D-backs trade Robbie Ray to Blue Jays, get LHP Travis Bergen
Aug 31, 2020, 10:58 AM | Updated: 1:54 pm
(AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
After six years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, left-handed pitcher Robbie Ray is on the move.
Arizona agreed to trade the struggling southpaw to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline on Monday, the D-backs confirmed.
In exchange, the D-backs received 26-year-old left-handed relief pitcher Travis Bergen. Arizona also sent cash considerations to the Blue Jays.
Ray pitched his way to the All-Star Game in 2017, finishing the year with a 2.89 ERA and a National League-leading 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings, but has failed to live up to the expectations that came with the success that year.
In seven starts this season, he has a 7.84 ERA, and a 2.00 WHIP, the worst among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings.
RELATED STORIES
While Ray’s 43 strikeouts in 31.0 innings is good for a career-best strikeouts per nine innings, he averages a walked batter every inning. His 9.0 BB/9 is more than three walks greater than the second-worst in the league.
Nevertheless, the potential of a strikeout-throwing lefty with a mid-90s fastball and strong slider is tantalizing throughout the league, and the D-backs were able to get something for Ray before he hit free agency.
He had also attracted interest from teams including the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, according to the Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley, largely because of his strikeout rate.
Arizona did not plan to extend him a qualifying offer in free agency, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Over Ray’s D-backs career, he went 47-46 with a 4.11 ERA. His 998 strikeouts during that time is tied for ninth in the league since 2015.
Bergen first pitched in the majors last year, where he allowed 12 earned runs over 19.2 innings in 21 appearances for the San Francisco Giants. Lefties went just 5-for-26 off him.
Over 43 combined games in high Class A and Double-A ball in 2018, Bergen posted a 0.95 ERA with a 1.006 WHIP.
In 20 minor league appearances last year, 18 of which were in Triple-A, he had a 3.38 ERA.
Bergen underwent Tommy John surgery in 2016 and missed most of the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
