"Kent, 28 in February, made his big league debut in Cleveland this past season. He tossed 17 2/3 innings out of the Guards' bullpen and yielded nine earned runs (4.58 ERA) with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. Kent averaged 92.6 mph on his four-seamer and 93.6 mph on a sparsely used sinker. His breaking offerings include a mid-80s slider and a low-80s curveball."
"Though Kent didn't show much in his relatively limited run at the MLB level, he turned in a sharp 2.84 ERA in 38 Triple-A frames last year. Command issues still plagued him, evidenced by 13.2% walk rate, but he also set down more than 31% of his opponents on strikes. He's long been credited as having a pair of plus breaking pitches, but his sub-par fastball velocity and poor command have undercut the quality of both those breaking pitches."
"Kent is out of minor league options, so the Cardinals can't send him to Triple-A Memphis next season without first passing him through waivers. There's no guarantee he makes it to spring training on the 40-man roster, but if he does stick on the roster all winter, Kent should have an opportunity to win a job in what should be a wide-open competition for at least four bullpen spots (five, if the Cardinals trade JoJo Romero, as expected)."
The Cardinals claimed right-hander Zak Kent off waivers from the Guardians and now occupy 39 of 40 40-man roster spots. Kent debuted in Cleveland this past season, tossing 17 2/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA, a 21.1% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate. He averages mid-90s sinker/four-seam velocity and mixes a mid-80s slider with a low-80s curveball. Kent posted a 2.84 ERA in 38 Triple-A innings but struggled with a 13.2% walk rate despite a >31% strikeout rate. Kent is out of minor-league options and will factor into a competitive Cardinals bullpen battle.
Read at MLB Trade Rumors
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]