Reliever Michael Feliz has passed through outright waivers unclaimed and elected minor league free agency, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Boston designated him for assignment last weekend.
Feliz is no stranger to the waiver wire, having bounced between four different organizations over the past two seasons. The right-hander had spent the 2018-20 campaigns with the Pirates, racking up high strikeout totals but typically showing erratic control. He shuttled around the league last year, suiting up with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s after being let go by the Bucs in May. Last offseason, Feliz returned to Boston on a minor league pact.
The 29-year-old has spent much of the season with Triple-A Worcester. He worked to a 3.28 ERA across 24 2/3 innings with the WooSox, striking out a solid 27.7% of batters faced while walking a league average 8.9% of opponents. That generally solid work earned Feliz a big league call last week, but his stay on the roster proved brief. He made just one appearance, soaking up 3 1/3 frames of mop-up work in a loss to the Yankees, before being taken off the roster.
Now that he’s back on the open market, the hard-throwing Feliz should be able to find another minor league opportunity elsewhere. He’s appeared in each of the past eight big league seasons, combining for a 5.28 ERA through 250 career innings. Feliz has fanned nearly 30% of opponents at the major league level, and some clubs will surely look into him as a non-roster bullpen option based on that track record of inducing whiffs.