The Toronto Blue Jays have added veteran reliever Paul Sewald to their bullpen on Wednesday, claiming the 36 year old off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sewald was designated for assignment by Arizona earlier this week, and figures to factor into the late inning mix for Toronto down the stretch. The Las Vegas native sports a 6.23 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 39 IP this season for the D-Backs. His 24 saves are good for 9th most across the majors, but the righty had been hit hard in recent weeks by opposing batters.
The former closer had given up 5 home runs in his last 7 outings, and saw his ERA rise from 4.19 on July 17th to 6.23 as of August 5th. As a result, D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo removed him from the closer role, opting instead to go with a committee style approach.
Since the late game change, Arizona has been leaning on a combination of Kevin Ginkel and Brandyn Garcia, though Garcia seems to have the inside edge for saves in the desert at the moment.
Across his 10 year big league career Sewald has made 426 appearances for the D-Backs, Tigers, Guardians, Mariners and Mets. During that span he’s amassed a 23-31 record with 110 career saves and a 4.30 ERA.
At the moment, the Blue Jays sit 2.5 games back of the final American League wildcard spot, and will look to continue making up ground when they take on the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday at the Rogers Centre.
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