The eventful offseason for reliever Zak Kent continued on Thursday, as the now-former St. Louis Cardinals hurler was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins.
Cardinals reporter Derrick Goold had that information on social media. Kent had recently been designated for assignment to make room for Ramon Urias.
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A 28-year-old Virginia native, Kent was claimed off waivers from Cleveland earlier this offseason, then designated, picked back up, and now designated again.
He made his major league debut with Cleveland in April of 2025, throwing in 12 big-league games with a 4.58 ERA. He struck out 16 hitters in 17.2 innings, showing the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that teams crave.
He pitched in 34 games at the minor league-level last season, going 2-3 at Triple-A Columbus with a 2.84 ERA. He struck out 50 hitters in 38.0 innings.
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He’ll now try to latch on with a Twins team that is hoping to stay competitive in the American League Central.
The Cardinals have a lot of arms, but not a ton of concrete answers yet.
Of the eight bullpen spots, JoJo Romero, Riley O’Brien and Ryne Stanek will have three. Justin Bruihl, acquired this offseason, also figures to have one. Matt Svanson is highly likely, with the other three spots up for grabs.
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The rotation also has questions after so much turnover this offseason. The team traded away Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras, acquiring several new pitchers. Some of them, like Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins, will be rotation options soon enough. Both players ended the 2025 campaign on the injured list.
Fitts could be an option right out of the gate, and our own Teren Kowatsch noted how well he pitched in his spring debut on Wednesday:
In the Cardinals’ 6-0 win against the Mets, Fitts pitched two innings, struck out one, allowed two hits and didn’t issue a walk or allow an earned run.
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Fitts threw 37 pitches in his outing, 28 of which were strikes. He generated six whiffs in his outing.
Fitts showed off six pitches against New York. He threw his four-seam fastball 11 times, sweeper 10 times, slider six times, two-seam fastball (sinker) five times, curveball three times and changeup twice. His one strikeout was with his fastball.
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