Guardians To Sign Vince Velasquez To Minor League Deal

The Guardians and right-hander Vince Velasquez are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The CAA Sports client also receive an invite to major league camp.

Velasquez, 33 in June, missed the entire 2024 season. He was with the Pirates in 2023 but required surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow that summer. Per Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk, as relayed by Justice delos Santos of MLB.com, it wasn’t a full Tommy John surgery. It was some sort of hybrid between a between a reconstruction and a repair of the ligament. Velasquez had undergone Tommy John surgery as a prospect back in 2010.

At the time of that procedure in June of 2023, the Pirates put a timeline of roughly 11 to 12 months on the righty’s return. He hit free agency going into 2024 and theoretically could have returned late in the year but never signed anywhere. Presumably, Velasquez is either recovered now or hoping to be healthy for a decent amount of the 2025 season. The Guardians will bring him into camp and get a close-up look at him, without going so far as to commit a roster spot.

Prior to this injury odyssey, the righty has shown some flashes of being a capable back-end rotation guy or swingman. From 2015 to 2023, he tossed 763 2/3 innings over 191 games, including 144 starts. He has allowed 4.88 earned runs per nine while striking out 24.9% of batters faced and giving out walks at a 9.3% clip.

The Guardians have plenty of question marks in their rotation, apart from Tanner Bibee being locked into one spot. Ben Lively had a 3.81 ERA last year but with a tepid 18.7% strikeout rate. He seemed to get some luck from a .265 batting average on balls in play and 78.4% strand rate, which is why his 4.66 FIP and 4.58 SIERA were higher than his ERA. Pitchers like Triston McKenzie, Luis Ortiz and Slade Cecconi have had up-and-down careers. Gavin Williams was injured for a decent chunk of 2024 and only made 16 starts with a 4.86 ERA.

Given the uncertainty in that group, adding some veteran non-roster depth makes plenty of sense. The Guards already signed Kolby Allard this week and now Velasquez adds another arm into the rotation competition.