In 2022, James Karinchak was one of the better relievers in baseball. Despite having nearly half the innings of other relievers, his 1.0 fWAR out of the bullpen for the Guardians was 55th in baseball.
However, since 2023, Karinchak has fallen off the map and has not thrown a single inning in the big leagues since then. This didn't stop the Atlanta Braves from taking a flyer on the 30-year-old, however, signing him to a minor league deal. As the Braves try to build out their bullpen, Karinchak could be a dark horse to make the team on a club that could desperately use high-leverage arms.
Free-agent RHP James Karinchak to the Braves on a minor-league deal, source tells @TheAthletic. Karinchak, 30, last pitched in the majors in 2023. He missed most of ‘24 with shoulder issues and was at Triple A with the White Sox in ‘25 before getting released in June.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 9, 2025
Braves add James Karinchak to minor league deal as a lottery ticket for their bullpen
Karinchak's career has always been a bit of a rollercoaster. The righty debuted in 2019, and stayed in the bigs throughout the 2020 season. In his first season, he was dominant, striking outa whopping 48.6% of batters he faced.
His success continued into the 2021 season, but struggled once MLB instituted their crackdown on foreign substances. Karinchak's spin rate nosedived, and Cleveland even demoted him in late August 2021. In 2022, he seemed to make adjustments, and while his strikeout rate never returned to the near-50% rate, he still managed a 38.8% punchout-rate and had a 2.29 ERA for the season.
Karinchak's 2023 was a mixed bag, as he had a 3.23 ERA, but also saw a big dip in strikeout-rate and an increase in walk-rate. In 2024, he missed the entire MLB season with a shoulder injury, only pitching a handful of rehab games in September.
Karinchak pitched for the White Sox organization in 2025, and his performance was similar to his 2023 with Cleveland, as his low 2.45 ERA had bigger warning flags with a high walk-rate and declining strikeout-rate. Chicago released him in June and he failed to catch on with another organization.
For the Braves, Karinchak is a low-risk, high-reward reliever if he does manage to return to the excellence he showed in 2020 and 2022. However, considering how the past few seasons have gone for the righty, that might seem farfetched.