The Seattle Mariners bolstered their relief corps Saturday in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, acquiring right-hander Arquimedes Caminero in exchange for two players to be named later (one conditional), the club announced.
Caminero, 29, is coming off an impressive rookie season in which he struck out 73 batters in 74 2/3 innings while notching 19 games finished across 73 appearances. The hard-throwing reliever has a 3.51 ERA (4.74 FIP) with seven strikeouts per nine innings over 39 games this year.
He's under club control through the 2020 season, and won't be arbitration eligible until 2018.
Signed as an amateur free agent by the Marlins in 2005, the Dominican native owns the hardest pitch (102.2 mph) thrown this season by someone other than Aroldis Chapman and Mauricio Cabrera. According to FanGraphs, Caminero ranks second behind Chapman among MLB relievers with an average fastball velocity of 97.7 mph.
