Welcome to the Blue, Cory Mazzoni!

As a reminder that something is always happening with the Dodgers we learn today that the club has claimed another player off the waiver wire. With Opening Day around the corner the Dodgers have taken recently waived right-handed pitcher Cory Mazzoni from the Chicago Cubs. To make room for Cory the Dodgers DFA's outfielder Trayce Thompson. Also, Mazzoni will report to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Per a Dodgers press release:

Mazzoni, 28, has appeared in 14 career Major League games over two seasons with the San Diego Padres (2015, ’17). In 116 career minor league games (53 starts), Mazzoni has gone 27-15 with seven saves and has posted a 3.79 ERA with the Mets (2011-14) and Padres (2015-17) organizations. He has struck out 365 batters against 94 walks in 366.0 minor league innings, while holding hitters to a .260 average.

Mazzoni, who was claimed by the Cubs off of waivers on November 6, 2017, appeared in six games with the Padres last year, striking out four in 8.0 innings. He spent majority of the 2017 season with San Diego’s Triple-A El Paso, going 1-0 with one save and posting a 0.89 ERA (2 ER/20.1 IP) in 14 relief appearances. He also appeared in a combined nine games with Rookie-level AZL Padres, going 1-0 and not allowing a run in 10.0 innings with 17 strikeouts. The Evans City, Pennsylvania native was originally selected by the New York Mets in the second round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft from North Carolina State University.

According to Brooks Baseball Mazzoni relies on a mid-90's fourseam fastball, a mid-80's slider and a change:

His fourseam fastball is a real worm killer that generates an extreme number of groundballs compared to other pitchers' fourseamers, has some natural sinking action and has essentially average velo. His slider is an extreme flyball pitch compared to other pitchers' sliders and has some two-plane movement. His change (take this with a grain of salt because he's only thrown 13 of them in 2017) generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers' changeups, has surprising cut action and results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers' changeups. 

In celebration of Cory's new home with the Dodgers I made the above two fantasy Baseball cards of him.

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