Dodgers sign pitcher Daniel Zamora to minor league contract

There wasn’t a free agent frenzy once the MLB lockout was lifted on Friday afternoon, and there wasn’t even a trickle. No major league free agents signed on the first day back, but the Dodgers did add Daniel Zamora, the pitcher announced on Friday.

“Time to get to work! Excited for this new opportunity with the @dodgers organization,” Zamora wrote on both Twitter and Instagram.

Zamora’s deal with the Dodgers is a minor league contract, per Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic.

Zamora has pitched parts of three seasons in the majors — 2018-19 with the Mets and 2021 with the Mariners, posting a 4.50 ERA in 22 innings, with 27 strikeouts and nine walks. Last year with Seattle, the left-hander pitched in four games, allowing four runs in 4⅓ innings, posting a 6.23 ERA and 3.98 xERA.

With Triple-A Syracuse (Mets) and Tacoma (Mariners) in 2021, Zamora had a 6.60 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 26 walks in 43⅔ innings. The left-hander has thrown sliders in 74 percent of his pitches in three years in the majors.

Zamora was drafted by the Pirates in 2015 out of Stony Brook in the 40th round, a round that no longer exists. The new collective bargaining agreement calls for 20 rounds each year in the MLB Draft through 2026. Zamora played high school baseball at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, roughly 20 miles from Dodger Stadium.

In two career games at Dodger Stadium — both relief appearances, in 2018 and 2019 — Zamora recorded two outs and allowed three runs, including a home run by Enrique Hernández.

It’s unclear whether Zamora has a non-roster invitation to major league camp, mostly because there wasn’t yet a major league spring training until this weekend, now that the lockout’s over.