Welcome to the Guardians’ pitching factory, faceless righty
The Guardians have added 32 year-old, right-handed reliever Matt Festa to the roster in place of Vince Velazquez today:
Matt Festa has been selected from Columbus.#GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/OXbbGhK38Z
— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) May 2, 2025
The Guardians acquired Festa from the Texas Rangers last week for cash considerations. In 2024, Festa had a 3.94 xERA and a 3.38 FIP with a 9.13/3.04 K/BB/9 in MLB. That’s the hope of what he might be able to produce (his 2024 ERA was much higher than those expected numbers). He’s kind of interestingly similar to Paul Sewald with a 91 mph fastball that measures 117 on Stuff+. And I’m not really sure… why? He gets above average spin on it and hides it well and tunnels it well with a good sweeper – my best guess. You can watch some Festa highlights for 2024 and evaluate the situation for yourself:
You can see his average cutter and above average sweeper that has some good horizontal movement in the above highlight package as well. He’s a pretty interesting arm to acquire for cash considerations, but should be seen as primarily a 6th inning guy who should be deployed against right-handed hitters whenever possible (4.17 FIP vs RHH for his career, vs. 4.93 FIP vs. LHH).
He’s an Italian boy from Brooklyn who played for the Italian National Team in the World Baseball classic. Certainly, Cleveland has a great Italian tradition as well; hopefully he’ll become familiar with some of our best Italian restaurants downtown when the team returns (if he proves useful enough to stick – hopefully!). Welcome to the Guardians, Mr. Festa!