Marlins sign free agent lefty Kent Emanuel

Days after announcing their first batch of Spring Training non-roster invitees, the Marlins made another small minor league signing on Thursday night. Lefty Kent Emanuel will come to Marlins camp this coming week, hoping to make the Opening Day bullpen. Craig Mish of SportsGrid was the first to report Emanuel's signing.

Emanuel will be 32 this summer and has hade quite an eventful career for all the wrong reasons. He began his pro career as a third-round pick in 2010. Always lauded for his size, the 6’5” Emanuel held down a 2.52 ERA with a 287/78 K/BB at the University of North Carolina which earned him his draft capital. Emanuel had an effective first two seasons against younger competition and made it up to AA to start 2015. However, his season was very short-lived. After just four games, he went down with an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. He didn’t return to the mound until midway through 2016. In his first lengthy look in the upper minors, he had a 5.23 ERA over 82.2 IP.

Emanuel’s most successful year in the upper minors came in 2017 when he was almost fully converted to a reliever. In 28 appearances (101.2 IP), Emanuel held down a 3.90 ERA and had an 81/23 K/BB. Also to his credit was his calling card, a 57% groundball rate.

It would be a long time until Emanuel would be able to build off that season's success. After the missed COVID season, Emanuel was suspended 80 games for the use of the banned substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT). He returned from his second lengthy absence in April 2021 and was immediately called up to make his big league debut. Pitching for the first time in an affiliated game in 606 days, Emanuel impressed the Astros, tossing 8 ⅔ innings in relief allowing just two earned runs while striking out five.

After his debut, Emanuel went on to perform well out of the Astros bullpen. In his first 17 ⅔ total innings, he had a 2.55 ERA and 13/4 K/BB with a 50% ground ball rate. But once again in the middle of solid performance, injury struck. After exiting his final appearance of 2021 with another apparent throwing arm injury, Emanuel underwent an internal bracing surgical procedure in early June. That offseason, he was waived by the Astros and claimed by the Phillies.

Recovery from the aforementioned injury landed Emanuel on the 60-day IL to start his career with Philadelphia. He rehabbed in June of 2022 and got back to AAA that July before eventually being shut down again for the season with a shoulder issue. After missing more than a full year, he threw in just 13 total games with the Phillies.

This past season, Emanuel returned and pitched for the Pirates organization. He remained healthy after his return in April, but he struggled to find results pitching to a 6.12 ERA—mostly as a starter—and was released in August. Since 2021, he’s thrown just 162 innings.

At his core, Emanuel is a fairly soft-tossing lefty with three pitches: fastball, slider and changeup. He’s had a very turbulent career especially on the health front, but if he’s able to stay on the mound, he’s capable of recording quick outs mostly via soft contact when he’s commanding. He can serve as a swing man, but is best suited for shorter stints. With the Marlins, he will get another chance to make it back to the big leagues.

As of Friday afternoon, the Marlins have a full 40-man roster and 21 NRIs. They could have up to 63 players in big league camp if both Jordan Groshans and Kaleb Ort clear waivers and are outrighted to the minors.