« And The Band Played On.... | Main | Where The Lines Crossed »

September 04, 2007

THT: Gomez: First impressions: Buchholz vs. Kennedy

Carlos Gomez takes a look at comparing Clay Buchholz and Ian Kennedy. I liked it when he noted:

In the mechanics department, Kennedy has the more classic, more easily repeatable and cleaner mechanics. He has better arm action coupled with superior front-side mechanics.

I wonder what Carlos would think of my Catfish Hunter sighting in Kennedy's wind-up?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at September 4, 2007 10:45 AM

Comments

It'll be interesting to see Kennedy in his second start. Good or bad, I throw a pitcher's debut out the windows. The results are often meaningless. And in a game like the one he pitched, the Rays got down early and started swinging at everything.

Again, it was one start, but...

I would say stuff-wise, he's a big step behind Hughes and a huge step behind a young Mussina, who he gets compared to all the time (I've made this comparison too).

I also think Kennedy shows the pointlessness of radar guns. On the YES gun, Hughes is often 90-92, occasionally 93-94. Kennedy was 90-91. If you can't see the difference between Kennedy's "91" and Hughes' "91" you are blind.

The worst thing you can say about Kennedy is that, facially, he looks A LOT like Matt DeSalvo (any connection to Matty is a bad thing). On the good end, he knows how to pitch and has good control of all his pitches.

If anything, I think a good comp for him would be the Mussina of '06, who was throwing his fastball 88-90 and complementing it with a slow changeup, and had his best year since '03 (Mussina's last year as a truly dominating pitcher).

Posted by: baileywalk [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 4, 2007 11:44 AM

Better mechanics = less arm trouble, no? Not that I'm wishing ill health on Buchholz.

Posted by: rbj [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 4, 2007 03:47 PM