Sean Hjelle makes his MLB debut for the San Francisco Giants

Kentucky baseball now has the tallest pitcher in Major League Baseball history, as 6-foot-11 right-hander Sean Hjelle made his MLB debut for the San Francisco Giants on Friday.

Hjelle ties retired reliever Jon Rauch as the only players in league history to stand 6-11.

The former Wildcat was promoted to the majors just hours prior to San Francisco’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Entering in the seventh with the game tied 2-2, Hjelle finished with a 1-2-3 perfect inning, securing a ground out, strikeout, then another ground out.

Check out Hjelle’s first career MLB strikeout:

Sean Hjelle's first career MLB strikeout victim is Corey Dickerson 👏 pic.twitter.com/gE4fYr09gy
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 7, 2022

The 25-year-old pitcher — today is actually his birthday — made five starts in Triple-A this season, securing a 2-1 record with a 4.37 ERA and a 2.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 14 total strikeouts. Hjelle has a 3.90 ERA and 279 strikeouts across 69 games played in the minors.

The former Kentucky pitcher was drafted by the Giants in the second round back in 2018. He finished his time in Lexington with an overall record of 22-10 and a career ERA of 3.68, earning SEC Pitcher of the Year and second-team All-America honors in 2017.

Now, Hjelle is off to a hot start in the majors, securing a perfect inning in his first time at the mound. It was a debut that impressed Giants manager Gabe Kapler.

“I thought it was excellent,” he said. “What was most impressive about Sean’s outing was falling behind 3-0 and being able to climb back in. He knew how important it was for him to just split the plate in that 3-0 count, the mentality of attacking with a strike. It was so critical there were no walks in that inning.”