Texas Rangers Claim Michael Kickham

The Texas Rangers have claimed 26 year old lefty Mike Kickham off waivers from the Seattle Mariners, and transferred Ryan Rua to the 60-day DL. Kickham was then optioned to Round Rock.

More from Nolan Writin'

In 14 appearances, including three starts over two seasons with the San Francisco Giants, Kickham holds an 0-3 record and a monstrous 10.98 ERA in 30 1/3 innings. He’s given up 54 hits to big league hitters, and added thirteen walks (two intentionally) to help inflate his WHIP to 2.143. His 6.02 FIP (fielding independent pitching) suggests that he has been lacking some luck on the mound, as it’s nearly five runs below his actual ERA.

With Tacoma this season, the southpaw went 0-2 with a 7.29 ERA in five starts, totaling 21 innings. He was walking batters at a rate of twelve per nine innings, which is absurdly high. The bright side was that he only allowed 18 hits in those 21 innings, so that’s something.

For the Texas Rangers, Kickham should be a depth option and nothing more at this point. He is obviously having control issues, and if those get sorted out then perhaps he would be worth a look in Texas at some point. There seem to be other options for the rotation however, with Anthony Ranaudo (yes he had one bad start in the majors) holding a 2-0 record with a 1.77 ERA with Round Rock, or even Anthony Bass and his 3.60 ERA over 20 innings in the bigs, providing better options.

Some of the other minor league pitchers aren’t quite ready, with Jake Thompson and Alex Gonzalez in Frisco at the moment, while Jerad Eickhoff just received his promotion to Round Rock a couple of weeks ago.

Let’s hope that Kickham doesn’t need to make an appearance for the Rangers this season.

Next: Who's Hot, Who's Not in Frisco?

Home/Texas Rangers News