Diamondbacks pitcher gets DFA’d day after game-losing gaffe

Nabil Crismatt barely even got to shower after Saturday’s game before finding himself off the 40-man roster.

The Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Crismatt committed a brutal mistake in extra innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. With the game tied 7-7 in the 11th inning and a Cincinnati “ghost runner” on third base, Crismatt was called for a balk during a TJ Hopkins at-bat. The balk allowed the go-ahead run to score from third, and Arizona would go on to lose 8-7.

Here is the video (where you can see a clear start-and-stop of Crismatt’s pitching motion with his right hand).

Crismatt was actually making his Arizona debut on Saturday after signing a minor-league deal with the organization in late June and spending a month-and-a-half with the Triple-A Reno Aces. He was in his second inning of work and eventually got Hopkins to strike out in the at-bat. That makes Crismatt’s gaffe even more brutal as he was very sharp besides the balk (which brought in an unearned run).

On Sunday, the Diamondbacks announced Crismatt had been designated for assignment. It was not to activate an injured player but rather to select a different pitcher, righty Ryan Thompson, from Triple-A Reno instead.

Crismatt, 28, had been with the San Diego Padres for the most of the last three seasons. But things went south for Crismatt in 2023 as he posted a repugnant 9.82 ERA in seven appearances for San Diego before getting DFA’d by them in June.

It isn’t all bad for Crismatt though as he will most likely just be headed back to Reno to fine-tune his stuff. He is better off than this fellow MLBer who got DFA’d at an even worse time.