Kendall's (Lack of) Power

[OOOverbay]

This topic is not meant to flame Kendall. For the record, I have been pleased with what Kendall brings to this team defensively and I appreciate his ability to take a walk, but you can put me in the category of those who believe Rivera should be getting more starts than he has been.

 

Anyway, this got me thinking... why does Kendall have absolutely no power? When I was watching him bat the obvious answer seemed to be that he leans forward which would greatly diminish generating energy from his legs, but I am not a mechanics guy and don't know if that is the reason (I only played 3 years of little league). Might he be sacrificing power in order to make better contact?

 

Would someone here with some experience explain this to me please...

[T B0NE 10]

I just dont understand why when you are down by two in the bottom of the 9th, why Yost would let him hit with a runner on over Branyan, Rivera, or Kapler. I think I can hit a baseball farther than Kendall can. I'm not bashing Kendall though, he plays great defense and manages the staff extremely well. And you can't be too greedy from the catcher position as theres only so many great hitting AND fielding catchers out there.

 

But I agree, he has no power at all. I think its amazing that the guy has managed 72 homers in his career.

[2008 world champs]

To me, Kendall is the most frustrating player to watch offensively besides maybe Cam. IMHO, a big leaguer that hits for the "power" Kendall does, should hit AT LEAST 290-300 probably over that. Given Kendall's amazing play calling and improved defense behind the plate, I would think Kendall should hit 260-270 and I could live with it. This 240ish (dont know what hes down to these days for sure) average is a terrible black hole. He is basically Cam, without the power batting average wise. Rivera has got to play more.

[dlk9s]

IMHO, a big leaguer that hits for the "power" Kendall does, should hit AT LEAST 290-300 probably over that.

He does, for his career. His batting skills started to diminish last year. I'm not surprised, either, considering how many games he has played behind the plate in his career.

 

[TheRealMattKain]

When Kendall was playing out here for Oakland, a friend of mine who is a big A's fan loved to mock Kendall's power by giving him the nickname "The Dribbler". I'll never forget sitting at an A's game and watching Kendall sneak two weak dribblers up the middle for basehits. The two of us went nuts on both plays - standing up, clapping, and yelling out "DRIBBLER!" much to the surprise and confusion of the fans sitting nearby. No matter what he does for the Brewers, he'll always be "The Dribbler" to me.

[endaround]

Kendall has no power because he can't elevate a ball, never could. It really is that simple, he found out his best chance to hit has always been to pound the ball on the ground. His speed used to help a lot but that's gone now.

[RU Rah Rah]

When Kendall was playing out here for Oakland, a friend of mine who is a big A's fan loved to mock Kendall's power by giving him the nickname "The Dribbler". I'll never forget sitting at an A's game and watching Kendall sneak two weak dribblers up the middle for basehits. The two of us went nuts on both plays - standing up, clapping, and yelling out "DRIBBLER!" much to the surprise and confusion of the fans sitting nearby. No matter what he does for the Brewers, he'll always be "The Dribbler" to me.

He is the master of the 28-hop groundball single, definitely. He had one in LA that almost made me laugh.

 

Unless he goes seriously sub-Mendoza, though, I think he's going to get a pass because of his "handling of the pitchers" (what that means, exactly).

 

[nate82]

How many #8 hitters in the league are batting over .250 though? Plus it could be worse we could have All Star Jason Varitek as our catcher who is batting .215 for the year.

[Postseason2006]

Iron Man Kendall needs more time off and that blatantly falls on the manager.

[RockCoCougars]

I couldn't care less if Kendall has no power. He has been a huuuuuge upgrade over Estrada.

[Postseason2006]

The milk man would be a huge upgrade defensively over Estra_a.

[nate82]

I couldn't care less if Kendall has no power. He has been a huuuuuge upgrade over Estrada.

You could put a broom with a glove behind home plate and it would be a huge upgrade over Estrada.

 

[pretendastronaut]

I couldn't care less if Kendall has no power. He has been a huuuuuge upgrade over Estrada.

You could put a broom with a glove behind home plate and it would be a huge upgrade over Estrada.

 

 

To be fair, Johnny would win in that foot race. But just barely.

I thought it was pretty funny when the Astros IBBed Kendall to get to CC the other night. CC has more homers than Kendall on the year! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[JohnBriggs12]

Kendall has no power because he can't elevate a ball, never could. It really is that simple, he found out his best chance to hit has always been to pound the ball on the ground. His speed used to help a lot but that's gone now.

It's not his inability to elevate a ball. His power is lost because he dives at pitches with his upper body, causing his body to lose most of it's torque and he's virtually hitting the ball with just his hands and arms. He also gets nothing from his lower body as he is crouched over, which explains why he doesn't seem to be affected by all the games he catches. He doesn't use his legs to hit anyway, so if he's tired or not, there's no difference. There's no way to hit a ball far enough with that type of swing. It's similar to the difference between a weekend golfer who can't hit the ball more than 200 to 220 or so yards and a pro who routinely can drive one 280-300.

[liveforoctober]

I thought the obvious answer here was that he chokes up on the bat. It's the David Eckstein school of hitting... choke up and put the ball in play, it's like he is playing pepper.

 

And for what it's worth... his average is over .250 currently.

[tristarscoop]

To be fair, Johnny would win in that foot race. But just barely.

I thought it was pretty funny when the Astros IBBed Kendall to get to CC the other night. CC has more homers than Kendall on the year! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

If by "race" you mean "stroll"

[bork]

It reminds me of the ribbing Surhoff would get for his extended home run droughts. I'm surprised to see how many home runs he hit after he left Milwaukee. But nothing tops Gantner and his 3 straight years without a home run.