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There were a lot of reasonable options to replace Ryan Vogelsong, but there wasn't a perfect one. Chad Gaudin is helping out as a reliever. Chris Heston was on the 40-man, but he was struggling. Mike Kickham wasn't on the 40-man, and he could use some work on his command. Nick Noonan isn't a pitcher. Bugs Raymond has been dead for over 100 years. So on and so on. Imperfect options, all.
But the Giants are going with the best one available, calling up Mike Kickham.
LHP Michael Kickham will start for the #SFGiants on Tuesday at Oakland. He'll be making his Major League debut.
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) May 27, 2013
Shoot, wait. Michael. Michael Kickham. I think I failed the first part of the introduction. Though his Twitter handle is @mikekickham41, so maybe we're cool. We should probably get a nickname going so we don't have to deal with it. I suggest The Revolutionary, though that would make for a pretty lousy hat and/or stuffed animal.
His minor-league stats:
| Year | Age | Lev | IP | H | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 21 | Rk | 11.57 | 2.1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7.7 | 11.6 | 1.50 |
| 2011 | 22 | A | 4.11 | 111.2 | 112 | 9 | 37 | 103 | 3.0 | 8.3 | 2.78 |
| 2012 | 23 | AA | 3.05 | 150.2 | 119 | 8 | 75 | 137 | 4.5 | 8.2 | 1.83 |
| 2013 | 24 | AAA | 4.33 | 54.0 | 58 | 4 | 22 | 54 | 3.7 | 9.0 | 2.45 |
| 4 Seasons | 3.70 | 318.2 | 293 | 21 | 136 | 297 | 3.8 | 8.4 | 2.18 | ||
John Sickels tabbed him as a possible breakout prospect last year:
A sixth round pick in 2010 from Missouri State University, Kickham is a physical 6-4, 220 pound lefty with a low-90s fastball. He also has a slider, curveball, and changeup, with the slider being the best of his secondary pitches.
He'll walk some folks. I don't think that's really up for debate. But he's pretty good at keeping the ball in the yard, and he can get a strikeout. I'm really looking forward to watching him.
Also, he had some sweet, sweet locks back in 2010:
Oh, he's going to get the business from Crawford if he tries that again. There can be only one.