ATLANTA -- Nick Kingham's star-crossed decade with the Pirates is done.
Late Thursday afternoon, The Pirates traded Kingham, their fourth-round pick in the 2010 MLB Draft, to Toronto for cash considerations. That had been Neal Huntington's expected outcome after designating Kingham for assignment Saturday, following his latest poor outing. "History tells us that a guy with some pedigree, these guys tend to get traded," the GM said the next day in Milwaukee.
Kingham, 27, has been among the worst pitchers in the majors this season with a 9.61 ERA in 14 appearances in 2019, four of them starts. In his past seven games alone, a span of 24 1/3 innings, he’s given up 32 earned runs, plus 45 hits and walks. That’s an average of 2.38 baserunners per inning pitched.
Asked in Milwaukee what went wrong with Kingham, Huntington replied: “It’s a combination of different things, and certainly not effort. Nick worked hard to be the best he could be. After that magnificent debut from a year ago, it’s been a struggle off and on; more off than on, unfortunately.”
Kingham posted a farewell message on his Instagram account shortly before the trade was announced:
Thank you @Pirates pic.twitter.com/3l3ALTDJqk
— Nick Kingham (@NickKingham) June 13, 2019
If the Pirates hadn't been able to complete a trade, Huntington acknowledged at the time, Kingham would have been outrighted back to Class AAA Indianapolis.
