Kivlehan Traded to Texas Rangers
Dec 03 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Former Rutgers baseball standout Patrick Kivlehan was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Texas Rangers, the teams announced Wednesday. The move is part of a swap that sent outfielder Leonys Martin to Mariners. Kivlehan takes a spot on the Rangers' 40-man roster.
"It's been a crazy 24 hours but just wanted to thank the Seattle Mariners organization for everything the past 3 years," Kivlehan wrote in an Instagram post. "They took a chance on a "football player" when not many teams even knew who I was. The Pacific Northwest will always have a little piece of my heart. I was traded to the Texas Rangers yesterday and couldn't be more excited for this new opportunity and for the season to finally get going."
Kivlehan, recently promoted to the 40-man roster by Seattle, hit 22 home runs with 73 RBIs, 14 stolen bases and a .453 slugging percentage at Triple-A Tacoma in 2015, seeing time first base, third base and in the outfield. He also participated for the U.S.A. in the Pan Am Games in 2015, hitting .342 with a team-leading three home runs.
Kivlehan, 26, was a fourth-round selection by the Mariners in the 2012 MLB Draft and immediately caught on at the professional level by winning MVP of the Northwest League for Class-A Everett. He rose up the ranks of the system, making stops at Advanced-A Clinton, A-Full High Desert and Double-AA Jackson before landing at Tacoma this past season. Kivlehan spent time in MLB spring training in 2015 with 18 games played.
After a four-year football career at safety for the Scarlet Knights, Kivlehan joined the baseball program as a walk-on for the 2012 season. Readjusting to the sport for the first time since high school, Kivlehan won the starting job at third base and won the first league triple crown in Big East history with a .402 average, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. Overall, he batted .392 with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs overall, to go with a .693 slugging percentage and .480 on-base percentage to win Big East Player of the Year and Third Team All-America by Baseball America.
Currently, both Todd Frazier (Cincinnati Reds) and David DeJesus (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) represent Rutgers baseball in the major leagues.
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