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Ian Patrick Kennedy (born December 19, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Between 2007 and 2023, he played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Philadelphia Phillies.
A standout pitcher at La Quinta High School in California, Kennedy played three seasons of college baseball for the USC Trojans. The Yankees selected him 21st overall in the 2006 MLB Draft and he quickly rose through the team's farm system, making his major league debut the next year. The Yankees traded Kennedy to the Diamondbacks after the 2009 season, and he became Arizona's ace, leading the National League in wins during the 2011 season.
The Royals moved Kennedy to the bullpen in 2019 after a series of injuries, and he found a new role as the team's closer, and he continued to work as a relief pitcher for the remainder of his career.
Between his junior and senior year of high school, Kennedy played internationally with the 2002 US Junior National Team, with whom he went 1–0 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings. Kennedy was tapped as the starting pitcher for the US team's bronze medal match at the 2002 World Junior Baseball Championship, where he took the win with only one earned run and 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work.
USC baseball coach Mike Gillespie opened the 2005 season with the intention of using Kennedy up to three times a week, pitching on Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays to limit the damage of the school's dearth of starting pitchers. Pitching coach Dave Lawn, meanwhile, focused on improving Kennedy's command and stamina, which would allow him to pitch deeper into each game. His sophomore year turned into a breakout season for Kennedy, who went 12–2 with a 2.54 ERA, earned consensus All-American honors, and helped lead the Trojans through the first round of the 2005 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Ultimately, however, the Trojans fell to Oregon State at the Corvallis Super Regional and were eliminated from the tournament. Kennedy, meanwhile, was named the Pac-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year after striking out 95 batters in his first innings.
Going into the 2006 college baseball season, USC lost many staples of its rotation to the MLB draft, including catcher Jeff Clement and third baseman Billy Hart, and Kennedy was called upon to be a leader for the younger members of the team. That February, he came within one out of a no-hitter against Kansas before senior Ritchie Price recorded a hit in the ninth inning. Ultimately, Kennedy could not repeat the success of the previous season, slumping to a 5–7 record with a 3.90 ERA in 2006. Kennedy finished his college baseball career with a 24–12 record and a 3.09 ERA. He came in third at the time for all-time USC strikeouts with 380, and was second in strikeouts per nine innings (K/9) with 10.99.
Following his brief Staten Island outing, Kennedy was assigned to the Class A Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League to begin the 2007 season. In 10 Class A starts, Kennedy posted a 6–1 record with a 1.29 ERA, striking out 72 batters in 63 innings and holding his opponents to a .183 batting average. He received a promotion to the Double-A Trenton Thunder at the start of June and won his Double-A debut against the Binghamton Mets on June 6, 2007. On July 24, Kennedy and his rotation mate Joba Chamberlain were both promoted from Trenton to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. At the time of his promotion, Kennedy led the Yankees' farm system with 129 strikeouts and was tied for first with 11 wins. He made only six starts with Scranton, going 1–1 with a 2.08 ERA and striking out 34 batters in innings. Altogether, Kennedy posted a 12–3 minor league record in 2007, with a 1.91 ERA and 163 strikeouts in 25 starts and innings.
Kennedy opened the 2009 season in Triple-A but began feeling numbness in his pitching hand that April. On May 8, he was diagnosed with an aneurysm around his biceps and underwent surgery the following week. He began facing live batters again at the start of September, and from there, Kennedy pitched in six minor-league games, including two starts, for a total of innings. He returned to the major leagues on September 20, with manager Joe Girardi intending to utilize Kennedy as a long reliever. Kennedy made his first Yankees appearance in over a year on September 23, walking two batters and hitting another with a pitch during the eighth inning of an eventual 3–2 win over the Angels. Kennedy was subsequently left off of the postseason roster on the Yankees' run to a 2009 World Series championship title. After the season ended, he joined the Surprise Rafters of the Arizona Fall League to make up for the mostly-lost season. Experimenting with developing off-speed pitches, Kennedy had a 4.25 ERA during his fall league stint, putting up a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.6 in his innings.
