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Pirates Sign 30th Round Pick Will Kendall

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed their 30th round pick from this year’s amateur draft, left-handed pitcher Will Kendall out of Auburn. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kendall was a junior this season, coming off Tommy John Surgery, which cut short an impressive sophomore season. He was 4-0, 1.88 in six starts and three relief appearances when the injury occurred last year. Kendall had a .226 BAA and 1.02 WHIP last season, though he had just 19 strikeouts in 38.1 innings. As a freshman, he really struggled in his limited time out of the bullpen. In five games, he gave up 16 hits and nine walks over 12.1 innings.

This year, he had the starting job early, then lost it after an 0-5, 7.54 start. In 22.2 innings, Kendall showed an improvement with 17 strikeouts, but was also hit fairly hard, leading to a .315 BAA and 7.54 ERA.

The Pirates have now signed 21 players from this year’s draft class.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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