Isaac Stevens | @RoxMiLBReport | June 26, 2024

*Austin Kitchen Timeline: Jun 22, Called Up. June 23, DFA’d. June 25, Claimed off waivers by Miami Marlins.

• The article was written before Austin Kitchen was claimed by the Marlins.

When the Rockies called up LHP Austin Kitchen on June 22, 2024, it left many people questioning who he was. A 27-year-old who went undrafted, and his career Minor League ERA is almost 4.00, not to mention that he only throws low 90’s. So what makes Austin Kitchen a Major Leaguer? Who is he?

Who is Austin Kitchen?

Austin Kitchen attended Mt. Lebanon High School (Cubs Outfielder Ian Happ also an alumni), and after High School he played collegiate baseball for Coastal Carolina University. However, after ending his college career with a 4.96 ERA it left Austin Kitchen undrafted. He then signed with the Indy Ball team, the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies, and impressed; putting up a 1.50 ERA in 12.0 innings. With that success it led the Rockies to sign Kitchen to a Minor League Deal in April, 2021. 

After being signed, Austin Kitchen was assigned to the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies, where he was both used as a starter and reliever. He struggled at one of the lowest levels of Minor League baseball, and put up a non-hopeful 4.97 ERA. However since then, Austin Kitchen has flown through the Minor Leagues dominating competition. Just two years after he made it to Triple-AAA for the first time, and  the year later he was called up to the Rockies. So far in 2024, Austin Kitchen has put up a 3.65 ERA for the Albuquerque Isotopes. While having the 14th lowest GB% (54.4%) in the entire Pacific Coast League, and the lowest ERA (3.65) with the Isotopes (both min. 20 IP), showing how reliable Kitchen is.

2016-2019: NCAA – Coastal Carolina – 4.96 ERA

2020: Indy – Steel City – 1.50 ERA

2021: MiLB – A – 4.97

2022: MiLB – A+/AA – 3.32 ERA

2023: MiLB – AA/AAA – 4.45 ERA

2024: MiLB – AA/AAA – 3.00 ERA

What does he throw?

Understanding a pitcher’s repertoire is vital to projecting success. And for a reliever who has had minimal recognition this can be your jumpstart on knowing about Austin Kitchen.

• Sinker (thrown 50.8% of the time):

• 90.9 average MPH
• 1840 average RPM
• -6 average LA

• Pros: His sinker induces a lot of ground balls when it’s at the bottom of the zone and jammed in against lefties. His RPM on his sinker is low enough (1840) to where there should be constant movement home or away.
• Cons: Kitchen doesn’t have the best feel for it. When he gets behind in counts he fails to make it a competitive pitch; it is either way out of the zone, or down the middle. MLB players are good enough hitters where if they see a 90 MPH sinker down the middle it’ll be hit hard majority of the time. So if he attacks low in the zone with the sinker, he should see successful at bats.

• Slider (thrown 18.7% of the time)

• 78.1 average MPH
• 2239 average RPM
• 25 average LA

• Pros: The downward movement with gravity (inches) is 47.2 (the MLB average is around 35 inches). Which puts him in elite company (that’d put Austin Kitchen in the top 5 in the entire MLB). That means it’s one of the best vertical moving sliders in baseball (contributed by low velocity). Vertical sliders always work well in Coors as well, so that’s another plus.
• Cons: I think Kitchen’s slider is his best pitch, and overall an above average MLB pitch. When his sliders have been hit this year, they’ve almost all been linedrives. Against MLB competition that tendency will only increase.

• Changeup (thrown 17.6% of the time)

• 82.4 average MPH
• 1626 average RPM
• 13 average LA

• Pros: The red area of the bottom right shows that the majority of Kitchen’s changeups will be in that area. Which is down and in against left handed hitters (induces ground balls), but also low and away against right handed hitters (induces ground balls). Kitchen’s changeup drops hard compared to many other changeups, and for a ground ball pitcher that’s great. 
• Cons: It’s harder to fool MLB hitters than AAA hitters, and with how consistently Kitchen throws it in one spot MLB hitters make take advantage of that. I am not concerned, because Kitchen has thrown a changeup in each count this year, and it works in any count as well.

