Overview
Rating: 7.12
2024 stats: 72 games, 70 IP, a record of 8-3, with 5 saves. He had a 3.21 ERA, 1.200 WHIP and a 2.85 FIP. He gave up 6 home runs, walked 15 and struck out 77.
Date of birth: March 24, 1994
2024 salary: He was on a 1 year contract, Fan Graphs has the contract worth $1.225 Million, but Baseball Reference says $1.23.
2025 status: He is arbitration eligible this season and has 2 options remaining.
2024 in review
I think we all know who Kevin Ginkel is, and I would like to say I hope April gets better and posts again. I don’t know if she will see this, but Ginkel was one of her favorites.
In case you missed it, somehow, Ginkel was drafted in the 22nd round out of the University of Arizona in 2016. He made his debut in 2019. He had a very rough next couple of years, but really came into his own last year. In the 2023 post season run, he pitched 11+ innings, did not give up a run and struck out 15 in 10 games.
This season wasnt as consistent. His first couple of appearnces in March and April, he pitched in 2 games against the Rockies, striking out 3. He gave up a run in each of his next 2 against the Yankees and Braves, before settling down a bit. For the rest of the month of April, he appeared in 9 games and gave up 2 runs and struck out 8 in 8.2 innings pitched.
May was pretty bumpy. He pitched in 9 games, 8 innings, gave up a 14 hits and had an ERA of 6.75. During that stretch, he was scored upon in 4 out of 5 games.
From May 30th through June 19th he had 9 scoreless appearances, gave up 6 hits, but only struck out 3 batters. If you expand his mid season performance more, from May 30th through July 11th, he appeared in 19 games, 19.2 innings, struck out 21, walked 2 and had an ERA of 0.46 and an opponents batting average at .177.
July 14th through august 2nd he appeared in 8 games and gave up 6 runs, though half that total came in one game against…the Pirates. The Dbacks actually won that game by a score of 9-8. The rest of August saw Ginkel having another dominant stretch. He appeared in 12 games, 13.1 innings, strucjk out 17 to 5 walks and did not give up an earned run. Looking at the box score of the one game he had an unearned run I am not sure how it was an unearned run as no error seems to have been awarded. There was a bases loaded ground out FC that scored a run, though?
His first two appearances in September, he gave up 3 earned runs, before settling down and giving up 4 in my birthday recap game on September 15th to the Brewers. He gave up a run against the Rockies the next day, before finishing the season strong. In his final 5 games, he threw 4.1 innings, struck out 6 on 5 hits and not giving up a run.
Ginkel finished the season with 18 holds, but also had 6 blown saves.
There is also this little bit of info from SI that I also wanted to share since I found it to be interesting.
Of all qualified relievers on the team, Ginkel inherited the second-most runners (29), and only allowed four of them to score. That spelled a team-best 14% inherited score percentage, as he frequently wriggled his way out of jams in critical situations, while pitching in a career-high 72 games.
2025
MLB trade rumors has his estimated contract as arb 2 and at $2.3 million. He should have an important role in the bullpen next season.