Each day, "Piss and Wynegar" will present Yankees "player previews" for the coming 2008 season. In what can only be referred to as a "revelatory" strategy, we will use statistics, as well as opinion, to further our analysis.He's like Mike Mussina!
No! No...he's like Greg Maddux!
No! No, no, no. He's like Pedro Martinez on those days when his arm hurts and he has to put all sorts of funky stuff on his pitches just to get by!
Lots of analogies have been made to explain Ian Kennedy's style. In short, he appears to be a finesse guy. Not overpowering. Relies heavily on placement. His pitches move and dart and scream, "I"m sorry! I love you!" as they cross the plate.
From what we've seen of Kennedy, which of course isn't much, he appears to have the caliber of stuff that will allow him to succeed. If you thought Phil Hughes' sample size was small, Ian's 19 Big League innings are indicative of nothing (less than a hit an inning, 15 K's, 9 BB); however, at the risk of sounding ill-informed, he sort of "looks" like the prototypical back-of-the-rotation kind of pitcher.
Everyone throws his name into the "young phenom" mix, but nobody really has any expectations for him. In other words, he's definitely the forgotten child of the Kool-Aid Brigade, and that could serve him well as he goes about his business. Just remember Yankees fans: he's a fifth starter. Leave him be.
To read earlier "Hi! My Name Is" entries, click here.
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