Overview
2025 stats: 8 G, 34 IP, 3.71 ERA, 4.84 FIP, 0.2 bWAR
Date of birth: December 25, 1994 (age 30 season)
2025 earnings: Major-league minimum
2025 review
I really wished he had scored a few more points, so I could have posted this review next Thursday. I’d then have been able really to load up on “Crismatt Day” puns. I mean, it’s also his birthday, and it hardly gets more fitting than that. Instead, I just had to settle for adding a light sprinkling of snow to his picture. But if you had told me at the start of the year, that Crismatt would end up starting more games for the D-backs than everyone but six other pitchers… Well, it truly was a Festivus Miracle for Nabil Antonio Crismatt Abuchaibe, especially considering how brief his previous work was for the Diamondbacks.
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You may well have forgotten his presence on the 2023 roster. Indeed, in that season’s end of year Sporcle. 82% of you had wiped Nabil from your memories. Which is understandable, considering it covered just one game and two scoreless innings. He spent time in 2024 with the Dodgers (including allowing Christian Walker’s first career walk-off homer), Rangers and Padres, before signing a minor league contract with the Phillies last December. He started for their Triple-A affiliate this year, the wonderfully named Lehigh Valley IronPigs, triggered an opt-out clause in early July, but rejoined them a few days later. He was released entirely by the Phillies on August 4.
Though he spent only five days unemployed, signing with Arizona on the 9th, and it wasn’t long before Crismatt was needed in the majors. In a mirror image of 2023, he made only one appearance for the Reno Aces, pitching two scoreless innings, before being called up to the big leagues. That came on August 17, replacing Casey Kelly – another cup of coffee pitcher for the D-backs, as the roster churn for fresh and healthy arms continued. Crismatt was tagged to replace Anthony DeSclafani in the rotation, for only his second major-league start: his first had come in April 2022 against the D-backs for the Padres. Oh, yeah. This time, it would be in Coors Field. Welcome back to the show, Mr. Crismatt.
However, he did every bit of what was expected, and more. Sure, the Rockies weren’t great this year. But Coors gonna Coors. And allowing one run over five innings there is always laudable. He held Colorado to three singles and a walk, leaving in line for the W with a 4-1 lead – inevitably, the bullpen coughed it up. But he did pick up the victory in each of his next two outings. Firstly, with four shutout innings in relief of opener Jalen Beeks against the Reds, and then in a start of his own, by holding the Brewers to two earned runs over 5.2 innings in Milwaukee. Add a quality start against Texas, and he had thrown 21 innings at a 2.14 ERA. This was dumpster diving at its finest.
Eventually, baseball did catch up to him. In his final appearance, another post-Beeks outing, Crismatt was left out to dry in Dodger Stadium, allowing seven earned runs in three innings, including home-runs to Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani. With no minor-league options and having thrown 72 pitches, Nabil was designated for assignment the next day, being replaced by Bryce Jarvis – recently himself DFA’d to make room for Michael Soroka. With just three games left on the schedule, it basically allowed him to get an early jump into free agency. He elected free agency on October 6, and in a sharply improved Sporcle performance, 63% remembered him this time, up from 18% two years previously.
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2026 outlook
Crismatt might see some high-profile action before the year begins. He was a member of the Colombia team in the last World Baseball Classic, and was part of the roster when the country won their qualifying pool in Tucson this March. Their pool will be played in Puerto Rico next spring, Colombia going up against Panama, Puerto Rico and Canada, as well as the host country, to decide who moves on to the knockout stages. If Nabil hasn’t been signed to a team by then, it should offer a nice showcase for his abilities.
He will turn 31 years old on Crismatt sorry, Christmas Day, and across 122 major-league games, has a 3.71 career ERA which is exactly in line with the figure posted for the Diamondbacks this year. Admittedly, his FIP this year was more than a run higher, because Nabil didn’t miss a lot of bats. His strikeout rate of 6.6 per nine innings, is well below MLB average of 8.5. Across a larger sample-size of 102.1 innings in Triple-A this year, his K-rate was even lower, at 6.2. While his walk-rate of 2.4/9 IP was also below average, it feels like the best he can hope for is a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. He’ll likely end up in Triple-A until injury gives him an opportunity.