The Mariners announced Thursday that he is a lefty Austin Kitchenwho had appointed him to give him a job to open up a spot on the list of new signings Donovan Solanowas not claimed off waivers and assigned directly to Triple-A Tacoma.
Kitchen, 27, was a September waiver claim from the Marlins organization. He did not play in a major league game with the Mariners following that claim but pitched his first seven frames in MLB with Miami last year. That brief cameo didn’t go well, as Kitchen was tagged in 11 earned runs in that span.
Kitchen posted an encouraging 3.78 earned run average in 52 1/3 frames of Triple-A work between three organizations (Rockies, Marlins, Mariners). The southpaw averages just 90.7 mph on his fastball and doesn’t miss many bats, but he posted a low 55.1% strikeout rate in the minors last year and has a long history of keeping the ball down in extra numbers. He also displayed good command, walking only 6.5% of his opponents in four minor league seasons.
Now that Kitchen has cleared waivers, he will remain in the organization as minor league depth. He still has a minor league option for the remaining years, so if the Mariners choose to bring him back up to the big league roster, he can be freely optioned without needing to go back on waivers. Seattle has three left tackle options on the 40-man roster: Tyler Saucedo, Gabe Speier and the later claim of abandonment Tyler Jay.
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