Scouting Report Kyle Kendrick

The Mets faced Kendrick on April 30th and he took the loss, going 5 innings, allowing 4 runs, including 3 home runs (Barajas, Wright, Francoeur).

Here is his scouting report.

As any Phillies fan would tell you, I have been saying Kyle Kendrick is terrible for four years now. I guess I need to defend why he is terrible, and see if adding a cutter this off-season makes him less terrible (short answer, NO).

Kyle Kendrick is a 25-year old, turns 26 in 2 weeks, who was drafted 7th round in 2003 draft and pitched brilliantly in the second half of the 2007 season (15 out of 20 starts were quality starts), and had a 3.87 ERA. Optimistic Phillies fans thought he was going to be a fixture in the rotation for years to come, but then a few major issues started to show up: 1) He doesn't strike any one out (4.09 K/9 for his career, which is the lowest of any starter the Mets have faced this year/lowest I've seen on any player of looked at), 2) He can't get lefties out (lefties have hit .326 and slugged .545+ against him over his career, and this year it's continued, .330 BAA and .588 slugging %).

Kendrick relies on 90 mph fastball/sinker that is effective if it's in the lower half of the zone, but he gets into trouble when he leaves the ball up. He throws an 81-83 mph below-average change-up, and got rid of his slider this off-season in favor of a cutter, which he throws 86-87 mph. He throws either his fastball or cutter 85% of the time. This season his change-up has been terrible, and his fastball has been his best pitch. He gets swinging strikes a paltry 5%. When he is effective, he is a ground-ball pitcher.

For the season, Kendrick is 7-5 in 22 starts (appeared in 24 games, 131 innings), and has a 4.60 ERA (5.03 FIP), and 1.34 WHIP. His K/9 rate is still terrible, 4.47; at least he walks < 2.5/9. He's been prone to the long ball, allowing 21 home runs already. He has gone 5 or less innings 9 times, including his last start where he was knocked out in the 4th inning (3 1/3, 8 hits, 2 walks, 1 k and 6 runs, 5 of which were earned).

He still is not a very good pitcher.