Dodgers relief pitcher Yency Almonte had a pretty big weekend. On Friday, the 28-year-old righty avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.5 million deal with Los Angeles. But that was just the beginning.
On Saturday, Almonte married his longtime girlfriend, Tori Goodman, in a beautiful ceremony in Arizona.
Almonte earned his big raise with the Dodgers by posting a 1.02 ERA in 35.1 innings in 2022. After revamping his repertoire in L.A., he put up the highest strikeout rate and lowest home run rate of his career along with a very low walk rate. Perhaps more importantly, his average exit velocity and hard-hit percentage were the lowest of his career by a lot.
Add it all up, and Almonte was one of the top relievers in the Los Angeles bullpen when he was healthy, making him more than deserving of the big raise to about double the league minimum.
Almonte and Goodman got engaged a little over a year ago, with her post on Instagram coming on November 7, 2021, coincidentally the exact day he became a free agent after opting not to accept an outright minor-league assignment from the Rockies. Almonte eventually signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers on the recommendation of former teammate Jake McGee. Los Angeles told Almonte they couldn’t guarantee him a role, but they also told him something more important, which was echoed by McGee: “We will make you better.” When he got called up in May, he immediately made an impact, with his overall ERA never getting higher than 1.77 all season.
Almonte was originally drafted by the Angels in 2012, but he was traded to the White Sox in the Gordon Beckham trade in 2015 and then traded to the Rockies for Tommy Kahnle nine months later. He debuted in the big leagues at age 24 and debuted with L.A. just before he turned 28.
Almonte heads into the 2023 season as one of the most important relievers in the Dodger bullpen. And as of Saturday, he heads into the season a married man. Congratulations to Tori and Yency!
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