Kendall hitting ninth just got dumber

March 9, 2008

This catcher-batting-ninth business is getting closer to reality. In fact, Ned Yost has told a few news outlets that the upside of Jason Kendall hitting after the pitcher has been “thoroughly researched.”

“You’ve got to have a special player in order to do it,” said Yost. “You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy …

Let me stop you right there. Last season, Kendall’s on-base percentage was a high .301 — worse than every other non-pitcher the Brewers will start on opening day. Back to that quote.

“You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy that …

Hold up, sorry. Let me stop you again. You want to say “a high on-base percentage guy who,” not “a high on-base percentage guy that.” I don’t blame Ned here. It’s a direct quote, but as a journalist, Tom Haudricourt has the right to not embarrass his speaker. He chose to let it go, and now Ned looks like some uneducated southerner.

“You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy that puts the ball in play, takes a lot of pitches. The advantage of it, for us, is you’ve got a dual leadoff guy, so to speak, in the No. 9 and 1 spot.

“Two, Jason Kendall is the only player on the team that is an extreme groundball hitter. All of our other hitters are fly-ball hitters. Jason, being a high-contact, high-groundball hitter, puts the ball in play every time, and you get a lot of double plays.

This used to be true. Kendall even led the AL in GIDP in 2005. (Let’s capitalize on this?) But last season, for the first time in his career, Kendall made more flyball outs than groundouts. Not sure it matters.

I was hearing them out at first. The original point of all this was to move Fielder and Braun up one spot each in the order — to 2 and 3, respectively. Over the course of the season, that means more at-bats. I’m for that. But you want guys on base when your meat comes up, so you increase your chances of that (a bit) with Kendall ninth instead of a pitcher.


So now Ned’s going to leave Fielder and Braun at 3 and 4, but he’s still doing the Kendall ninth thing, too.

The first time Braun leads off an inning with a hit, then Nos. 5 and 6 make outs and they walk No. 7 to get to the pitcher, I think it’ll get mentioned here. And also here.

And let us not forget: Sometimes Jason Kendall is so good at getting on base that he breaks his leg.