Aug
04
Kennedy throws off “mini-mound”
ByMini-mound? That’s a new one to me, but apparently it’s just a mound that’s only 5-inches high. Anyway, Ian Kennedy threw 25 pitches off one today, and plans to do it again on Friday. “Another hurdle cleared,” Kennedy said. “I felt really good. I’m happy with that. I’m happy with the progress. I’m still on schedule and haven’t had any problems yet. ” IPK also said that he saw a doctor last week and that everything is going well. He hopes to get into a game before the minor league season ends, and will head to the Puerto Rican Winter League one way of the other.
Imagine if he ends up taking Mitre’s place in September. That would be something.
93 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
please comeback IPK…we need you bro
he couldnt really be ready in 3-4 weeks could he?
The team seems to say “No” at every possible time they’re asked. His ETA in the organization’s opinion is 2010.
Best guess if he was healthy? He would have been in Seattle right now.
for washburn or something?
i forgot, lanny never replies if you disagree with him or ask him a question
Yup. Be prepared to wait endlessly.
Vladimir and Estragon were actually waiting for Lanny.
ICWUDT
I bet he would’ve been the #5 instead of Mitre if he were healthy.
agreed
Yup. If he were healthy, I could almost, ALMOST accept Phil Hughes staying in the bullpen indefinitely.
Almost.
indefinitely…for the season?
Yes. Don’t state the obvious.
You’ve gotta make it clear for some folks on the site, tsjc.
He says he felt as if there was never anything there after the surgery ended and he began throwing, does that mean he could go into a game rather quickly, IPK-Mitre in September please, he was outstanding this year before the surgery.
edit: IPK>Mitre
my grandma (missing an arm and leg) >>> Sergio Mitre
That would be way too incredibly awesome if he is able to contribute to a playoff run this year.
+1
i think the target for him is winter ball not sept/oct.
but i agree it would be great if he could come back in any form before the end of the year.
But they want to get at least one start in the minors before the season ends. It’s still possible he could contribute to the team if Mitre really sucks it up.
But yeah the main thing for him right now is winter ball.
Mitre has and will continue to really suck it up. I say he’s replaced by hughes, kennedy, or a waiver pickup at some point. though it does seem like kennedy won’t pitch in the bigs this year
They are too stubborn to put Hughes back in. I hope that changes but I don’t know. It always gets shut down when reports ask.
And I don’t know if the Yanks could get a waiver pickup marginally better than Mitre.
Yadel Marti anyone?
just saw that…
Option A at this point, I hope.
Just glad that everything is moving in the right direction for him.
Imagine if he ends up taking Mitre’s place in September. That would be something.
Amazingly, that would be a Mo-send.
Something I’ve always wondered, maybe someone who played or coached before can enlighten me: Why would a player with an arm injury (like IPK’s aneurysm) need to throw on flat ground or a mini mound during a rehab stint? Why not just go right to a regular mound?
Like, I get why Wang needed to, he’s recovering from a leg injury (so you want to take it slow with his lower half before you test his ability to plant and push off properly from the height of the mound). But nothing is futzed up with IPK’s lower half.
Any insight?
My totally uneducated guess is that throwing of a mound puts more stress on the arm than throwing of flat ground. Maybe because the angle of the arm at release is different when one is throwing of flat ground than when one is striding on a downward slope.
I assume that throwing off a mound allows you to generate more velocity, right? That means more torque on your upper body and more arm speed, and more deceleration at the end of your motion.
this is correct
no.
i just wanted to say i think that is the first time i’ve ever seen the word ‘futzed.’
I don’t know why, it’s a perfectly cromulent word.
ok–thats it.
you either have:
a) no life
b) photographic memory of completely random shit!
either way, i reiterate, you sound like the guys i drink beer…with. dammit.
A little from Column A, a little from Column B.
More from Column B, though.
I am by no means an expert so I’m probably totally pulling this out of my ass, but I always felt like throwing off a mound put a little more pressure on your arm. Not that you can’t help but throw 100% off the mound, but to me it was easier to throw say, 60% off of a flat surface because you don’t naturally fall forward the way you do when you’re up on the mound. So if I hadn’t thrown in a while and I wanted to gauge where my arm was I’d want to throw off of a flat surface the first couple of times.
Again, that could be totally wrong, but thats how I felt when I pitched.
This has long since been answered (both in a snarky manner, and not), but the impression I’m under is that the lower the surface that you throw from, the less stress on the arm. It’s actually been speculated the the high mound of pre-’68 was tougher on pitchers than the current mound.
Sadly, IPK’s mechancs are prior-esque. Their schooling at USC isn’t the only coincidence. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had shoulder and elbow problems his entire career.
What happened to IPK is not a function of bad mechanics.
In fact he has a smooth repeatable low stress delivery.. http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....s-kennedy/
Anyone who isn’t looking at high speed film from multiple angles is talking out of their ass.
That article was sexy.
I dunno about high speed film but the dude did a frame by frame breakdown.
I know, but the pros like Dr Andrews use high speed film, shot from multiple angles and still only come up with ‘potential red flags’, usually nothing definitive. And every pitcher has a few red flags of some sort.
It just seems like every guy online who uses the term ‘scap load’ thinks he’s a mechanics expert, and I have my doubts.
Thanks fellas for stating the obvious. I should have been more clear. No, his current injury is not related to his ugly mechanics, but the 08 shoulder trouble might have been and it is reasonable to expect more. I take no pleasure in it but it is what it is.
do you even know what his injury was?
