The Marlins chose right-handed people Yonny Chirinos by assignment, the team announced today. His place on the list will go to the right hand Kyle Tylerwho was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.
Chirinos, 30, is one of the last few Rays to land in the Marlins organization during the offseason — he signed a minor league deal — after Miami hired former Rays GM Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations. Originally brought in as a depth option, Chirinos found himself called up to the big league roster after 12 solid starts in Triple-A (3.00 ERA, 17.2 K%, 8.4 BB%, 66 innings) during a time when the Marlins' rotation was decimated by injuries.
In his first four starts, Chirinos has produced quality results. He threw just 19 1/3 innings but held opponents to nine runs (4.19 ERA) on 26 hits, five walks and 20 strikeouts. He has given up a dozen runs in 10 2/3 innings since then, however, and now sports an unimpressive 6.30 earned run average on the season.
From 2018-22, Chirinos was a fun but injury-prone member of the Rays' pitching staff. He pitched 241 1/3 innings during that span, recording a 3.54 ERA (4.07 FIP, 4.13 SIERA) with a 20.9% strikeout rate and a 5.9% walk rate. Arm, finger, triceps and elbow injuries have all combined to cut short Chirinos' innings, however, the elbow problem is proving to be devastating. Chirinos missed the entire 2021 season and part of the 2022 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.
While Chirinos' 2018-22 record is impressive, he has again pitched 115 innings in two full seasons after surgery and looks like a different pitcher. Since Opening Day 2023, he has logged a 5.63 ERA with a strikeout and walk rate of 15.3% and 7.8% – well above his pre-surgery levels. He also saw his average fastball dip from 94.3 mph, according to Statcast, to 93 mph over the past two seasons.
The Marlins will have an entire week to trade Chirinos, try to move on from him via waivers or release him. He has more than five years of major league service, so he can decline an outright assignment even if he clears waivers.
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