STOUT HEADS TO THE CUBS

The Kansas City Monarchs have transferred the contract of left-handed pitcher Eric Stout to the Chicago Cubs as announced by 2021 American Association Manager of the Year Joe Calfapietra. This marks the nearly unprecedented third time a single player contract has been transferred to a Major League organization.

Stout was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.  The Royals added him to their 40-man roster after the 2017 season and began the 2018 in Omaha.  He was called up to the Major Leagues on April 24, 2018 where he pitched in 3 games.

“We are very excited for Eric to get this opportunity with the Chicago Cubs” said Manager Joe Calfapietra. “He has been a very good player and extremely loyal to the organization for a long time”

Stout first signed with the Kansas City T-Bones in 2019 where his contract was transferred to the Cincinnati Reds organization.  Stout pitched for Louisville and Chattanooga in 2019.  Stout also signed agreement number to with Kansas City in 2020 but there was no 2020 season due to the pandemic. Stout signed a third contract with Kansas City in 2021.

In 2021, Stout recorded a 2-1 record in 23 innings and 1.95 era across 4 appearances for Kansas City before his contract was purchased by the Miami Marlins on June 6.  Stout pitched at Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. In 7 appearances for Jacksonville, Stout was 0-2 with a 10.19 ERA and 21 strikeouts. On August 12, Stout was released by the Marlins and re-signed by the Monarchs.

This winter Stout pitched for Mayaguez in the Puerto Rican Winter League where he was 3-0 with a 1.24 era in 6 starts across 29 innings.   Stout also started one game in the Caribbean World Series for Puerto Rico.

When asked about his time in Kansas City, Stout said “Over the past three seasons both with the T Bones and now the Monarchs we have come to learn this is a family in Kansas City.  Everyone from the front office to the players welcomes everyone with open arms.  The job in KC is to get guys back to the big leagues and they have done that time and time again.”   Stout added that “The Championship was amazing – we are looking forward to watching the Monarchs go back-to-back!”