Right-hander Vinny Nittoli is opting out of his minor league deal with the Orioles, according to a report from Ari Alexander of KPRC2. Nittoli will now head into free agency and be eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs on a fresh contract.
Nittoli, 34, was a 25th-round pick by the Mariners back in 2014 and has spent his decade in professional baseball largely as a minor league journeyman. After spending a few years in Seattle’s minor league system, Nittoli departed affiliated ball in 2017 and spent two seasons pitching for the independent American Association before making his return to the minor leagues. Over the course of 12-year professional career, he’s suited up for the Mariners, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, Mets, A’s, Orioles, and Brewers at the Triple-A level. In all that time, however, he’s received only scattered playing time in the majors with 15 big league appearances in total.
In that sporadic MLB playing time, Nittoli has pitched to a 2.41 ERA with a 4.30 FIP across 18 2/3 innings of work. Nittoli has struck out just 17.3% of his opponents while walking 6.7%, but those numbers of course come in too small of a sample size to draw any substantial conclusions from. After spending a great deal of time at Triple-A, looking at his results at that level may tell a more complete story. He’s posted a 4.76 ERA at the highest level of the minors in 223 innings across parts of six seasons. With that said, he’s struck out a much more robust 28.3% of his opponents while walking 8.4%.
Those stronger strikeout numbers have been enough to get Nittoli plenty of interest from all of those aforementioned organizations on minor league deals over the years, but this year poor results even in the minors have limited his ability to crack a major league roster. In 39 1/3 innings of work between the Triple-A affiliates of the Brewers and Orioles this year, Nittoli has posted a 4.58 ERA, including a ghastly 6.35 in ten appearances in Baltimore’s organization after opting out of the pact he’d spent the first half of the year with Milwaukee on. Now Nittoli has opted out once again and will look to find a job that provides a better path to the majors ahead ahead of September 1, after which time newly-signed players are not eligible to participate in the postseason with their new club. As for the Orioles, they still have arms like Yaramil Hiraldo, Josh Walker, and Elvin Rodriguez on the 40-man roster as depth options for their bullpen over the season’s final month.