Diamondbacks 2023 Player Review: Peter Solomon

Given an opportunity as a long man in the bullpen, it didn't go well

This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a historic year for the franchise, winning 84 games to make the postseason and then advancing all the way to game five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.

Peter Solomon: -0.36 aWAR

Peter Solomon 2023 Stats / Jack Sommers

Peter Solomon is a 6'4" right-hander who was born in Washington D.C., and attended High School in Baltimore Maryland. Drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2014, he opted to attend Notre Dame University instead, pitching three seasons for the Fighting Irish before being selected by the Houston Astros in the 4th round of the 2017 draft. 

He made his major league debut with the Astros on April 18th, 2021, and got into a couple of games before being sent back out. Recalled twice during the year he pitched 14 innings in total, giving up just two runs and posting a 1.29 ERA. Solomon spent all of 2022 in AAA, and was not having a good season (5.20 ERA in 97 IP) when placed on waivers in early September.  Picked up by the Pirates, he threw four games for their Triple-A affiliate, giving up 13 runs, failing to earn a promotion with his new organization.  Left unprotected he was selected by the Diamondbacks in the minor league portion of the 2022 Rule 5 Draft on December 7th. 

Solomon impressed the Diamondbacks in spring training with his 93 MPH four seam fastball and repertoire consisting of a slider, cutter, curveball, and change up. When Drey Jameson was moved to the rotation to replace an injured Zach Davies, the team needed a long man in the bullpen, and Solomon was given his shot.  At the time Michael McDermott wrote:

"the team added right-hander Peter Solomon to the bullpen to assume the long man role. Lovullo said that Solomon showed "versatility, command the baseball, good strike-to-ball breaking ball" this spring. He was a guy who pitching coach Brent Strom was familiar with in his time with the Houston Astros, leading to the D-backs taking him in the second round of the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft last December."

Solomon came into his first game for the D-backs on April 9th with an 11-3 lead over the Dodgers. He pitched the final two innings, giving up three runs.

His second outing came on April 14th in relief of Madison Bumgarner who had allowed  five runs in five innings against the Marlins.  Solomon threw three scoreless innings, giving his team a chance to come back in the game, but they never did, ultimately losing 5-1.

That outing turned out to be his season highlight. On April 19th he once again came on in relief of Bumgarner, who had allowed seven runs against the Cardinals in three innings. Trailing 7-4, Solomon pitched a scoreless fourth, but gave up seven runs of his own over the 5th and 6th innings, turning the game into a laugher.  In his next outing he  gave up two runs in 3.2 innings to the Padres. His final outing was another blow up,  allowing  six earned runs in 2.1 innings in Colorado against the Rockies. 

After 13.1 disastrous innings in which he posted a 12.15 ERA on 17 hits, 11 walks, and only six strikeouts, he was optioned back to Triple-A Reno on May 3rd. Solomon was ultimately DFA'd on May 29th. He cleared waivers and remained in the organization, bouncing back and forth between Reno and Double-A Amarillo, posting a 7.64 ERA in 91 innings. 

On October 3rd Solomon elected free agency, and is no longer a part of the Diamondbacks organization. His future in professional baseball is likely in doubt as he has not been able to prevent runs at any level over the last couple of years. 

Key 2023-2024 Offseason Dates for Major League Baseball