Tar Heels in the Pros: Kent Emanuel dazzles in MLB debut

After being called up Friday, former Tar Heel pitcher Kent Emanuel made his major league debut for the Houston Astros on Saturday in a remarkable relief appearance against the Los Angeles Angels.

In perhaps the most remarkable relief appearance we’ve seen in some time, Kent Emanuel pitched 8.2 innings allowing two runs on five hits, no walks and five strikeouts en route to his first major league victory, as Houston dominated Los Angeles 16-2.

Interestingly enough, it was sooner than he anticipated, as Houston starter Jake Odorizzi threw five pitches to get one out before being taken out due to tightness in his forearm. Emanuel said in a postgame interview that he had just began drinking his coffee before the bullpen phone rang prompting him to warm up.

What transpired next can only be described as immaculate, as the 28-year-old rookie pitched like a 10-year veteran. The two runs came on two solo bombs from Albert Pujols in the top of the second and Shohei Otani in the top of the third. Otherwise, Emanuel kept the Halos out of scoring position until the top of the ninth, and that was only due to a throwing error.

This was like the Emanuel who took the mound for the Tar Heels as a sophomore in 2012 when he posted a 1.96 ERA through 110 innings with 100 strikeouts and 23 walks as he went 8-4 in 16 starts. The Woodstock, Georgia native came into Chapel Hill in 2011, and in his three years pitched well on three nationally-seeded teams.

Foregoing his senior year to enter the MLB Draft in 2013, Emanuel was taken in the third round by the Houston Astros. He bounced between the organization’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for six years.

Emanuel also battled an 80-game suspension in 2020 that delayed his big league start. Because of that, his 2020 season was gone, as well as part of the 2021 season. The steroid in question was Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone, known as DHCMT, and in plain English, Oral Turinabol.

Emanuel wore the number 0 in his debut; the reason behind — as he highlighted in a postgame interview — was because he believed that is the numbers of games that he deserved to be suspended. He planned to wear this number until MLB fixed the policies surrounding the amount of steroids in which a player can be suspended for using.

Head coach Scott Forbes, who was a pitching coach when Emanuel pitched for UNC, reflected on the moment and spoke about the type of player he was.

"” I wouldn’t be in the seat I’m in without a guy like Kent Emanuel,” Forbes said. “Watching him pitch, I just thought back to calling pitches and how easy it was. Honestly, it was like a video game.”"

It will be interesting to see whether Houston keeps Emanuel at the major league level, or sends him back to the alternative training site and recall him at a later time. With an outing like this, the case can surely be made to keep him at the major league level and give him another chance to prove himself as the Astros fight to climb to the top of the AL West standings.

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