The Guardians announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Matt Festa from Triple-A Columbus. Fellow righty Vince Velasquez has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
It was reported earlier this week that the Guardians had acquired Festa from the Rangers. He had signed a minor league deal with Texas but recently had the ability to opt out of that deal if not in the major leagues. Based on the trade, it seemed like the Guards were willing to give him the roster spot that the Rangers would not, and that has come to pass today.
He certainly did his best to earn the opportunity. He tossed 14 2/3 scoreless innings for Triple-A Round Rock to start this year. His 11.3% walk rate was a bit high but he punched out 32.2% of batters faced and kept 47.1% of balls in play on the ground. His big league track record is more middling, with a 4.60 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 34.9% ground ball rate in 117 1/3 innings, but the Guards will see if his hot start this year can be carried over.
That will unfortunately lead to Velasquez losing his roster spot without pitching in a game. His last major league appearance was almost two years ago now, occurring with the Pirates on May 27th of 2023. UCL surgery wiped out the rest of that season and his entire 2024.
He signed a minor league deal with the Guards coming into 2025 and started this year in Triple-A. He tossed 15 innings over four starts with an ERA of 6.00, a 14.7% strikeout rate and 21.3% walk rate. Those are awful numbers in a small sample but the club wanted a fresh arm earlier this week. Last Friday’s game was rained out, which led to a Saturday doubleheader, meaning Cleveland was to play 13 games in 12 days. They added Kolby Allard on Saturday and Velasquez on Tuesday, two arms capable of pitching multiple innings, but didn’t use Velasquez in any of the past three games.
Velasquez will likely be placed on waivers shortly. Based on his rough early-season numbers and recent injury absence, he will likely clear. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency instead.
If he ends up on the open market, he could perhaps re-sign with the Guardians or look for opportunities elsewhere. He has 763 2/3 career innings in the big leagues with a 4.88 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images