PHOENIX, AZ – Steadily climbing the baseball ranks, former Wildcat pitcher Kevin Ginkel made his MLB Debut on Monday with the Arizona Diamondbacks!
It truly is an MLB Training Ground for the Arizona Baseball program, as another former Wildcat is steadily climbing the ranks. The latest to be making waves in the World of Arizona Baseball, is Kevin Ginkel.
For those that don’t remember, Kevin was a part of that amazing Wildcat roster in head coach Jay Johnson’s first season in Tucson, in which that Wildcats were runner-ups at Omaha.
Arizona Wildcats
In his lone season with the Cats, Ginkel went 5-1, compiling a 2.80 ERA in 64-and-one-third innings pitched. However, despite just pitching for one season in Tucson, Ginkel was off to bigger and better things.
The dominant righty pitcher would be drafted in the 22nd round by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2016 MLB Draft and the rest is history since then.
Since being drafted, he’s made stops with the Hillsboro Hops, the Kane County Cougars, Visalia Rawhide, the Jackson Generals and the Reno Aces, compiling a 10-5 record with a 2.60 ERA in 129 games played with 22 saves and 239 strikeouts.
Well, finally Ginkel is moving to the Majors to play with the Diamondbacks, and the news of his promotion made the rounds on Monday afternoon, shortly after Arizona released former relief pitcher, Zack Godley.
Making his first appearance with the team on Monday evening, it didn’t take long for Ginkel to make an appearance, as he came on in relief for the Diamondbacks against the Philadelphia Phillies. Kevin would ultimately throw just ten pitches in two-thirds innings, surrendering just two hits and one run (unearned) while striking out one.
As an aside and a slightly unrelated note, former Wildcat Scott Kingery finished the game 2-5 with one RBI and a solo home run.
As for Ginkel, this is a tremendous start to his career, and we’re excited for him! He surely showed his dominance in Tucson, now it’s time for him to show his dominance on the big stage!
At Zona Zealots, we’re proud of Kevin and can’t wait to see what he can do at the professional level! We know we will be rooting for him regardless! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!