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5 things to know about Walter Pennington, acquired by Texas Rangers at MLB trade deadline

The lefty known for his big slider could soon find himself in the Rangers’ bullpen.

On the day before the MLB trade deadline, the Rangers shipped out starter Michael Lorenzen to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for left-handed relief pitcher Walter Pennington.

Here are five things to know about Pennington, including his unusual path to pro ball and his cup of coffee in the big leagues.

1. The basics

Name: Walter Carlton Pennington

Born: April 14, 1998 (Age: 26)

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Hometown: Broomfield, Colo.

Height/weight: 6-2, 205 pounds

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Throws: Left

2. Quite the journey

Pennington’s path to professional baseball was not at all that of a typical prospect.

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He attended a small local college, the Colorado School of Mines, where he pitched for four seasons.

Out of college he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Royals, working through their minor league system over the last three years. He’s never been ranked in the Royals’ top 30 prospects list, according to MLB.com.

He cracked the Triple-A level in 2023, where he’s posted a 2.98 ERA over 78 appearances since. He’s struck out 11.9 batters per nine innings in 59.2 innings this year at Omaha.

3. ‘Hey, Penny!’

An MLB.com profile on Pennington really highlighted the under-the-radar career Pennington had in the early going with a story of the lefty pitching in an independent league tournament in Wichita:

“Pennington was walking from the bullpen to the dugout at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan., after pitching four innings ... [He] was on the phone with his brother, deciding where they would eat dinner that night, when he heard someone in the stands call out to him.

“Hey, Penny, you interested in signing a professional contract?” Pennington remembers the man asking.

“I’m like, ‘Hold up, who are you?’” Pennington said. “I mean, he looked like a dad. [He] was wearing a visor and everything.”

The man in the visor was Matt Price, a Royals area scout.

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“You spend all this time in showcases, and it’s funny how it’s that one instant changed my whole life,” Pennington said.

4. Scouting report

The left-handed Pennington throws a 4-seam fastball, a cutter, a sinker and a slider, according to his page on MLB Statcast. His fastball averages 92.6 mph.

He’s been lights-out against lefties. In 105 plate appearances against left-handed batters at the Triple-A level this season, Pennington has allowed a .156 batting average and a .540 OPS. He’s consistently had some of the best “stuff” of any arm in the Royals’ system.

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Here’s what ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle wrote about Pennington:

“Pennington’s velo tops out at 92-93 mph, but he leans heavily on a slider that’s tough on lefties and mixes in a cutter against righties. He also throws an occasional four-seamer just to get hitters to adjust their eye level when needed. He’s already 26, but has posted impressive whiff rates in the minors and has a degree in mechanical engineering which suggests, at the very least, he ought to be open to analytics-based optimization.”

5. Cup of coffee

Pennington’s first spin through the majors was short. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t special.

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He was called up to the Royals roster for exactly one game. That game just so happened to be in his home state of Colorado.

With mom and dad in the house, Pennington logged his first (and to this point, only) career strikeout, fittingly a lefthanded batter with that big slider.

Twitter: @dmn_rangers

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