Players · K · Pitcher · 2026 regular season
Joel Kuhnel
- Age
- 31
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 5"
- Weight
- 290 lb
- Number
- #54
- Born
- February 19, 1995 in Goldsboro, NC, United States
- MLB debut
- August 16, 2019
- Drafted
- 2016, round 11
- College
- Texas-Arlington
- High school
- Sunrise Mountain
- dbWAR
- .0 Regular season, 7 season(s)
- IP
- 45.0
- ERA
- 4.40
- FIP
- 5.35
- K/9
- 5.6
- FIP−
- 128 100 = avg
Joel Kuhnel is a relief pitcher for the Athletics. In 2026 he struck out 28 batters over 45.0 innings across 45 appearances, going 1-3. His ERA of 4.40 was 5.2% higher than the league average of 4.18 — 8th of 18 on his team, and 327th of 539 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.35 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 22.7% of swings (10.4% of every pitch he threw), walked 8.9% of the batters he faced and struck out 13.9%. His -0.2 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.
League context
Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2026 regular season.
WAR by season
Pitching Regular season
Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ATH/SF/MIL | 45 | 0 | 45.0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 49 | 22 | 28 | 18 | 4.40 | 5.35 | 1.49 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 105 | 128 | -0.2 | |
| 2024 | TB/HOU | 6 | 0 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4.50 | 3.77 | 0.80 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 110 | 92 | 0.1 | |
| 2023 | HOU/CIN | 9 | 0 | 13.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5.54 | 6.18 | 1.62 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 128 | 143 | -0.2 | |
| 2022 | CIN | 53 | 0 | 58.0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 67 | 41 | 56 | 14 | 6.36 | 3.96 | 1.40 | 8.7 | 2.2 | 160 | 100 | 0.4 | |
| 2020 | CIN | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6.00 | 9.86 | 1.33 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 135 | 221 | -0.2 | |
| 2019 | CIN | 11 | 0 | 9.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 4.66 | 4.25 | 1.34 | 8.4 | 4.7 | 103 | 94 | 0.1 |
Batting Regular season
Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only.
| Trend | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | CIN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0% | 0.0% | .000 | -0.3 | -118 | -0.0 | — |
Platoon splits
How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHB | 97 | 82 | 29 | 5 | 13 | 9 | .354 | .433 | .598 | .438 | 9.3% |
| vs RHB | 105 | 95 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 19 | .211 | .276 | .316 | .268 | 18.1% |
Pitch sequencing
What Joel Kuhnel throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.
Select a count to see exactly what Joel Kuhnel throws in it.
Pitch arsenal
What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.
| Sinker | 389 | 95.2 | 2,268 | 40.1% | 13.5% | 103 | .262 | .708 | |
| Cutter | 222 | 90.3 | 2,480 | 44.1% | 37.1% | 39 | .308 | .880 | |
| Four-Seam Fastball | 54 | 95.3 | 2,270 | 31.5% | 31.8% | 14 | — | — | |
| Changeup | 45 | 90.2 | 1,425 | 26.7% | 23.8% | 13 | — | — | |
| Curveball | 28 | 83.5 | 2,460 | 57.1% | 35.7% | 7 | — | — | |
| Slider | 12 | 86.9 | 2,479 | 41.7% | 50.0% | 1 | — | — |
Compare Joel Kuhnel with…
Side by side with up to three others.
Or read one already written — Joel Kuhnel against:
Similar players
Nearest 2026 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.
wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.