The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed 26th round pick Shane Kemp and assigned him to Bristol. He agreed to terms shortly after the draft, but as of yesterday, he wasn’t among the players that had officially signed. Kemp is a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher, who played for George Washington University this season. He had a 4.18 ERA, a 20:20 BB/SO ratio and a .285 BAA in 32.1 innings. He started seven times and pitched five times in relief.
Prior to 2015, he spent two years playing for Kirkwood CC(IA). In 2014, he spent more time as a position player, throwing a total of 12.2 innings. In 2013, he threw just 8.1 innings and he rarely pitched in high school, so he has a very fresh arm for someone with three years of college pitching.
You can view the player page for Kemp here.
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.
For a second there, I thought that Shawn Kemp was making a comeback as a baseball player.
Well Shawn did sire his fair share of offspring, so they could still be related.
Not many of these signings really are guys who will get you very excited, despite the fact that he was a 26th round pick.
Do you regularly get excited by any 26th round pick?
lol