Cerebral Approach Helps Pirates’ Michael Kennedy Thrive In Pro Ball

Kennedy is going through full-season ball for the first time. The 2022 fourth-rounder carried a 3.72 ERA through six starts, with 34 strikeouts and just three walks in 29 innings. In his last four starts, he did not issue a walk.

Kennedy tore the ACL in his knee at the age of 13, which solidified his path toward baseball. He couldn’t play football or basketball and spent his recovery time playing long toss, which helped him add velocity.

By the time the draft came around, Kennedy’s knee was an issue again. The Troy (N.Y.) High product tore his meniscus at the draft combine, leading to uncertainty whether he would get drafted or go to LSU.

The Pirates went well over slot to sign Kennedy for $1 million, despite knowing he would need surgery on his knee.

Kennedy was sidelined for the remainder of 2022, then built himself back up in extended spring training in 2023. After throwing 42.1 innings in the Florida Complex League, he got a brief taste of the Florida State League last season.

Never having a pitching coach, Kennedy considers himself a sponge of information. He seeks advice from anyone who can help him grow, and his game has done a lot of growing in the last year.

Kennedy has a three-pitch mix, led by a fastball that has gained velocity and has touched 92 mph while averaging 90. He came into pro ball throwing a traditional slider and having a feel for a changeup, two pitches he has worked to improve in the last year.

Kennedy didn’t understand seam effects as an amateur. He knew he could spin a baseball and throw a slider in and out of the zone. He talked with FCL teammate Jun-Seok Shim, who showed him how to use the seams to throw his new sweeper.

It’s the same pitch thrown by Thomas Harrington, who was Kennedy’s roommate when he made the adjustment. Kennedy tried the pitch in a bullpen, then used it for the first time in the FCL playoffs last season.

“The sweep is brand new,” Kennedy said. “It was kind of on accident. I just did it in a bullpen—let’s see what happens. And it was harder than my other one with more ride and more horizontal.”

The sweeper averages 80 mph and generating a 42% whiff rate this year. Kennedy also worked at the Maven Baseball Lab in Georgia in the offseason, developing his new changeup.

“I was always trying to pronate it, kind of like flip it over,” Kennedy described the old slider approach. “It’s tough with my arm slot, because you’re gonna get under it. You’re gonna push it, things like that. I take the same effects from my sweeper and I do it in the reverse with my changeup.”

Kennedy learned an additional trick from teammate Patrick Reilly. Reilly showed him how to pull his middle finger back over the seam and influence the ball with a kick action, for a pitch that Kennedy calls a “kick changeup.”

“It’s taken a lot of (vertical movement) off, and gotten more depth,” said Kennedy of the new changeup. “That’s all the analytic stuff. But my favorite thing about it is that I can finally throw it in the zone, and I can get ahead with it. I can finish with it.”

Kennedy’s changeup averages 83 mph with a low spin rate. Kennedy has been throwing it in the zone more often over his last three starts, leading to a 42% whiff rate during that span. The “kick change” helped him early in the year to keep batters off balance when he didn’t yet have his peak velocity.

One knock against Kennedy from scouts is that his velocity is low, and his 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame might not have the ability to add velocity in the future. His command suffered last year when he was trying to throw as hard as he could in an attempt to create peak velocity. This led to timing issues.

This year, he’s trusting that if he can be on time, and in the zone, his stuff will play.

“He’s just matured,” said Marauders manager Jim Horner, who managed Kennedy last year in the FCL. “From last year even to this year, he’s matured a lot. He’s focused on what he wants to do, and that’s what’s making him better. The effort’s going on in the weight room, the effort’s going on in the bullpen session, the effort’s going on when he shows up in the game.”

Kennedy’s focus isn’t on velocity, but on executing his pitches and hitting his spots, while making sure he does his work each week off the field. He mentions Shota Imanaga’s fastball as an example of how you don’t need a lot of velocity to succeed.

“His release height is pretty similar to mine, and I just have to try to find more vert, I guess,” Kennedy said. “All that stuff doesn’t matter to me. I still think the best pitch in baseball is a well placed fastball inside. You got to get guys uncomfortable, at least for me.”

Making opponents uncomfortable is a direct contrast to the cerebral approach from Kennedy off the field. In addition to his affinity for fidget spinners, he’ll find himself playing with kinetic sand in a gift shop as his girlfriend browses the store.

His favorite thing to do is walk around outside barefoot, reading books. Scouts who favored Kennedy in the draft loved his cerebral approach on the mound. He’s able to channel that cerebral focus to his stuff when it’s game time.

“Once I’m in the lines, it’s go time,” said Kennedy. “I’m going to compete. I’m gonna make a pitch.”

BURIED TREASURE

— Lefthander Hunter Barco is off to a good start with High-A Greensboro, with a 1.65 ERA in 27.1 innings to go with 34 strikeouts and eight walks. Barco was drafted in the second round in 2022 out of Florida, recovering from Tommy John surgery at the time. This is his first full season in pro ball.

— The Pirates acquired second baseman Keiner Delgado from the Yankees, completing the JT Brubaker trade. Delgado hit two homers in his first seven games with Low-A Bradenton. He hit .293/.414/.485 with eight homers in 198 at-bats last year in the FCL for the Yankees.