Walter Pennington Makes MLB Debut with Kansas City Royals
July 6, 2024 - International League (IL)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
Omaha Storm Chasers left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington
(Omaha Storm Chasers, Credit: Minda Haas Kuhlmann)
PAPILLION, Neb. - Omaha Storm Chasers left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington made his Major League debut with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, July 5th in their game against the Colorado Rockies, Pennington's hometown team.
The 26-year-old made the trip to Colorado for a three-game set against the Rockies as the Royals traveled to Denver to wrap up the Independence holiday weekend. Pennington entered Friday's game at Coors Field with two runners in scoring position and one out and retired both batters he faced, including a strikeout of his first batter, Colorado left fielder Nolan Jones.
With his outing Friday, Pennington becomes the 334th player in franchise history that has made their MLB debut after playing for the Triple-A Omaha club. The Colorado native is currently in his 4th season of professional baseball after signing as an undrafted free agent with the Royals in August 2020.
A second-year Storm Chaser in 2024, Pennington was 4-3 with a 2.35 ERA over a team-best 32 appearances (2 starts) at the time of his contact being selected and ranked 11th among International League pitchers with 76 strikeouts. His 35.3% strikeout rate through games on July 4 ranked as the top K% in all of Triple-A (minimum 50.0 innings), while a .169 opponents' average and 0.97 WHIP led that group as well and he placed second at the level in ERA. Additionally, 76 strikeouts led all Minor League pitchers with less than 5 starts so far this year.
Undrafted out of the Colorado School of Mines, Pennington began his professional career in 2021 and pitched in two games in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League before finishing the year with Single-A Columbia, where he went 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA across 23 games. Pennington earned a promotion to High-A Quad Cities to open 2022 and made three scoreless appearances for the River Bandits before moving up to Double-A Northwest Arkansas to finish the season by appearing in 33 games for the Naturals.
The southpaw began 2023 back in Double-A with Northwest Arkansas and fired eight scoreless outings before a promotion to Triple-A in early May. Pennington finished 2023 with the Storm Casers and lead Omaha in wins (7) and was second on the team in appearances (41), while ranking tied for fourth on the staff in strikeouts (64).
A native of Broomfield, Colorado, Pennington grew up a Rockies fan 20 minutes north of Denver. Friday was not his first time pitching at Coors Field, as he participated in the Colorado High School Futures Game at that ballpark in 2016.
With his MLB debut, Pennington is third player for the Storm Chasers this season to get called up to big leagues, joined with infielder CJ Alexander, who debuted with the Royals in late June and right-handed pitcher Will Klein, who debuted with the Royals in late April.
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 Omaha Storm Chasers left-handed pitcher Walter Pennington (Minda Haas Kuhlmann) |
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