Astros Sign Brandon Walter To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed left-hander  to a minor league deal, according to his at MLB.com. The lefty was released by the Red Sox earlier this month, freeing him up to sign Malik Sealy Jersey  this deal.  Walter, 27, was a 26th-round selection of the Sox in the 2019 draft. He made a brief profe sional debut at the Rookie ball level that year, but the minor leagues were then canceled in 2020 by the pandemic. In the years after that, he elevated his prospect stock with some encouraging results.  In 2021, he to sed 89 1/3 innings acro s the Single-A and High-A levels, allowing 2.92 earned runs per nine. He struck out 36.3% of batters faced while only giving out walks at a 5.5% clip and also got grounders on more than half of the balls in play he allowed. ranked him #11 in Bostons system going into 2022, noting that he spent the pandemic shutdown year overhauling his arsenal.  In 2022, he was bumped up to Double-A and made nine starts there before getting moved to Triple-A. A bulging cervical disk ended his season in June, after just two starts at the top minor league level. Nonethele s, he finished the year with a solid 3.59 ERA in 57 2/3 innings in his 11 starts over those two levels. He struck out 32.2% of batters faced, gave out walks just 3% of the time and continued to get lots of grounders.  In November of 2022, the Sox added him to their roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, then his results werent quite as impre sive in 2023. He to sed 23 major league innings with a 6.26 ERA in that small sample, as well as a 15.1% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate. He also added another 94 Triple-A frames with a 4.60 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate and 49.5% ground ball rate.  Here in 2024, he hasnt yet pitched in an official game. He landed on the minor league injured list to start the year with a strained left rotator cuff, per Chris Cotillo of Ma sLive . The Sox needed a 40-man roster spot when acquiring righty  at the deadline and designated Walter for a signment. Injured players cant be placed on outright waivers, so the Sox e sentially had no choice but to release him.  At this point, its not publicly known what Walters health status is. Even if his shoulder has healed and hes ready to take the mound again shortly, hell presumably need some ramp-up time in order to get back into game shape. That might make him more of a long-term play for Houston as opposed to immediate non-roster depth. But Walter has posted some intriguing numbers in recent years when healthy, so its understandable why they would be interested in bringing him aboard.  If he eventually gets his roster spot back, he will still have one option year remaining after this one, and there would be an easy case for a fourth option to be granted on account of him mi sing most or maybe all of 2024. He also has le s than a year of service time, meaning he can be controlled for many years into the future.  Jake Layman Jersey