Mariners Outright Austin Kitchen

The Mariners announced Thursday that left-hander Austin Kitchen, whom they’d designated for assignment in order to open roster space for newly signed Donovan Solano, went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Tacoma.

Kitchen, 27, was a September waiver claim out of the Marlins organization. He didn’t pitch in a big league game with the Mariners following that claim but did log his first seven MLB frames with Miami last year. That brief cameo didn’t go well, as Kitchen was tagged for 11 earned runs in that time.

Kitchen posted a more encouraging 3.78 earned run average in 52 1/3 frames of Triple-A work between three organizations (Rockies, Marlins, Mariners). The southpaw averages just 90.7 mph on his fastball and doesn’t miss many bats, but he posted a hearty 55.1% grounder rate in the minors last year and has a lengthy history of keeping the ball on the ground at plus rates. He’s also shown generally good command, walking only 6.5% of his opponents in four minor league seasons.

Now that Kitchen has cleared waivers, he’ll remain in the organization as minor league depth. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so if the Mariners select him back to the big league roster, he can be optioned freely without needing to return to waivers. Seattle has a trio of left-handed relief options already on the 40-man roster: Tayler Saucedo, Gabe Speier and recent waiver claim Tyler Jay.