Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 18, 2008
Ruffin on Kendrick

Bruce Ruffin's rise to the majors was similar to the way Kyle Kendrick reached the show in 2007. Bruce discusses his mistakes and hopes Kyle doesn't make the same ones (italics in original):

Ruffin: "Everybody kept saying I had to throw my fastball inside more to righthanders, to keep them honest so they wouldn't hit my sinker away. And before the season even got going, I bought into it.

"But I lived with my two-seamer [sinking fastball] away and then ran the slider in. Now I was throwing fastballs that tailed out over the plate and Jack Clark [of the Cardinals] would hit it into the upper deck. I was making adjustments before the league showed that adjustments had to be made. All of a sudden I was trying to throw fastballs inside and guys were hitting the ball into the gaps or for home runs."

Kendrick talked vaguely about knowing that other teams have extensive scouting reports on him now and how he might have to make adjustments on how he attacked hitters. But he also made it clear that he won't overdo it.

"Guys know what I have now and what I do. They have enough film on me," he said. "But they have film on everybody. So I'm going to stick with my strengths. Maybe change up a little bit on how I attack hitters, but I'm going to stick with my strengths.

"I've got some goals. But I just want to win, we just want to win. So I'm going to keep doing what I was doing last year. I'm not going to change a thing. Just go out and do my business."


Posted by David Pinto at 07:48 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
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