The Arizona Diamondbacks cut ties with the veteran right-hander following a disastrous midsummer collapse.
Despite having 24 of the Arizona Diamondbacks' 30 saves, the team has simply seen enough of right-handed pitcher Paul Sewald.
As of Monday, Aug. 10, the 36-year-old has officially been designated for assignment, according to Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix's John Gambadoro.
Sewald was removed from his role as the team's closer earlier this year, and if his 8.22 ERA in July wasn't bad enough, he currently has a 33.75 ERA in the month of August.
Granted, he gave up five earned runs in 17 pitches before recording an out on Saturday, Aug. 1, the D-backs still ended up winning that game, 12-8.
Sewald hasn't recorded a decision in his last three outings. That said, he blew a pair of saves in July and picked up a loss as well.
Officially, he's 2-5 on the year with a 6.23 ERA and -1.1 WAR.
Diamondbacks had no choice but to make this move
With a Wild Card berth within reach, the last thing Arizona could afford to do was let a guy like Sewald take that away from them.
It's not like he was intentionally sabotaging the team, far from it, but it's crazy to see just how far he's fallen in these past few weeks.
Remember, this is a guy who reached 10 saves on Sunday, May 10. It didn't take long for him to get that number into double digits, but D-backs fans haven't forgotten about him picking up three losses by Thursday, April 23.
For as much good as Sewald brought to the table, he also struggled far more than he ever has before. Currently sporting a career-low WAR, one will have to wonder which team, if any, decides to take a chance on him here in early August.
A closer look at Sewald's numbers
According to Baseball Savant, Sewald is in the 92nd percentile with his 5.5% walk rate. While that number is incredible, and his 4.99 K/BB ratio is a thing of beauty, not even that could have saved him from being DFA'd.
Sewald has a ground ball percentage of 18.5%, which puts him in the bottom one percentile. If that's not bad enough, he's in the bottom one percentile for his barrel percentage (15.7%) and is in the bottom third percentile for his 91.3 mph average exit velocity.
His xBA remains just .228, which is quite solid, and there's a lot to love about his 27% strikeout percentage, but these numbers simply don't tell the full story of what the D-backs went through with Sewald this season.
