The Atlanta Braves sign reliever Michael Tonkin to minor league deal, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. The 32-year-old returns to affiliated ball after splitting the 2021 campaign between the independent ball and the Mexican League with Tijuana Bulls.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Tonkin has 141 major league appearances to his credit. He appeared in the Majors with the Minnesota Twins each season between 2013 and 2017, posting a personal high of 71 2/3 relief sets in 2016:
The Californian Tonkin pitched with a 5.02 ERA that season and owns a 4.43 overall mark, with some home run issues. (1.54 HR/9) offsetting decent strikeout and walk rates (23.1% and 8.4%, respectively).
After the 2017 campaign, Minnesota released Tonkin to pitch for Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The California native posted a 3.71 ERA in 51 innings with the Nippon-Ham Fighters the following season -2018-.
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He then returned to North America in successive minor league deals with the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona D-Backs. Tonkin didn’t have much success at Triple-A in 2019, and Arizona let him go during the 2020 pandemic freeze.
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MLB: Braves sign veteran reliever who hasn’t pitched in GL since 2017