Tigers Outright Yilber Díaz

The Tigers sent right-hander Yilber Díaz outright to Triple-A Toledo, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Detroit designated him for assignment on Monday when they dropped their offseason roster count to 40. Díaz was claimed off waivers from Arizona in late June. He spent most of the remaining season on optional assignment with Toledo, though he made a couple brief appearances on the big league roster. Díaz pitched four times as a Tiger, allowing four runs across 5 1/3 innings. He’s thrown 37 1/3 big league frames over parts of three seasons, posting a 6.27 earned run average. Díaz has a modest 15.5% strikeout rate against a lofty 11.9% walk percentage at the MLB level. The Venezuelan-born Díaz was viewed as one of the better starting pitching prospects in a thin Arizona farm system a couple years ago. He has a power arsenal but was held back as a starter by a lack of a viable changeup and subpar command. The D-Backs moved him to the bullpen in 2025. Díaz has posted big strikeout numbers in the minors but still isn’t throwing enough strikes to stick in the majors, even in a middle relief capacity. He worked 54 innings of 3.50 ERA ball with a 28% strikeout rate and an untenable 15% walk percentage in Triple-A this year. This is the first time that Díaz has cleared waivers in his career. He’ll remain in the Detroit organization and should receive a non-roster invite to Spring Training. Díaz has exhausted his minor league option years, which limits the flexibility to shuffle him back and forth between Triple-A moving forward. View Comments (0)