well-below-average strikeout rate of 14.3%. The Angels designated him for the position when they acquired it Travis d’Arnaud and released him a few days later.

This year’s drop in strikeouts marked a bizarre change from most of Zuñiga’s minor league career. He had powered a quarter of hitters while facing over 29 plate appearances at Triple-A during the ’23 season. His strikeout rate often reached 30% during his time in the low minors. Zuñiga averaged 97 MPH with his four-seam fastball this year and sat just under 99 MPH during his limited MLB stint with the Cardinals in 2023.