The Diamondbacks and right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. The Ballengee Group client will be in big league camp with the Snakes in spring training.
Loáisiga, 31, has shown big potential in his career but has often struggled to stay healthy. His best season was in 2021, when he gave the Yankees 70 2/3 innings with a 2.17 earned run average. He averaged around 98 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a cutter, curveball, slider and changeup. He struck out 24.4% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5.7% clip and induced grounders on 60.9% of balls in play. He racked up five saves and ten holds for the Yanks that year.
The following season, he missed about six weeks due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He finished the year with a 4.13 ERA in 48 innings. His ground ball rate held fairly steady but he only punched out 18.2% of opponents and his walked rate climbed to 9.4%. Various elbow issues limited him to just 17 2/3 innings in 2023. He eventually underwent surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in April of 2024. He began 2025 on the injured list while still recovering from that surgery but was activated in the middle of May.
He tossed 29 2/3 innings last year with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. His average fastball velo was down below 97 mph. He hit the IL in August due to back tightness. He was rehabbing from that minor issue when he suffered a lat strain, preventing him from returning late in the year. The Yanks turned down a $5MM club option on Loaisiga’s services for 2026.
Both the Diamondbacks and Loáisiga will be hoping for better health and a bounceback in 2026. Arizona definitely needs bullpen help. Their 2025 relief corps was supposed to be headlined by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both of those two required UCL surgeries in the first half. The Snakes finished the year with a collective bullpen ERA of 4.82, better than just three other big league teams.
Upgrading for 2026 is going to be a challenge as the club is likely going to be operating with a lower payroll, especially when adding to the rotation and outfield could still be priorities for the remainder of the offseason. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports reports that the club will likely be making more bullpen additions in the coming days. For now, Loáisiga adds a bit of upside without taking up a roster spot. If he does get added to the roster later, it’s unclear what his salary will be but it’s presumably not too onerous.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images