The Guardians have released right-hander Adam Oller, per an announcement from their official player development account on X. The righty will head to free agency and look for his next opportunity.
Oller, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the offseason. He’s been working in a swing role in Triple-A this year, with six starts and six relief appearances. Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there for him this year, as he’s allowed 7.48 earned runs per nine innings. His 26.4% strikeout rate has been strong but he walked 14.4% of batters faced and allowed six home runs, a rate of 22.2% per fly ball.
The Guardians have had needs in the rotation this year, with Shane Bieber requiring Tommy John surgery and Gavin Williams spending the first half of the season on the injured list. On top of that, Triston McKenzie, Carlos Carrasco and Logan Allen have struggled to put up good numbers. But Oller never got the call, presumably because of his own struggles. Williams was recently reinstated from the IL with McKenzie getting optioned to Triple-A, which could have indirectly led to Oller getting nudged off the Columbus roster.
Oller posted good results in the Mets’ system in 2021. He logged 120 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.45 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. The A’s acquired him and J.T. Ginn prior to 2022, sending Chris Bassitt to the Mets. That led to a big league audition over the past two years but Oller couldn’t land the gig, posting an ERA of 7.09 over 94 innings in 2022 and 2023. He was put on waivers and claimed by the Mariners in July of last year, but was outrighted off the roster at season’s end, which led to his deal with the Guards.
Though the results haven’t been good over the past couple of years, Oller was a notable prospect not too long ago. His numbers have been poor overall this year but he’s still been getting strikeouts, which is something that teams obviously covet. If he lands another minor league deal and eventually gets back onto a 40-man roster, he still has one option season and less than a year of service time.