The Padres have signed Nabil Crismatt, as announced by the right-hander himself on his Instagram page. Crismatt elected to become a free agent after being outrighted off the Cardinals’ 40-man roster following the season.
2020 saw the 25-year-old Crismatt made his MLB debut, as he tossed 8 1/3 innings over six relief appearances for St. Louis and posted a 3.24 ERA and eight strikeouts against just one walk. He has also impressed in recent Dominican Winter League outings, with a 2.00 ERA, 8.50 K/BB rate, and 8.5 K/9 over 18 innings.
Crismatt began his pro career as a Mets international signing out of Colombia back in 2011, and he has a career 3.82 ERA, 3.90 K/BB rate, and 9.5 K/9 over 641 2/3 innings in the minors with the Mets (from 2012-18) and Mariners (in 2019). Crismatt has started 88 of his 167 appearances at the minor league level, with the majority of those starts coming since the start of the 2017 campaign.
While Crismatt’s overall numbers on the farm are pretty solid, he has struggled mightily at Triple-A, with an 8.96 ERA over 85 1/3 innings that seems largely due to an ungainly 2.4 HR/9. Home runs have (to a much lesser extent) been something of an issue throughout his career, and all three of the runs Crismatt surrendered in the majors last season were via the long ball. If the Padres can correct or even lessen Crismatt’s problems at keeping the ball in the park, he could be an interesting depth piece for the bullpen, rotation, or perhaps even both in a swingman capacity.