Kevin Warunek is a tall left-handed reliever in the Phillies system who has shown real swing-and-miss ability whenever he’s been healthy. The catch is that he hasn’t been healthy very often. He’s pitched a little over 60 innings as a pro in two seasons, and an elbow that keeps acting up has been the main storyline of his career so far. Here’s the full picture.
Background
Warunek, who turns 24 next month, was born in Manassas, Virginia, and stands 6′ 4″ and weighs 201 pounds. The left-hander went to Patriot High School in Nokesville, Virginia, where he had a 1.19 ERA his senior year with 21 strikeouts in 17.2 innings, and hitters batted just .212 against him.
Scouts liked his build and his funky delivery even back then. A Prep Baseball Report evaluation described a three-quarters arm slot, a classic lefty crossfire delivery that hides the ball well, and a fastball sitting 84 to 89. He paired it with a hard slider at 77 to 81 mph that he could bury on a righty’s back foot or throw for a strike. The same report noted that his velocity dropped into the 84-86 range by the third and fourth innings, which hinted early on that he might be better suited to short stints.
Warunek spent three years at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. He was a weekend starter as a freshman before moving to the bullpen for his final two seasons. That freshman year was rough; he made 14 starts in 2022 and posted a 6.41 ERA over 53.1 innings with only 26 strikeouts, and he gave up 67 hits along the way. He also pitched that summer for Front Royal in the Valley League, where he struck out 19 in 16 innings but had a 6.75 ERA.
The move to relief changed everything. As a junior in 2024, he went 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 21.2 innings across 12 relief appearances. He was also named a Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week. For his full college career, he went 7-4 with a 4.97 ERA over 38 appearances and 87 innings, striking out 60. He told one interviewer that his junior year was the one that finally got scouts paying attention. A March 2024 scouting note captured the jump in stuff, describing a 90-91 mph fastball that he worked to both sides of the plate, plus a bigger sweeping slider around 80 mph with about 2,500 rpm of spin.
The Draft and the Numbers
The Phillies took Warunek in the 18th round of the 2024 draft with the 552nd overall pick. He signed for $150,000, which was the most a team could give a player taken after the 10th round without it counting against their bonus pool.
Warunek didn’t pitch in a game after signing in 2024 because of an elbow problem (more on that below). His pro debut came in 2025, and it went well. With Single-A Clearwater, he broke out with a 2.91 ERA over 34 innings and a 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio before earning a midsummer promotion to Jersey Shore. He struck out 44 and walked just 11 with the Threshers. The High-A stint was shakier. In 7.2 innings with the BlueClaws he had a 5.87 ERA and walked six. For the 2025 season as a whole, he went 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA, struck out 53 and walked 17 in 41.2 innings.
The 2026 season was a stop-and-start year. He missed most of each half of the season and had rehab stints in Clearwater in both May and August. In the end, he went 3-0 with a 3.43 ERA over 17 appearances and 21 innings across four levels: the Florida Complex League, Clearwater, Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading. He struck out 26 and walked 13. His best work came with Jersey Shore, where he posted a 1.69 ERA in 10.2 innings with 14 strikeouts. His final regular-season appearance was a scoreless inning with Reading on September 12.
Across both seasons, his minor league career line stands at 5-0 with a 3.45 ERA, two saves, 79 strikeouts and 30 walks in 62.2 innings over 43 games, all in relief.
The Phillies sent Warunek to the Arizona Fall League this fall, where he’s pitching for the Surprise Saguaros. The early results have been mixed, as he gave up a run in each of his first two outings, though he didn’t walk anyone.
The Numbers Behind the Numbers
The stat that jumps off the page is his ability to miss bats. Over his pro career, he’s struck out a little more than 11 hitters per nine innings. In 2025 he punched out about 30 percent of the batters he faced, which is excellent for any reliever. In August of 2026, once he was finally healthy, he was close to unhittable. He struck out 16 of 37 hitters that month and held them to a .156 batting average.
The weaknesses are just as clear. The first is walks. He was solid in that area at Clearwater in 2025, but his walk rate climbed to about 14 percent in 2026, or more than five walks per nine innings. Some of that is probably rust from all the time missed, but it’s something to watch.
The second weakness is the long ball. He gave up five home runs in just 21 innings in 2026, and every one of them came against right-handed hitters. Righties slugged over .500 against him this season. Interestingly, lefties barely hit him at all – a .211 average with very little power – but he walked seven of the 27 left-handed batters he faced. So the profile right now is a pitcher who can dominate lefties when he’s around the plate and who needs to keep the ball down against righties.
One last note on luck. His rough 2025 stint at Jersey Shore looks worse than it probably was. He didn’t give up a single home run there, and much of the damage came on balls that found holes, which tends to even out over time.
What He Throws
Warunek has described himself as a four-seam fastball, slider and changeup pitcher. His velocity has continued to climb during his time as a pro. After starting in the high-80s in high school, moving to 90-91 in college, Warunek’s fastball is now in the low-90s with some sink. On occasion, Warunek can pump the fastball up to 95 or 96 mph. He also has a low-80s slider.
The fastball has always gotten extra help from his crossfire delivery. Scouts have noted that it creates angle in on right-handed hitters. The slider is his main putaway pitch and has been a sweeping, high-spin breaking ball since his college days. The changeup is the third pitch and gets the least attention in scouting reports.
Warunek leans mostly on the fastball and slider, as most relievers do, with the changeup used far less often.
The Elephant in the Room
Injuries have been the biggest obstacle in Warunek’s young career. Right after the draft, he was slowed by an elbow issue and had yet to pitch in an official game by early 2025, though he had worked with the rehab staff and was throwing regular bullpen sessions again.
He opened 2025 on the 7-day injured list and was activated by Clearwater later in April and then worked through the rest of the season.
The 2026 season was the toughest for Warunek injury-wise. He went on the injured list on April 2, did a rehab assignment in May, went back on the shelf and returned again in August. The elbow trouble limited him to just 17 appearances this year. The Phillies included him in their contingent of pitchers going to the AFL in part to get him some extra innings.
The effect on his development is easy to see. He’s 23 and has thrown about 62 innings in two pro seasons, which is the kind of workload a healthy reliever might log in one year. The time off likely played a role in his control slipping in 2026. It has also kept him from settling into a defined bullpen role, though the Clearwater Threshers noted that he can seemingly pitch anywhere out of the bullpen.
Outlook
When he’s healthy, Warunek has the look of a legitimate bullpen lefty. He has height, deception, a fastball that now reaches the mid-90s and a slider that misses bats. The strikeout numbers back that up. The questions are whether his elbow will hold up and whether he can cut down on walks and keep the ball in the park against righties.
The good news is that he finished 2026 strong and healthy and made it to Double-A. He’s hoping to return to Double-A to start the 2027 season and a full, healthy year in Reading would go a long way toward showing whether he can become a real big league option. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft until December 2027, so the Phillies have time to see how it plays out.
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