St. Louis Cardinals: Dean Kiekhefer’s Major League Debut

Outside of one pitch to Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, 26-year-old left-hander Dean Kiekhefer was very good in his Major League debut with the St. Louis Cardinals.

There weren’t too many positives in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night. But one of them, for the most part, was the debut of Dean Kiekhefer.

Kiekhefer entered the game to start the sixth inning in relief of Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez. He struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the sixth, and got Yasiel Puig to fly out on a good looking changeup that dropped off the outside of the plate.

He struck out the pitcher Scott Kazmir and leadoff man Chase Utley to start the seventh. But, after getting ahead 0-2, Kiekhefer threw an 80 mile-per-hour slider that caught just a little too much plate, and Corey Seager sent it out to center field.

Kiekhefer would be pulled for Seung-Hwan Oh after that at-bat.

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The lefty’s final line was encouraging, even with the long ball in there. He threw 27 pitches (17 strikes) in working 1 2/3 innings and striking out four of the six batters he faced.

Kiekhefer featured four pitches, with a 3/4 side-arm delivery across his body. His sinker, slider, and changeup all had good depth.

Outside of the slider that Seager appeared to sit on, Dodgers hitters were taking very uncomfortable swings against him.

Kiekhefer was drafted in the 36th round by the Cardinals back in 2010 and experienced some pretty middling results in his first five or so professional seasons.

He credits a grip change with his changeup that he made last year as the adjustment that’s gotten him over the hump, something that makes him more effective against right-handed hitters.

Through 13 1/3 innings in Memphis this season, Kiekhefer had a cool 1.35 ERA with nine strikeouts against zero walks and zero home runs allowed.

There’s no doubt that the club is impressed with the lefty out of the University of Louisville.

Kiekhefer was the Cardinals’ choice to take Seth Maness‘ bullpen spot despite guys with big league experience like Sam Tuivailala and Miguel Socolovich sporting low-to-mid 3.00 ERA’s with the Redbirds.

His usage on Saturday shows that Mike Matheny sees him as more than just a lefty specialist, but a guy that can be effective against left and right-handed hitters.

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There’s no telling how long Kiekhefer’s stay with the big club might last. Most definitely, though, there was a lot to like about his big league debut in Los Angeles.