Matt Gage, who spent all of 2024 at the Triple-A level in the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets organizations, signed a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training, according to a source with knowledge of the agreement. He will earn $800,000 if he makes the majors.
For now, Gage has been assigned to Triple-A Toledo.
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Gage, 31, posted a 4.10 ERA with 22 walks (12.2% walk rate) and 51 strikeouts (28.3% strikeout rate) across 41⅔ innings in 40 relief appearances with Triple-A Oklahoma City (20 games) and Triple-A Syracuse (20 games).
In 2024, Gage threw four pitches: 37.7% cutters, 22.1% four-seam fastballs, 20.3% sinkers and 19.9% sliders. His fastball averaged 93 mph and missed bats, while his cutter generated a 34.3% whiff rate and his slider generated a 37.5% whiff rate.
The slider plays off the cutter.
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Gage made his MLB debut in June 2022 with the Toronto Blue Jays after nine seasons in the minor leagues. He also pitched for the Houston Astros in 2023.
He owns a 1.83 ERA with nine walks and 20 strikeouts in his 16-game MLB career, spanning 19⅔ innings. He had a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings for the Blue Jays in 2022, then a 2.70 ERA in 6⅔ innings for the Astros in 2023.
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The San Francisco Giants selected Gage in the 10th round of the 2014 draft out of Siena College.
The Siena College products will be together in the clubhouse and on the backfield mounds in Lakeland, Florida, when pitchers and catchers report in mid-February to the spring training facility.
Gage has been a part of nine organizations throughout his professional career: the Giants, Mets, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Astros, New York Yankees, Dodgers and Tigers. Back in February 2024, the Dodgers acquired Gage in a trade with the Yankees as one of two players in the return for left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers sign LHP Matt Gage to minor league contract