The Washington Nationals have signed veteran reliever Luis Ayala to a minor league deal, reports Andrew Rickli of SportsReelBoston. The 36 year old Ayala spent most of last season with the Atlanta Braves after being traded from the Baltimore Orioles in the first two weeks of the season. He pitched to a 3.27 ERA in 33 innings, with strikeout and walk rates of 15.4 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.
In addition, he had a strong groundball rate of 58.9 percent. Ayala did miss a good chunk of playing time, as he spent over two months on the disabled list with anxiety disorder.
After a rough 2009 season in which Ayala posted a 5.63 ERA, he spent all of 2010 in the minors, and after posting a 6.42 ERA between the Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations it appeared that the right-hander’s major league days might be over. However, he latched on with the New York Yankees in 2011, and revitalized his career. Despite mediocre peripherals, he pitched to a 2.09 ERA in 56 innings with the Yankees.
Overall, Ayala has been solid over the last three seasons, with a 2.58 ERA and 51.4 percent groundball rate. His fastball sits around 90, and he won’t miss too many bats, but he has a good chance of making the Nationals Opening Day roster as a right-handed specialist who can get groundball outs.
With the possible move of Tanner Roark, the resident righty-killer to the starting rotation, Ayala could fill that spot. Besides their big offseason move of trading for Doug Fister, the Nationals have made a few smaller moves. The additions of Jamey Carroll and Ayala bring back two members of the original 2005 Nationals squad.
