Former Dodger Reliever Shultz Signs with Tampa Bay Rays
Jaime Schultz spent a year in the Dodgers system in 2019, throwing five innings in the big leagues and 47.2 innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles released him after that season, and he spent the 2021 season in the Mariners organization.
Schultz was out of professional baseball in 2022 with an oblique injury, but now he's heading back to the organization LA got him from in the first place.
Schultz has had an outstanding strikeout rate in his eight years in the minors, striking out 11.7 batters per nine innings. Unfortunately, he's also walked 5.3 batters per nine in the minors, leading to a 3.94 ERA. Things only got worse in the big leagues, as the K rate went down, the walk rate didn't, and the ERA ballooned to 5.86.
Schultz will be 32 in June, so his chances at the big leagues are probably running low. The Rays originally drafted Schultz out of High Point University in North Carolina in 2013. He's one of just two players out of High Point to make the big leagues, along with former Cleveland pitcher Cody Allen and Andre Scrubb of the Astros (who was originally drafted by the Dodgers). Tampa Bay drafted Schultz immediately before the Orioles drafted Mike Yastrzemski and two picks after the Tigers drafted Justin Verlander's brother.
It's been a rough few years for Schultz between the pandemic and the injury, so hopefully he can make good on one last chance to make it with the Rays in 2023.
