Arizona Diamondbacks select contract of former Toronto Blue Jays right-handed pitcher

Richards is now with his third organization of the season, having also spent time with the Royals and Cubs.

He tossed three big league innings with Kansas City but was tagged for four runs in that small sample. That's his only big league time this year.

He's spent the rest of the season between the Triple-A affiliates for those three clubs, pitching to a collective 5.12 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.

The 32-year-old Richards has pitched in each of the past eight major league seasons, though he hasn't had much success since 2021.

He sports a 5.05 ERA in 205 innings dating back to Opening Day 2022. He's set down 28.2% of his opponents on strikes in that time but has also issued walks to 12% of the hitters he's faced and surrendered an average of 1.27 homers per nine innings pitched.

Richards doesn't have a strong recent track record, but he's bee a serviceable middle reliever at various points in his career and at the very least can miss bats at a solid clip.

His above-average changeup makes him a quality option against lefties - more so than versus righties, which probably holds extra appeal to the D-backs with both Puk and Beeks out of action.

Andrew Saalfrank and 27-year-old rookie Kyle Backhus are the only lefties in manager Torey Lovullo's bullpen and the only healthy left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster at the moment, so adding a righty who has a nice track record against southpaws makes some sense.