I hadn’t really personally heard much complaints about poor mechanics of Kennedy before, but Chris O’Leary of The Pitching Mechanic says Kennedy has an Inverted L and compares him to Chris Carpenter and B.J. Ryan, FWIW.
http://www.chrisoleary.com/pro.....00709.html
(scroll down to the 9/9/2007 “Impending Trouble for Kennedy” article)
Of course, he forecasted elbow trouble, and Kennedy’s had shoulder and ribcage trouble, but… whatevs.
This. I’m on the phone so my ability to respond is minimal. But, this.
It’s really more of a prior-esque inverted w. Or both.
I assume by inverted W you mean M.
WOW spelled upside down is MOM.
53378008 typed on a calculator and turned upside down spells “BOOBLESS”.
Hahahahah!
10 year old tommiesmithjohncarlos: 1
Flat-chested Diane: 0
That is what an inverted w is called, an M, but in pitching mechanics lingo it’s often referred to as an inverted w. Google, friend, google.
I know dude, I was just bustin your balls.
DAMN YOU. I AM RESPONDING ON A SLOW ASS IPHONE TO JOKES?!?
Bahah, buy a new one ya rich mutha f*cka!!
/rick james’d
I assume by inverted W you mean M.
Nope. Askew 3.
Again, anyone who isn’t looking at high speed film from multiple angles is talking out of their ass.
Yeah, and that Randy Johnson fellow just crashed and burned in the bigs as well.
?
USC/Tom House grad.
Tom House has been credited with resurrecting some careers while criticized by others. That’s the problem with these “mechanics gurus”. You ask 5 highly respected coaches and get 5 very different answers. It’s as much an art as it is a science. That’s why many GMs will just leave things alone if its working.
But again, when DR James Andrews (and others) study pitchers for red flags in their delivery, they use high speed film shot from multiple angles. Then send it to a lab to be studied frame by frame. Even then, you get possible issues, things to look out for, but usually nothing definitive. Anyone who claims to know a pitcher will get hurt looking at TV clips is delusional and/or pulling your leg.
Oy. Amateur internet mechanics gurus make my head hurt.
Brett Marshall thinks he sustained the injury that led to his TJS this summer by trying a laredo pitch for the first time. So, you never know. By the time a major league team gets it hands on a young pitcher he’s already been badly coached and abused, especially in college. All the innings limits and precautions taken by teams seem moot. The horse has already left the barn.
Good for Ian. I’ve always been a big fan of his, I’m rooting hard for him and I think he has an outside shot to become the next Matt DeSalvo.
Just kidding, I’d love to see him pitch some for us in September.
Let’s not get carried away now.
Matt “Fire Another” DeSalvo!
/ChrisBerman’d
i for one do not want to see kennedy pitching in the majors any time soon. he needs to develop more pitches
Yeah, who’s ever heard of a pitcher being league-average with merely command of a 91 MPH fastball, a great change, and a good curveball.
yeah but he can only throw strikes with his fastball which is straight and in the high 80′s. when he throws strikes, hitters hammer the shit out of them. he has to learn to throw strikes with his change and curve. i think he has good mechanics, he just has to learn to throw ALL of his pitches for strikes if he only has a straight 89 mph fastball
He’s got pitches, just needs to throw them for strikes. You don’t have a 12.15 k/9 in the PAC-10 with 91mph fastball and no other pitches.
don’t forget him destroying the minors at all levels the year after being drafted.
his minor league success doesnt mean shit if he cant throw strikes in the majors
thats right, he has to throw them for strikes. Part of developing pitches is learning to throw them for strikes
Speaking of long-shot 5th starters…
Any chance Yadel Marti is an option for the Yankees? He was declared a free agent today. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....gents.html
And I really need to see Mitre’s ass booted off somewhere.
scouting report of sorts
Martí is not a hard-throwing pitcher as his fastball ranges around 87-90 mph. He relies instead on a slider, sinker, curveball and control.
he would have to prove himself in AAA before he takes mitre’s spot. u cant just sign a guy internationally and stick him into a rotation without any minors experience
5 10 161 if that is still true is really small.
Signing someone from Cuba and throwing them into the rotation in the middle of a pennant race? Sounds Steinbrenner-esque.
I expect the Yankees to do their homework on these guys, but I doubt we’ll see any of them in the majors this year, regardless of where they end up.
agreed. he has to have seasoning before he’s a major league pitcher in a pennant race. maybe he can pitch right away for the pirates, but not here
People still don’t understand how bad Mitre is
“Marti and Gomez defected in December and a few weeks later their agent, Jaime Torres, said his clients were big-league ready.”
Really? I expected his agent to tell us his client is a drug-addled con artist who needs the money to pay off huge gambling debts.
Half-mound, mini mound, same thing, no?
Little league mound.
I hope they sign Matri and put him in AA to start. If he has a nice first 2 starts, up to AAA. If he continues to pitch well and we need him by the end of August, they might be screwed but at least in a “not-as-bad-as-it-could-be” position.
Still another starter to replace Mitre and keep Marti #7. We just need him to be better than Igawa.
Is there any way that Cashman knew this guy was going to be a free agent right about now and that’s why he didn’t pull the trigger on a deal at the deadline?
A healthy, effective IPK in the Bronx this year would be a heckuva story. But the short term answer (rather than the waiver retreads we’ve been reading about) is EL DUQUE.
What! El Duque? Why not Luis Tiant?