The Diamondbacks' banner season echoed Kennedy's: after finishing last in the NL West during the 2010 season, Arizona clinched the NL West title with a 3–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on September 23. Kennedy was called upon to start Game 1 of the 2011 National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching opposite Yovani Gallardo. He was unable to carry his regular season success into the playoffs, giving up four earned runs in innings and taking the loss in the 4–1 defeat. Kennedy faced Gallardo again in game 5, with neither pitcher taking the decision. While John Axford's first blown save for the Brewers took the game into extra innings, the Diamondbacks were eliminated on a walk-off RBI from Nyjer Morgan.
Kennedy picked up his first opening day win in 2012, outpitching Giants ace Tim Lincecum in a 5–4 victory. He struggled early in the season, with a 3–5 record and 4.65 ERA by the start of June, but felt "like he got in a nice little groove" against the Giants on June 1, allowing only one run in innings. In his next start, after making a "secret" mechanical change to his pitches, Kennedy matched his career high 12 strikeouts in a 10–0 shutout of the Colorado Rockies. That July, he lasted eight innings in two consecutive starts, giving up three runs across the 16 total innings. In the second start, Kennedy also hit his first career triple, clearing the bases in a 6–3 defeat of the Rockies. While his record and ERA dropped to 14–11 and 4.14 during the 2012 season, respectively, Kennedy boasted an 8.0 K/9 ratio for the second year in a row, and maintained a 2.0 Wins Above Replacement for the year. Kennedy once again served as Arizona's opening pitcher for the 2013 season, striking out eight batters and allowing two runs in seven innings of a 6–2 defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals. On June 11, while facing the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers, Kennedy accidentally glanced a fastball off of Yasiel Puig's face in the sixth inning. In the next inning, Dodgers starter Zack Greinke retaliated by striking catcher Miguel Montero in the back. In the bottom half of that inning, Kennedy struck Greinke in the helmet with a pitch, leading to a benches-clearing brawl between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, with six players and coaches ejected from the game. Kennedy was suspended for 10 games for what MLB referred to as "intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Zack Greinke ... after a warning had already been issued to both clubs". At the time of his suspension, Kennedy was 3–4 with a 5.21 ERA. He returned on June 29, where control problems led to four runs in innings and Arizona extended its losing streak to 21 games.
Going into the 2014 season, Padres manager Bud Black placed Kennedy in the second spot of the starting rotation, between opening day starter Andrew Cashner and No. 3 Tyson Ross. On May 9, while facing the Miami Marlins, Kennedy not only tied his career-high 12 strikeouts as a pitcher, but he hit the first home run of his career, a solo shot against Miami starting pitcher Jacob Turner in the sixth inning. Over the course of the season, Kennedy saw noticeable improvement in his ERA, walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP), and strikeout-to-walk ratio over the previous season, which he credited to Black and pitching coach Darren Balsley, the latter of whom taught Kennedy to strengthen his leg kick when pitching to improve his command. Balsley's advice helped Kennedy add an extra mile per hour of velocity to Kennedy's fastball, which now reached speeds of and helped him strike out an average of 9.27 batters per nine innings. On September 27, while facing the San Francisco Giants for his 33rd and final start of the season, Kennedy passed his 200th inning pitched of the season for the third time in his career, and struck out his 200th batter of the season for the first time. He finished the year with a 13–13 record and a 3.63 ERA. While starting the Padres' 2015 home opener against the Giants, Kennedy had to be taken out of the game in the third inning with a left hamstring strain. He explained later that he had begun to feel pain in the area on the final pitch of the second inning, and that he had asked to be taken out to avoid injuring his arm by altering his pitching mechanics. He returned on April 25 to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up eight hits and eight runs in innings while striking out only two batters. The injury set Kennedy off-course at the start of the season, and by the end of May, he had a 7.15 ERA in eight starts. He recovered through the middle part of the season, striking out 93 batters in 16 starts between June and August while holding his opponents to a .229 batting average, but struggled again at the end of the year. In his final six starts of 2015, batters hit .297 against Kennedy, who had a 5.61 ERA in that span. He finished the year with a 9–15 record and a 4.28 ERA but showed considerable improvement in his fastball velocity and in his K/9 ratio, the latter of which was 9.3 for the year.
At the end of the season, the Padres tendered Kennedy a one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer under the anticipation that he would reject it in search of a multi-year contract elsewhere. Kennedy rejected the offer, becoming a free agent that winter.
