Guardians Invite Three Players to Major League Spring Training

CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Guardians today announced the following transactions:

Signed free agents C ZACK COLLINS, LHP PHILLIP DIEHL and RHP DUSTEN KNIGHT to Minor League contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training™ camp.

Collins, who turned 28 on Monday, was the 10^th overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox out of the University of Miami. He spent his first six seasons in the Sox organization, appearing in 114 games for Chicago from 2019-21. He split last season between the Toronto and Pittsburgh organizations after being acquired by the Blue Jays prior to Opening Day. He split most of the season between the active ML Toronto roster and AAA Buffalo before spending the last month with the Pittsburgh Pirates following a Sept. 7 waiver claim. He has appeared in 150 Major League games since 2019 and owns a career Minor League OPS of .827 in 409 career games.

Diehl, 28, split the 2022 season between the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets organizations, beginning the season in AAA Louisville after attending ML camp with the Reds in Goodyear. The Cincinnati native made his Reds debut on April 27, appearing five games in relief. On July 28^th he was traded to the Mets with OF Tyler Naquin, spending the remainder of the season in Triple-A Norfolk (2022 AAA ERA was 5.90). The Cincinnati Bishop Moeller product pitched collegiately at Evansville and Louisiana Tech and was the 27^th round pick of the Yankees in the 2016 draft. He debuted in 2019 with Colorado following a March 2019 trade to the Rockies and was claimed by the Red last April.

Knight, 32, spent the 2022 season in the Tampa Bay organization, spending four different stints over 6 appearances with the Rays during the campaign. He recorded a 3.42 ERA with 12 saves in 48 appearances at AAA Durham (55.1IP, 40H, 21ER, 66SO, .194 avg) and limited left-handed hitters to a .129 (12-for-93) average against for the year. The Tahlequah, OK native debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021 after nine professional seasons and stops in the Atlantic and Mexican Leagues. He was San Francisco’s’ 28^th round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft after collegiate stops at Connors State and the University of Texas-Pan American.

The Guardians current non-roster player total stands at 18.

C ZACK COLLINS

Season         League     Team         AVG      G           AB         R       H         2B     3B       HR      RBI                BB           SO           SB             OBP      SLG       OPS

2019             MLB         CWS          .186       27          86          10      16        3       1          3          12                14            39             0   .307       .349       .656

2020             MLB         CWS          .063       9            16          1       1          1       0          0          0                2              5              0   .167       .125       .292

2021             MLB         CWS          .210       78          195        25      41        13      0          4          26                34            69             1   .330       .338       .668

2022             MLB         TOR           .194       26          72          7       14        4       0          4          10                6              31             0   .266       .417       .683

2022             MLB         PIT             .040       10          25          2       1          0       0          0          1                3              10             0   .138       .040       .178

2022             MLB         2 Teams     .155       36          97          9       15        4       0          4          11                9              41             0   .231       .320       .551

Career          MLB         3 Teams     .185       150        394        45      73        21      1          11        49                59            154           1   .295       .327       .622

LHP PHILLIP DIEHL /Deal/

Season  League  Team       W    L     ERA      G       GS    CG    SHO  SV     IP          H         R         ER                HR    HB         BB           SO  WHIP            AVG

2019       MLB       COL         0     0     7.36       10      0       0       0       0       7.1         10        6          6                1       1            2              8     1.64 .313

2020       MLB       COL         0     0     10.50      6       0       0       0       0       6.0         7          7          7                2       0            1              4     1.33 .292

2022       MLB       CIN          0     0     11.12      5       0       0       0       0       5.2         8          7          7                3       0            3              3     1.94 .320

Career   MLB      2 Teams   0     0     9.47       21      0       0       0       0       19.0       25        20        20                6       1            6              15   1.63 .309

RHP DUSTEN KNIGHT

Season  League  Team       W    L     ERA      G       GS    CG    SHO  SV     IP          H         R         ER                HR    HB         BB           SO  WHIP            AVG

2021       MLB       BAL          0     0     9.35       7       0       0       0       0       8.2         11        10        9                1       0            5              11   1.85 .289

2022       MLB       TB            0     1     5.73       6       0       0       0       0       11.0       11        8          7                4       0            4              9     1.36 .250

Career   MLB      2 Teams   0     1     7.32       13      0       0       0       0       19.2       22        18        16                5       0            9              20   1.58 .268

Official Cleveland Guardians Press Release