Dean Kiekhefer

Dean Allen Kiekhefer (born June 7, 1989) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics.

Dean Kiekhefer
Kiekhefer, during his tenure with the Memphis Redbirds, at 2015 Triple-A All-Star Game
Pitcher
Born: (1989-06-07) June 7, 1989
Louisville, Kentucky
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
May 14, 2016, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
September 28, 2018, for the Oakland Athletics
MLB statistics
(through 2018 season)
Win–loss record0–0
Earned run average6.38
Strikeouts15
Teams
Kiekhefer with the Quad Cities River Bandits, single-A affiliates of the Cardinals, in 2011

Career

St. Louis Cardinals

Kiekhefer was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 37th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft out of Oldham County High School in Buckner, Kentucky. He did not sign with the Indians and played college baseball at the University of Louisville. In 2009, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1] He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft and signed.

After signing, Kiekhefer was assigned to the Johnson City Cardinals, and after one game, was promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits where he finished the season with a 5.14 ERA in 28 innings pitched out of the bullpen. In 2011, he returned to Quad Cities where he pitched to a 4-1 record and 1.26 ERA in 57 relief innings, and in 2012 he played for the Palm Beach Cardinals where he was 2-2 with a 2.24 ERA in 46 relief appearances. He spent 2013 with Palm Beach and the Springfield Cardinals where he was a combined 4-5 with a 3.43 ERA in 36 games between both teams, 2014 with Springfield and the Memphis Redbirds where he posted a combined 2-5 record and 2.90 ERA in 55 relief appearances, and 2015 with Memphis where he was 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 50 games.

The Cardinals added him to their 40-man roster after the 2015 season.[2] He began 2016 with Memphis.

The Cardinals called Kiekhefer up to the major league roster on May 13, 2016.[3] The following day, he made his major league debut in Los Angeles in the sixth inning against the Dodgers, allowing no walks and striking out four in ​1 2⁄3 innings. The only hit and run charged to him—both firsts of his career—was a home run to Corey Seager.[4] He was optioned to Memphis and recalled to St. Louis multiple times during the season before being recalled for the remainder of the season on August 29. In 29 appearances for Memphis he was 6-1 with a 2.08 ERA, and in 22 innings pitched for St. Louis he compiled a 5.32 ERA.

Seattle Mariners

Kiekhefer was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners on November 4, 2016.[5] He spent all of 2017 with the Tacoma Rainers where he pitched to a 3-3 record with a 4.47 ERA in 49 games.[6] He elected free agency on November 6, 2017.

Cincinnati Reds

On February 17, 2018, Kiekhefer signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds.[7] He began the season with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. On April 30, he was released.

Oakland Athletics

On May 2, 2018, Kiekhefer signed a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics.[8] He began the season with the Midland RockHounds before being promoted to the Nashville Sounds. He was promoted to the major leagues on September 1, 2018. Kiekhefer elected free agency on October 15, 2018. He resigned a minor league deal on October 18, 2018. He became a free agent following the 2019 season.[9]

Post-Playing Career

Kiekhefer announced his retirement from professional baseball on Twitter on November 7, 2019. He was hired by the St. Louis Cardinals for the 2020 Season to be a minor league pitching coach for their State College (A Ball Team).

gollark: How do you keep getting *such* bad RAM?!
gollark: It has many "Gracemont" cores in it now.
gollark: Alder Lake is actually new and kind of good.
gollark: Oh, and they didn't support GBM for ages due to Nvidia consisting entirely of finite simple groups of size 808,017,424,794,512,875,886,459,904,961,710,757,005,754,368,000,000,000.
gollark: Although I actually haven't had any problems with Nvidia drivers in general, just CUDA randomly not working.

References
  1. "#12 Dean Kiekhefer". pointstreak.com. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. Berry, Adam (November 19, 2015). "Cards add Diaz, Kiekhefer, Tilson to roster". m.cardinals.mlb.com. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  3. Goold, Derek (May 14, 2016). "Cardinals notes: Maness heads to Memphis for fine-tuning". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  4. Goold, Derek (May 15, 2016). "Maness on DL; Kiekhefer makes Cardinals debut". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  5. http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/hazelbaker-kiekhefer-are-claimed-on-waivers/article_f07bf1a3-aca1-5187-9a76-9c6dd1902095.html
  6. "Dean Kiekhefer Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  7. "Top MLB Prospects, Scouting Reports, Analysis".
  9. Matt Eddy (November 7, 2019). "Minor League Free Agents 2019". Baseball America. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
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