The Marlins announced that they have claimed left-hander Austin Kitchen off waivers from the Rockies. Right-hander Sixto Sánchez has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com relayed the Kitchen claim on X prior to the official announcement, adding that the lefty will report to Triple-A Jacksonville.
Kitchen, 27, was just added to Colorado’s roster over the weekend as that club wanted a fresh arm. However, he was designated for assignment the very next day without getting into a game. Though he’s still looking to make his major league debut, the Marlins are intrigued enough to give him a roster spot.
The lefty hasn’t racked up a ton of strikeouts in his minor league career but has been able to keep the ball on the ground. He has a 3.95 earned run average in 225 2/3 innings on the farm overall, with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. But he has kept at least 50% of balls in play on the ground at each stop along the minor league ladder.
Sánchez was placed on the 15-day injured list at the start of this month due to right shoulder inflammation. There haven’t been many updates since then, but that’s an ominous diagnosis since he has had multiple surgeries on that shoulder, which limited him to just one minor league inning pitched over the 2021 to 2023 period. Now that he’s been transferred to the 60-day IL, it seems the Marlins aren’t expecting him back by the end of July.
With that situation, the Fish essentially had a roster spot to burn and have used it to grab Kitchen. He’ll report to their Triple-A club and give them a bit of optionable bullpen depth. He has a full slate of options and essentially no service time, so he could stay on the 40-man roster for a long time if his performance justifies him hanging onto a spot.