Andrew Kittredge
"Andrew Kittredge didn't reach the major leagues until he was 27 — an age by which most pitchers with big-league careers have already established themselves — and he's still throwing for the Orioles nearly a decade later."
Kittredge debuted in the major leagues at 27 years and four months old — an age at which most pitchers who make it to the show have already logged several seasons there.
At an age when many relievers have long since retired, Kittredge is still on a big-league roster wearing number 39 for a Baltimore team rebuilding around a much younger core — making him one of the more experienced arms in that clubhouse by default.
The standard baseball narrative rewards early, obvious talent — the bonus-baby prospect, the top draft pick. Kittredge's career arc, built on a debut nearly three decades into his life rather than his early twenties, doesn't fit that story, which is likely why it gets little attention beyond the box score.
アメリカのプロ野球には、日本の甲子園から直線的にプロへと進むような単一の出世コースがない。マイナーリーグは何層にも分かれた広大なはしごで、選手は何年もその中を上下しながら過ごすことが珍しくない。カットレッジが27歳という比較的遅い年齢でメジャーデビューを果たしたことは、この制度の中では決して異例ではなく、むしろ『組織の中で長く生き延びる』というアメリカ野球特有のキャリア観を象徴している。
A 27-year-old debut and a decade of hanging on afterward is the kind of career arc American fans recognize instinctively but rarely narrate: the 'org guy' who wasn't a top prospect, who took the long way through the minor-league ladder, and who earns a roster spot on reputation and reliability rather than pedigree — a quieter, less mythologized version of the underdog story.
Andrew Kittredge is a right-handed pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, born March 17, 1990, in Spokane, Washington. He made his MLB debut on July 18, 2017, notably later than most players who reach the majors, and has built a career defined less by prospect hype than by staying power in a sport that rarely rewards patience.
| Year | Team | G | W–L | ERA | IP | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | BAL | 32 | 1–1 | 3.86 | 28.0 | 25 | 1.29 |
| 2025 | — | 54 | 4–3 | 3.40 | 53.0 | 64 | 0.98 |
| 2025 | CHC | 23 | 2–1 | 3.32 | 21.2 | 32 | 0.83 |
| Career | — | 341 | 28–16 | 3.46 | 366.1 | 362 | 1.18 |
Source: MLB Stats API · regular season
A Late Start, By Design or by Circumstance
Most players who spend real time in the major leagues get there in their early-to-mid twenties, having been fast-tracked through amateur showcases, the draft, and a few years of minor-league seasoning. Andrew Kittredge's path looked different: he didn't debut until July 18, 2017, at 27 years and four months old. That gap between birth and debut — nearly three decades — says something the stat sheet doesn't: that his route to the majors was longer and less certain than the typical prospect narrative, the kind of story that rarely gets told because it lacks a dramatic breakthrough moment. It's simply years of throwing, adjusting, and waiting for an opening.
The Build of a Bullpen Arm
At 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, Kittredge carries a compact, powerfully built frame more associated with short-relief work than the long, lean mechanics scouts prize in starting pitchers. He bats and throws right-handed — the most common handedness combination in the sport, offering no platoon quirks, just a straightforward right-on-right matchup for opposing hitters. There's little mystery in the build; it's a pitcher's body shaped for the specific, repeatable violence of a short outing rather than the endurance of nine innings.
In American professional baseball, the path to the majors runs through a sprawling minor-league system with multiple levels — rookie ball, Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A — and players can spend anywhere from one to seven or more years working through it before (or if) they reach the top. A debut at 27, like Kittredge's, isn't unheard of, but it does mean a player spent a meaningfully longer stretch than most proving himself in relative obscurity before getting a chance.
From the Inland Northwest
Kittredge was born in Spokane, Washington, a city in the state's eastern interior, geographically and culturally distinct from the coastal, tech-driven identity most outsiders associate with Washington via Seattle. Spokane sits closer in spirit to the agricultural and timber towns of the Inland Northwest than to Puget Sound — a regional identity that rarely factors into how national broadcasts frame a player, but one that shapes where and how a kid first picks up a baseball glove in that part of the country.
Still on the Roster
Wearing number 39 for Baltimore now places Kittredge among the more experienced arms on a roster widely known for its influx of young, homegrown talent. Whatever value he provides at this stage of his career is less about future upside — the currency most teams trade in publicly — and more about the harder-to-quantify presence of someone who has already been through the grind the newer arms around him are just encountering.
Official MLB Shop and Amazon links matched to Andrew Kittredge and the Chicago Cubs.
Shop official MLB gear at MLBShop.comThis profile was written by AI (Claude Sonnet) using publicly available sources. Interpretations and cultural notes are AI-generated and may not reflect the views of the player, their team, or MLB. This page contains affiliate links.