At the start of the 2017 MLB season, Kennedy served as the Royals' No. 2 starter, behind former reliever Danny Duffy. After going 0–3 with a 3.03 ERA in his first six starts, Kennedy suffered another hamstring injury on May 4, leaving the mound against the Chicago White Sox after innings. He returned on May 21, lasting only two innings while walking three batters and giving up a pair of home runs. Kennedy and manager Ned Yost both clarified that the pitcher felt physically fine, and that his command issues were mental. Ultimately, however, the hamstring injury continued to bother Kennedy through the remainder of the season, particularly when he tried to utilize his changeup, historically Kennedy's most effective approach. His 5.38 ERA for the year was Kennedy's worst since 2008, and after returning at the end of May, his opponents boasted a .528 slugging percentage against him. Despite struggling his way to a 5–13 record for the year, Kennedy chose not to opt out of the remainder of his Royals contract, saying that it "would be pretty stupid" to forego the final three years of the agreement.
A number of injuries befell Kennedy during the 2018 season. On April 24, he was hit in the foot with a line drive off the bat of Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers. Kennedy was able to finish pitching the inning but had to be removed from the game afterwards with a contusion. It was the first time in Kennedy's 274 major league starts that he had not recorded at least one strikeout. Most of Kennedy's summer was taken up with a left oblique strain: he was originally put on the 10-day disabled list for the injury at the end of June, with a return date of July 10. During that attempted start, Kennedy lasted only three innings before a recurrence of the oblique strain forced him off the mound and back onto the disabled list. Kennedy returned to the mound in full on September 9 to pitch six innings against the Minnesota Twins. Injuries limited Kennedy to only 22 starts for the year, in which he went 3–9 with a 4.66 ERA and struck out 105 batters in innings.
The injuries that Kennedy had suffered in 2018 worried the Royals, who moved him into the bullpen to start the 2019 MLB season, believing that the decreased innings workload would help Kennedy stay healthy through the season. Kennedy himself was hesitant to make the change, believing that he was capable of another year in the starting rotation, but he ultimately had a successful stint as the Royals' closer. On July 28, Kennedy recorded his 20th save of the year, becoming the sixth pitcher since saves were recorded in 1969 to compile 20 wins and 20 saves in a single season. For the period between May 30 and September 23, Kennedy led MLB with 28 saves, including 19 after the All-Star break, and he noticed a physical improvement to becoming a reliever, in contrast to feeling "like you get hit by a truck every fifth day" as a starting pitcher. Kennedy posted a 3–2 record and a 3.41 ERA for the season, striking out 73 batters in innings and successfully converting 30 saves in 34 opportunities.
Upon learning that the 2020 MLB season would be shortened to 60 regular-season games as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Royals manager Mike Matheny decided not to assign any permanent roles like closer or setup man for his bullpen. Instead, he left the option open for dominant relievers like Kennedy to enter games in earlier innings if he believed that they were in a position to change the course of the game. On August 15, Kennedy made his first starting appearance since 2018, pitching the first two innings of a bullpen game against the Minnesota Twins. At the end of the month, he was placed on the injured list when he suffered a left calf strain in the ninth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox. Kennedy attempted to field a ground ball but began limping afterwards and had to be removed from the game. The injury limited Kennedy to only 15 appearances during the truncated season, during which he posted a 9.00 ERA and a 1.786 WHIP.
On June 20, 2023, Kennedy re–signed with the Rangers on a minor league contract. After posting a 3.51 ERA in 22 games for Triple–A Round Rock, he was selected back to the major league roster on September 5. On September 16, Kennedy was placed on the 60–day injured list with a right rotator cuff strain, ending his season.
In the bullpen, Kennedy maintains a three-pitch repertoire centered around his fastball, with a changeup and a curveball acting as his off-speed pitches. His average fastball velocity has steadily increased throughout his major league career, and has been at its highest during the 2021 season, where it carried an average velocity of . His off-speed pitches also became faster after Kennedy transitioned to the shorter innings workload required of a reliever: his curveball jumped an average of after moving to the bullpen in 2019, while his changeup simultaneously rose by .
While playing for the Padres, Kennedy and his family began inviting the children of United States Navy members to baseball games. After signing with the Royals, he expanded upon this trend: at every home Saturday game, Kennedy would invite members of various military branches to watch the game from a Dugout Suite, where they would receive free food and Royals merchandise. Kennedy was a recipient of the 2019 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award, presented to baseball players for their continued support of members of the United States military.
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