The Marlins have designated right-hander Yonny Chirinos for assignment, the team announced today. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Kyle Tyler, who’s been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.
Chirinos, 30, is one of several former Rays who made their way to the Marlins organization over the offseaon — he signed a minor league deal — after Miami hired former Rays GM Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations. Initially brought in as a depth option, Chirinos found himself called to the big league roster after 12 solid starts in Triple-A (3.00 ERA, 17.2 K%, 8.4 BB%, 66 innings) at a time when the Marlins’ rotation had been decimated by injury.
Through his first four starts, Chirinos generated quality results. He pitched just 19 1/3 innings but held opponents to nine runs (4.19 ERA) on 26 hits and five walks with 20 punchouts. He’s been shelled for a dozen runs in 10 2/3 innings since that time, however, and now sports an unsightly 6.30 earned run average on the season.
From 2018-22, Chirinos was an intriguing but frequently injured member of the Rays’ pitching staff. He logged 241 1/3 innings in that time, recording a 3.54 ERA (4.07 FIP, 4.13 SIERA) with a 20.9% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate. Forearm, finger, triceps and elbow injuries all combined to tamp down Chirinos’ innings, however, with the elbow issue in particular proving detrimental. Chirinos missed the entire 2021 season and a portion of the 2022 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.
While Chirinos’ 2018-22 track record is fairly intriguing, he’s also now pitched 115 innings in two full post-surgery seasons and looked like a different pitcher. Dating back to Opening Day 2023, he’s logged a 5.63 ERA with strikeout and walk rates of 15.3% and 7.8% — a far cry from his pre-surgery rates. He’s also seen his average fastball dip from a 94.3 mph peak, per Statcast, to 93 mph over the past two seasons.
The Marlins will have a week to trade Chirinos, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has more than five years of big league service, so he can reject an outright assignment even if he clears waivers.