The Guardians have signed reliever Jake Jewell to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. The righty had qualified for minor league free agency after being outrighted off the Giants’ 40-man roster late last season.
Jewell split the 2021 campaign between three organizations, although he only suited up at the big league level with one. The 28-year-old began the year with the Cubs after signing a minors pact the prior offseason. He was selected to the MLB roster right around the trade deadline and went on to make ten appearances with Chicago. He allowed 12 runs, including a staggering five home runs, in just ten innings for the North Siders before they designated him for assignment.
That obviously wasn’t a productive MLB run, but Jewell had pitched to a sterling 2.78 ERA in 32 1/3 innings with Triple-A Iowa to earn the call-up. That minor league showing caught the interest of a pair of NL West rivals, as he landed with the Dodgers and Giants on successive waiver claims. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco stashed him at Triple-A without getting him into a big league game, however, and he cleared waivers once the Giants bumped him from their 40-man in September.
In addition to his time with the Cubs, Jewell pitched in the big leagues with the Angels from 2018-19. He posted a 6.99 ERA in 21 outings with Anaheim, striking out a below-average 19.2% of batters faced. He boasts a fastball that typically sits in the 95-96 MPH range, though, and his career 12.4% swinging strike rate is solid. Cleveland relievers ranked sixth last season in both ERA (3.64) and strikeout/walk rate differential (15.9 percentage points), so Jewell might have a hard time getting a look early in the season. He’ll add a fairly live depth arm to Triple-A Columbus.