The Marlins announced that they have claimed left-hander Austin Kitchen off waivers from the Rockies. Right-hander Sixto Sánchez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com relayed the Kitchen claim on X prior to the official announcement, adding that the lefty will report to Triple-A Jacksonville.
Kitchen, 27, was just added to Colorado’s roster over the weekend as that club wanted a fresh arm. However, he was designated for assignment the very next day without getting into a game. Though he’s still looking to make his major league debut, the Marlins are intrigued enough to give him a roster spot.
The lefty hasn’t racked up a ton of strikeouts in his minor league career but has been able to keep the ball on the ground. He has a 3.95 earned run average in 225 2/3 innings on the farm overall, with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. But he has kept at least 50% of balls in play on the ground at each stop along the minor league ladder.
Sánchez was placed on the 15-day injured list at the start of this month due to right shoulder inflammation. There haven’t been many updates since then, but that’s an ominous diagnosis since he has had multiple surgeries on that shoulder, which limited him to just one minor league inning pitched over the 2021 to 2023 period. Now that he’s been transferred to the 60-day IL, it seems the Marlins aren’t expecting him back by the end of July.
With that situation, the Fish essentially had a roster spot to burn and have used it to grab Kitchen. He’ll report to their Triple-A club and give them a bit of optionable bullpen depth. He has a full slate of options and essentially no service time, so he could stay on the 40-man roster for a long time if his performance justifies him hanging onto a spot.
Marlins cookin’
Smells like fish!
Throwing everything and the kitchen sink.
If you can’t take the heat, go out and claim Kitchen.
A+
Maybe the Miami pitching lab can turn him into an ace.
or they could pitch him until his arm falls off like their other pitchers. wow, talk about going from surplus to deficit.
Absolutely dumb move by the Rockies. I am usually the first to try and justify most of their moves, but this one is completely stupid. They had one free 40 man spot on Saturday and Kyle Freeland was coming off the 60 day IL to start on Sunday. So instead of just calling up a reliever that was already on the 40 man roster like Evan Justice or Riley Pint, they bring up Kitchen who took up the final 40 man spot. Then they had to risk losing him the next day, which happened. There was literally zero risk in calling up someone else as a “just in case” guy for Saturday’s game.
I understand that Kitchen is not exactly a top prospect or anything, but to just give away a possibly decent bullpen arm for nothing just because you might have needed him in a blowout for one day is something the Rockies just cannot afford to do.
Riley Pint would probably be better than Tyler Kinney (8.40) ERA. I don’t understand how Tyler Kinney still has a job with the Rockies.
Kinley had a rough start to the year. His ERA will never recover this year. He has not pitched as bad as an 8.40 ERA looks overall, but he has not been great either. The reason he still has a job is because he has a good track record and more importantly, the Rockies don’t have anyone better to choose from. No one in the bullpen is stepping up to take Kinley’s spot. I honestly would like to see the entire pen replaced at this point, but what is out there to replace it with? It’s basically a problem that won’t be fixed until the offseason now.
Riley Pint could replace Kinley.
Honestly, just about anyone could replace just about anyone in the Rox pen. They built their entire bullpen using low round draft picks and waiver wire pickups, so you could probably replace them with any good AAA pen and not really tell much of a difference.
They had space for him then. They don’t have space for him now. It happens.
To idiots it happens. Other people can actually plan more than 24 hours ahead in their jobs.
@hiflew Sometimes teams need roster spots. Like when they DFA a guy in the same offseason they Rule 5 protected him. Or call up a pitching prospect who isn’t going to be Rule 5 eligible for one inning at the end of the season even if it means exposing other pitching prospects who are not as highly ranked but are eligible to the Rule 5 draft. They needed a roster spot for Freeland so Kitchen had to be sacrificed. I can assure you these guys know more about baseball than you and evidently they don’t think Austin Kitchen will move the needle.
true headscratcher. why keep everyone who has gotten you to the second-worst record in the league, and cut the new blood? any kind of switch-up might have helped the rox, but theyll take their chances with their current roster which is without a doubt a mistake
Marlins to offer improved clubhouse food due to new KITCHEN !!
Team has to accept that Sanchez will be a chronic member to the IL until he resolves his SIXTO condition !!
I always root for former Washington Wild Things alumni. Happy to see him in the Show,