The Orioles and free agent reliever Andrew Kittredge are in settlement on a one-year, $10MM assure, stories Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Paragon Sports activities Worldwide shopper receives a $9MM wage for the upcoming season and is assured a $1MM buyout on a $9MM membership possibility for 2026. Baltimore has a full 40-man roster and might want to make a transfer when the contract is finalized.
Kittredge will step right into a setup position in entrance of star nearer Félix Bautista, who’s making his return from Tommy John surgical procedure. The veteran joins hard-throwing Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin as potential high-leverage items in Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. Kittredge has loads of seventh and eighth inning expertise. He led the Nationwide League and completed second in MLB (behind Houston’s Bryan Abreu) with 37 holds for the Cardinals final season.
The righty earned the belief of St. Louis supervisor Oli Marmol as the highest setup arm in entrance of star nearer Ryan Helsley. He labored 70 2/3 innings with a 2.80 earned run common. Kittredge punched out a league 23.3% of batters confronted whereas limiting walks to a modest 7% clip. He missed bats on an above-average 13.7% of his pitches whereas doing an affordable job protecting the ball on the bottom.
Kittredge isn’t a flamethrower. He labored within the 94-95 MPH vary with each his sinker and four-seam fastball. That’s strong velocity however in no way distinctive for a contemporary late-inning reliever. Kittredge’s specialty is thrashing hitters with a plus slider. He turned to the breaking ball round half the time. Opponents hit .177 towards the pitch whereas swinging by way of it greater than 40% of the time that they provided at it. He significantly excelled at getting hitters to go after unhealthy pitches. Opponents swung at almost 42% of the pitches that Kittredge threw exterior the strike zone. Amongst pitchers with 50+ innings, solely Arizona left-hander Joe Mantiply received chases at a better price.
Extra to come back.
