Justin Kuehn

From BR Bullpen

Justin Robert Kuehn

Minors BR page

Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Justin Kuehn has played in the minors and in Germany.

Kuehn was 3-6 with a 6.75 ERA as a college freshman then improved to 3-3, 5.72 as a sophomore. He fell to 1-3, 6.42 as a junior and allowed 220 hits in 173 2/3 IP in college. He was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 19th round of the 2008 amateur draft, one pick before Steve Lombardozzi Jr.; the scouts were Adam Virchis and Derek Valenzuela. Kuehn had a superb pro debut with the Bristol Sox, going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA and only 14 hits in 25 innings for a .165 opponent average. With the 2009 Great Falls Voyagers, he walked eight and allowed 7 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings to end his US career.

Kuehn and former college teammate Evan LeBlanc signed with Germany's Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg for 2011. He went 4-1 with a 3.79 ERA, as the team's 4th-best hurler after Mike Bolsenbroek of the Netherlands (1.57), German Philipp Hoffschild (1.83) and the Czech Republic's Boris Bokaj (3.12) on a multinational staff. Despite this, he was 7th in the southern Bundesliga-1 in ERA (between Nils Hartkopf and René Franke), tied for 8th in wins (with Gregor Klinc) and 4th in opponent average (.212, between Bolsenbroek and Hartkopf) though he was also third in walks (38, in only 38 innings).

In 2012, Kuehn was even better as Regensburg remained dominant. Justin finished third in the southern Bundesliga-1 in ERA (2.25), second in WHIP (.97, behind Bolsenbroek) and 4th in whiffs (72). He finished 7-1. In the 2012 European Cup, he also shone, allowing only two hits and three walks while fanning seven in seven shutout innings against Spanish champion CB Barcelona in a 2-0 win (Hoffschild relieved). He finished the event tied for third in ERA with Tim Roodenburg (Andrés Gimeno and Diegomar Markwell also had 0 ERAs, with slightly higher innings pitched totals).

Kuehn pitched for the German national team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers but did not do well. He replaced Luke Sommer in the 7th inning against Team Canada with only a 5-4 deficit, but could not retire anyone. Brock Kjeldgaard greeted him with a single, then Tim Smith tripled. Jimmy Van Ostrand hit a RBI single. After a wild pitch, Adam Loewen singled. Former major leaguer Will Ohman relieved Kuehn and did little better as Germany went on to a 16-7 loss.

Sources[edit]

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