Last week, Jared Perkins and Preston Farr of Farm to Fountains and I interviewed Omaha Storm Chasers reliever Walter Pennington on “KC Chase to the Pennant.”

Pennington has been absolutely electric with the Storm Chasers, which is encouraging after his robust Cactus League campaign.

In 10 outings and 17.2 IP with Omaha, Pennington has a 1.53 ERA, a 0.68 WHIP, a 35.8% K%, and a K-BB% of 31.3%. Dominant may not be an adequate word to describe Pennington’s start in Triple-A.

Walter Pennington threw 2.0 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts 🔥 pic.twitter.com/CTlFRbRX5O

— Omaha Storm Chasers (@OMAStormChasers) April 26, 2024

Our interview can be found on YouTube and Spotify below.

Here are a couple of takeaways from our interview with Pennington.

• Pennington is a Colorado School of Mines graduate, one of the nation’s best engineering schools. You have to be intelligent to get in and a hard-working student to last there. Pennington came off as a lifelong learner who would have succeeded as an engineer had he not pursued a path in baseball. When he talked about the Royals’ use of pitching analytics, you could tell he was enthusiastic about them and understood the process and the data. It’s cool to see players in this Royals organization who are talented and legitimate students of the game.
• Another big takeaway from Pennington’s interview is that he’s a man of faith. He credited his faith with helping keep him level-headed during his journey in the Minor Leagues, which is fantastic to see. He also appears to be a guy who talks about his faith and lives it out. He is very modest and humble, which is incredible to see from a player as talented as him.
• Lastly, I am always impressed with how approachable the prospects we have talked with on this podcast are. Even though they aren’t in the big leagues, the four guys we have spoken to (Chandler Champlain, Javier Vaz, Noah Cameron, and Pennington) are easy to talk to and know how to engage with the fans. That isn’t always the case in other organizations, unfortunately. Part of that is due to the culture the Royals have built, and part of that is a credit to the makeup of these guys. They are easy to root for not just because of their talent but also because of their ability to connect and communicate with others.

Check out and subscribe to KC Chase to the Pennant if you haven’t already done so! We hope to have an episode with Cristian and I on either Thursday or Friday so stay tuned, especially as we get more time with the end of the semester coming.

Photo Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images