Ray Kerr’s long journey to The Show
Ray Kerr signed as an undrafted free agent with the Mariners in 2017 at the age of 22. After the 2020-Covid year, he came back to minor league play at the age of 26 with some sort of breakthrough. He was consistently below nine strikeouts per nine innings between 2017 and 2019. However, in 2021 he struck out 60 batters in just 39.2 innings, good for a 13.6 K/9. He never looked back, either.
Kerr turned some heads in 2021 with Seattle’s Double-A squad when he struck out 43 batters in 28.2 innings, earning three saves and a 2.85 ERA.
Kerr was acquired by the Padres via trade in November 2021. He entered the 2022 season as their 26th-ranked prospect. He was roughed up a little in 2022 with Triple-A El Paso, posting a 5.08 ERA in 44.1 innings. His walk-rate soared when he made the jump from Double-A to Triple-A. He went from a 3.1 BB9/13.5 K9 in 2021 (AA) to a 7.3 BB9/13.6 K9 in El Paso (AAA) in 2022.
The good news, his strikeout stuff was still playing. In 2023, at the age of 28, he brought the walk rate down to 4.3 and did even better with the big-league club, posting a 3.0 over 27.0 major-league innings.
Kerr has a small sample size to draw from in the big leagues, but over 27.0 innings with the Padres last year, he posted a 4.33 ERA and struck out 35 batters.
In the final month of the season, the Padres used Kerr in four consecutive multi-inning appearances, in which he gave up just one earned run over 8.1 innings while racking up 9 Ks and holding opponents to a .143 average.
Over his final seven games, Kerr was able post a 1.69 ERA and drop his season ERA from 6.06 to 4.33.
Leave a Reply