The Dawg Star

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge, a former member of the Okotoks Dawgs, has been added to the American League All-Star Game roster.

The right-handed reliever is having a superb Major League Baseball (MLB) season.

In his fifth year with the Rays, Kittredge is 6-1 with 43 strikeouts through 43 innings pitched. The 31-year-old from Spokane, Washington also has a pair of saves and four holds coming out of the bullpen, as well as a 1.47 earned run average (ERA).

Over the course of his MLB career, the 6-foot-1 hurler has logged 154.1 innings and notched 148 Ks while recording a 10-4 record with a 3.97 ERA.

This is the first time that Kittredge has been named to an All-Star Game squad at the MLB level.

LET THE BIG DAWG EAT

Kittredge joined the Okotoks Dawgs summer collegiate team in 2011, following his junior year at the University of Washington. He did not pitch for the Huskies that year.

“After leaving the University of Washington, my goal in going to Okotoks was just to continue playing the game I love … I knew that I could play professionally and was hoping to get the opportunity to be seen, but ultimately I just wanted to continue to play baseball,” he told reporter Jonathan Hodgson in 2018.

“I had such a great time while I was in Okotoks … we had a really great group of guys on the team that year and we competed very well, too. I definitely have memories from that summer that will last forever.”

Kittredge made 10 appearances, four of them starts, for the Dawgs during the 2011 regular season. In that time, he tossed 30.2 frames and registered a 3.52 ERA and 26 Ks.

During the Western Major Baseball League – the predecessor of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) – postseason, Kittredge picked up a franchise record five saves and was crucial in helping Okotoks advance to the championship series.

In an interview with Alberta Dugout Stories, the versatile pitcher reflected fondly on his time in the WCBL.

“I had an absolute blast playing there. Obviously that organization and that league, it’s top-tier. It seems like with the stadium we had there and the staff and everything, it was one of the better college summer league experiences I ever had,” recalled Kittredge.

“That’s what I kind of think about it. It’s just how much fun I had that summer and the guys that I played with. I still talk to some of them today. It was just an awesome summer.”