Kevin Lenik

Kevin Jeffrey Lenik (born August 1, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization. Listed at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) and 225 pounds (102 kg), he throws and bats right-handed.

Kevin Lenik
Lenik with the Storm Chasers in 2018
Boston Red Sox
Pitcher
Born: (1991-08-01) August 1, 1991
Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California
Bats: Right Throws: Right

Amateur career

Lenik attended Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. He played for the school's baseball as a freshman, but quit the team after the season. He focused on American football, playing tight end.[1]

As his academic grades were too low to play football for a National Collegiate Athletic Association school, Lenik decided to return to baseball. He enrolled at the College of the Canyons, a junior college, and played for the school's baseball team. He transferred to Hawaii Pacific University for his junior year, and then California State University, Dominguez Hills for his senior year. He played as an outfielder, not trying to pitch until the end of his senior year. Not chosen in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, Lenik trained with Tom House and pitched in the California Winter League.[1][2]

Professional career

Lenik attended an open tryout with the Texas Rangers in 2016, who signed him to a minor league contract. He played for the Spokane Indians of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League for the 2016 season.[1] He appeared in 17 games for Spokane,[2] and was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week for July 25–31.

The Rangers released Lenik during spring training in 2017.[2] Lenik then signed with the Windy City ThunderBolts of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league. He had a 1–0 win–loss record and a 3.48 earned run average (ERA) in 11 relief appearances for Windy City.[3] His fastball reached 98 mph (158 km/h). He signed with the Kansas City Royals, who assigned him to the Burlington Royals of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in late June. He made two appearances for Burlington, and five for the Lexington Legends of the Class A Midwest League. The Royals promoted Lenik to the Omaha Storm Chasers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in late July.[2] With Omaha, Lenik had a 1.88 ERA in 12 appearances, with 24 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched.[4] Lenik returned to Omaha in 2018,[5] where he went 0–2 with a 4.93 ERA in 49 innings.

Lenik started the 2019 season with Omaha, and was released by the Royals organization on April 24. He then signed with the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball on May 12.[6] On May 31, the Boston Red Sox purchased Lenik's contract from Kansas City,[7] and assigned him to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs.[8] In early August, he was promoted to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, and he made a late-August rehabilitation appearance with the Lowell Spinners.[9] Overall in Minor League Baseball during 2019, Lenik was 3–0 with three saves and a 3.93 ERA, with 41 strikeouts in ​34 1⁄3 innings.[8]

gollark: Actually, worse.
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: (upscaled)
gollark: ↓ LyricLy, in my new esolang
gollark: To do what?

References
  1. Horton, Josh (August 11, 2016). "Spokane Indians pitcher Kevin Lenik received big break after years-long detour". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  2. "New Storm Chasers reliever Kevin Lenik's rapid rise comes up short of victory against Fresno | Storm Chasers". omaha.com. July 31, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  3. "Kevin Lenik is second ThunderBolt in two days to join MLB organization - Daily Southtown". Chicagotribune.com. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  4. Flanagan, Jeffrey (January 20, 2016). "Kevin Lenik could be on Royals' radar in 2018 | MLB.com". M.royals.mlb.com. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  5. https://www.milb.com/milb/news/kansas-city-royals-kevin-lenik-followed-unlikely-path-to-triple-a-omaha/c-283383464
  6. "T-BONES' LENIK IS 1/2 OF PAIR SOLD TO MAJOR LEAGUE ORGANIZATIONS FRIDAY". americanassociationbaseball.com. May 31, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  7. "T-Bones' Lenik is 1/2 of Pair Sold to Major League Organization Friday". May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  8. "Kevin Lenik Stats, Highlights, Bio". MiLB.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  9. @SoxProspects (August 3, 2019). "Promotion day in the #RedSox minor league system" (Tweet). Retrieved August 3, 2019 – via Twitter.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.