By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Zack Littell made a good first impression with his new team in the major leagues.
The pitcher from Mebane threw 4 2/3 shutout innings in relief for the Arizona Diamondbacks in their 9-0 home victory against the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
He picked up the pitching victory on the day his signing was announced by the Diamondbacks. He limited the Rockies to two hits and two walks while striking out two batters.
This came less than a week after Littell, 30, was designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals and subsequently released.
Littell, a right-hander, joined the Nationals in March when he signed as a free agent. He left the Nationals with a 7-8 record and 4.97 earned run average. His numbers showed a career-low 14.6-percent strikeout rate.
Now, the Eastern Alamance alum is with a playoff contender in the National League.
With Washington, Littell allowed 25 home runs in 112 1/3 innings. Only four other pitchers had given up more long balls this year at the time of Littell’s release.
Littell signed a one-year, $7 million contract that called for a $3 million salary and $4 million as part of a buyout for a 2027 mutual option with the Nationals. The deal came with incentives for innings pitched, and he reached one of those by eclipsing 100 innings.
Littell’s final outing for the Nationals included 6 2/3 innings while allowing four runs on seven hits to the host Philadelphia Phillies on August 4.
Nationals manager Blake Butera called the decision on Littell “a really difficult day. Zack has meant a ton to us on the field and off the field. I told him we were all very appreciative for what he brought to the clubhouse, the type of leader he is.
“I thought he brought this group together as a whole. Also, I was appreciative for being open-minded to the different roles that we had him go through this year and tried to find ways to help him have success and maybe get rolling a little bit.”
Littell hadn’t posted a victory since June 28 in Baltimore. The Nationals lost the last six games in which he appeared (though he was tagged with the pitching decision in only two of those).
A few days before Littell’s dismissal, the Nationals traded All-Star pitcher Foster Griffin, a former Burlington Royals left-hander, to the Cleveland Guardians at the trade deadline.
