What to Do with Ian Kennedy? Why Can’t He Get It Together?

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

It boggles the mind how Ian Kennedy could be so dominating at the minor-league level and struggle so much in the majors. I know there are growing pains, and it is a higher class of athletes, but it shouldn’t be this drastic.

You could even argue that he has been better in the minors than Hughes and Chamberlain. Also...He has played two years of college baseball at USC. (Joba played at Nebraska for two seasons.)

Ian isn’t a power pitcher, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a very successful major league pitcher.

Look at his minor league numbers compared to his major league career:

Minors: (3 Seasons)226.0IP  (W-L) 18-6  1.99ERA  150H  51R  50ER  70BB  248K  9.88K/9  0.97WHIP

Majors: (2 Seasons) 58.2IP  (W-L) 1-4  6.14ERA  63H  43R  40ER  35BB  42K  6.44K/9  1.67WHIP

It shows that he has the stuff, but where does it all go when he gets the call up to the big-league club? Is it that he is scared of the plate or something? When I watch the games, I can’t help but notice that a lot of his pitches just miss the strike zone.

It’s as if he is pitching around the batters instead of attacking the hitters. I think Hughes has the same problem. They need more confidence going up on the mound, knowing that they can do this.

Maybe they will have more confidence going into next year, as both Phil & Ian had good offseasons. It looks like Kennedy will start in Scranton starting on opening day 2009. What happens from then on is in Ian’s hands.

If someone goes down with an injury, he could possibly get another chance. Who knows what will happen. There is also a chance he could be traded this offseason.

Kennedy Impresses in Puerto Rico

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Ian Kennedy is doing some nice work in Puerto Rico for the Indios de Mayaguez. Here are his stats through four starts:

19.2 innings
11 hits
5 earned runs
1 home run
9 walks
18 strikeouts
Opposing BA: .169
WHIP: 1.02

His last start came on Tuesday. He threw seven shutout innings, allowing three hits without a walk while striking out four. He got 10 outs on grounders.

The Puerto Rican winter league is hardly any sort of indicator. But Kennedy pitched well for Scranton down the stretch and has pitched well for Mayaguez. He should come into spring training feeling good about himself.

For reasons I can’t fathom, a large segment of fans have given up on Kennedy because he hasn’t pitched well in the majors and one day made some foolish comments that he quickly apologized for.

He’ll be 24 next month and has thrown a grand total of 59.2 innings in the majors. Kennedy could well be a contributor. They didn’t draft him in the first round (before Joba, by the way) by accident.

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