Joel Payamps is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Payamps signed with the Colorado Rockies as a global free specialist on May 1, 2011.
He enjoyed his initial two seasons with the DSL Rockies, going 1-3 with a 3.29 ERA in 38 innings in 2011 and going 1-2 with a 3.02 ERA in 59.2 innings in 2012.
He burned through 2013 with the Grand Junction Rockies, going 4-7 with a 6.06 ERA in 68 innings. He played for the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2014, going 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in 20.2 innings.
In 2015, Payamps was released by the Rockies on May 6 and showed up in no expert games during the season.
Joel Payamps Scouting Report
Physical Description: Medium-to-large frame. The filled-out upper half has some projection left in the lower half.
Mechanics: Arduous, effortful low 3/4 delivery. Overuses upper body, could stand to get more torque from his legs. Falls to the first base side. Mediocre control.
Fastball: 93-95 mph four-seamer, uses the pitch about 50% of the time. Not much movement on the pitch. Also throws a 92-94 mph sinker which induces a lot of swings and misses.
Slider: 80-83 mph. Sweeping 10-to-4 movement.
Changeup: 82-86 mph. Firm pitch with arm side run and some sink.
Career Notes: High profile July 2 signing for Colorado in 2011. Released in May 2015 and signed by Arizona in November 2015. Got cups of coffee with Arizona in 2019 and 2020. Missed part of 2019 with a fractured bone in his foot. Claimed off waivers by Boston in November 2020, and then again in February 2022.
Summation: Emergency up-and-down reliever.
