On April 3rd, the RailCats signed right-handed pitcher Andres Diaz, who is 22 years old, 6-1, and is from Venezuela. Andres was a free agent signing of the Kansas City Royals on April 1st, 2018. He was just released on March 30th, 2024. He played in 5 seasons inside the Royals’ system. He reached Single-A last year, having an 0-1 record, ERA of 8.10 in 2 games, and pitched in 6.2 innings starting in both. He gave up 12 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), zero home runs given up, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts, also hitting 1 batter.

Looking at Diaz’s years leading up to the Single-A year, the only real year he was a starting pitcher was in 2019. Outside of that, he only started 2 games out of 42. Looking at all 5 seasons he played with the Royals’ farm system, he had a record of 12-9 ERA of 3.38, played in 61 games, starting in 18 games. He recorded 3 saves, pitched in 157 innings, gave up 153 hits, 81 runs (59 earned), 11 home runs given up, walked 26, while striking out 149. He only hit 11 batters. His WHIP was 1.140, H/9 of 8.8, HR/9 of .6, BB/9 of 1.5, SO/9 of 8.5.

Just by looking at Andres’ stats, he is more than likely being brought on for a couple of reasons. He is young and looks like he has a chance to be a talented reliever. He is a pitcher who is going to put the ball in play. With that being said, he is going to need to have the defense behind him, which is something I believe the RailCats are putting together. I like that he seems to have the ability to have great control and keep from leaving the ballpark, he doesn’t walk a lot of batters, and can strike batters out. I’m excited to see what he is able to do on the South Shore! WELCOME TO SOUTH SHORE, ANDRES DIAZ!