• Curveball (thrown 13.0% of the time)

• 73.0 average MPH
• 2303 average RPM
• 25 average LA

• Pros: Austin Kitchen attacks early with his curveball, 20% of the time he throws a curveball it’s in a 0-0 count. Since it’s his slowest pitch, it is used mostly to try and mess up the batter’s timing. 
• Cons: Kitchen doesn’t really have a feel for control with his curveball. He’s all around the zone, and can’t consistently keep it on the edges/outside (typically what you’d want from a curveball). Because of his lack of command, guys don’t swing and miss against Kitchen’s curveball (again, that’s what you want from a curveball. On top of all that, there’s a 55.6 hard hit percentage against the curveball (league average is 35.3%). Putting that all together, players at the Triple-A level are slugging .636 off of his curveball, which means they’re more likely to get an extra base hit when they see Kitchen’s curveball. Even with all of those concerns, Coors field makes every players’ curveball worse. If used properly I don’t think it will be bad, but it HAS to be executed to see results. High risk low reward pitch as of right now.

What does this mean / Pitch Summary:

The Rockies have far and away the lowest Bullpen ERA in the entire MLB in 2024 (5.78 Bullpen ERA). The lack of success can be derived from low strikeout results, the lack of minimizing walks, and a universal lack of preventing extra base hits. For Austin Kitchen, he won’t help the strikeout numbers. Kitchen will keep walks low, but his specialty is ground balls. The Rockies bullpen ground ball percentage is 44.0 GB%, while Kitchen’s in Triple-A has been 54.4% (55% is considered elite). 

It’s established that Austin Kitchen is a ground ball pitcher, but to what extent? Well, his Sinker, Changeup, and Slider all have great downward movement. And he can consistently keep those three pitches low in the zone. That process, and the fact that more ground balls are hit against pitches low in the zone, equates to inevitable ground ball numbers. Which is so needed. Kitchen will be that guy for the Rockies to pitch one or two innings a game, and have the quickest innings we’ll see all year. Austin Kitchen has been that guy, and he will continue to be that guy in the MLB for years to come. 

Austin Kitchen could really benefit from a better whiff pitch. Right now, his slider is his only pitch that gets consistent swings outside the zone. However, it’s not overpowering enough nor it doesn’t have enough deception to trick batters into swinging. For as much as he pounds the zone and hits corners that shouldn’t be an issue in 2024, but when batters start to see Kitchen over a longer time period they’ll start to know what’s coming. However, with the help from MLB veterans that are Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings behind the plate they will find something that can/will work.

Final Thoughts: 

When I think of a pitcher that depicts projectable Coors Field success, Austin Kitchen has always come to mind. He was an unnoticed player that the Rockies saw as just a “what if” for his skill sets. However, after a quick development and fine-tuned pitch execution, the Rockies finally found their guy. Austin Kitchen will likely be a mop-up guy for the Rockies in 2024, but his pitch-to-contact demeanor has been a solely missed piece to our bullpen, and hopefully, he’ll be in Colorado to stay. 

Austin Kitchen’s baseball story is one of the coolest and most admirable in the entire sport. He’s overcome so many obstacles, less than 1% of undrafted collegiate players make it to the MLB, and that in its own right is a huge congratulations to Austin Kitchen.

*Written after Austin Kitchen was claimed by the Marlins.

On June 25, 2024, it was announced that Austin Kitchen had been claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins. Since 2018, the Marlins have had 5 relievers with a Ground Ball percentage above 50% (min. 30 IP), and none of them had an ERA over 4.00. So if Kitchen’s ground ball numbers translate to the MLB, they will have themselves a reliable reliever. 

Good luck to Austin in Miami!

Written by Isaac Stevens.