Roster move alert!
LAA options C.J. Cron to Salt Lake & recalls RHP Eduardo Paredes...RHP Doug Fister claimed on unconditional waivers by Boston. #Angels
— Angels PR (@LAAngelsPR) June 23, 2017
First, the good news. 22 year-old righty reliever Eduardo Paredes has tore through the minor leagues over the past few years, posting a career 2.56 ERA in the minors. That’s made all the more impressive by the fact that the average ages in AA and AAA are 24 and 26, respectively. He has a 10.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and a 1.124 WHIP, which are all very good marks.
He is MLB.com’s 15th Angels prospect, though he gets heavily dinged for being a reliever, as opposed to a starter or position player. Here’s what they have to say about his stuff.
MLB.com grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45
Paredes gets swings and misses on both his fastball and slider, striking out 10.5 per nine innings in his Minor League career heading into the 2017 season. He throws his fastball in the 92-95 mph range and it plays up because of its plus run, sink and spin. His slider is more slurvy than anything else, but it has a lot of depth to it. He's not a sidearmer by any means, but he does employ a low and short arm slot that provides a lot of deception. Hitters do not pick the ball up well coming out of his hands. He's done a very nice job in his career of staying in the strike zone.
Paredes has closed games throughout his Minor League career, saving 32 over the last two seasons combined. His stuff is probably a little short to keep doing that in the big leagues, but he's looking like he'll be able to fill a bullpen role there in the near future.
Paredes is probably a middle reliever, one that can provide more stability in early relief at the moment, as opposed to the current struggling options in Jose Alvarez and Mike Morin. On paper, he definitely makes a strong bullpen even stronger.
The corresponding move? C.J. Cron getting sent down to triple-A for the second time this year...it’s highly frustrating for any player, but specifically Cron who has the tools to stay in the bigs but has not received enough playing time to display them.
Doug Fister was claimed by the Boston Red Sox as well.