Not your ordinary backstop
Catcher Kendall slated to bat leadoff for Pirates
Posted: Sunday February 28, 1999 05:49 PM
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Kendall hit .327 and set a major league record for catchers with 26 stolen bases last season. David Seelig/Allsport |
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Catchers handle pitchers. They occasionally
hit home runs. They steady the defense.
They do not lead off.
"That's because most of them can't run very well and often can't hit
very well," said Pittsburgh Pirates
manager Gene Lamont, a former catcher whose own major league career was
shortened by his inability to run and hit.
Jason
Kendall can run. Jason Kendall can hit. So when the Pirates traded
leadoff hitter Tony Womack to
the Arizona
Diamondbacks on Friday, they didn't look far for their new No. 1
hitter: They found him sitting behind home plate.
The choice was obvious, although it would seem that a catcher -- even
a mold-breaker such as Kendall -- would be the last option of any manager
to be his first hitter.
After all, catchers are supposed to steal signs, not bases.
"But look what he's done," Lamont said Sunday of Kendall, who hit .327
and set a major league record for catchers with 26 stolen bases last
season. "He's batted second, he's batted third, I don't think batting first
would be a big difference for him."
Lamont has not officially anointed the 24-year-old Kendall as his
leadoff hitter, if only because the exhibition schedule doesn't begin until
Friday and the season opener is 4 1/2 weeks away.
But Lamont's only other options would seem to be second baseman Mike Benjamin,
who is better suited to batting eighth, and center fielder Brant Brown,
whom Lamont envisions more as a No. 3 or 5 hitter.
If Kendall leads off, he would be the first major league catcher to do
so regularly since Houston's Craig Biggio,
who eventually moved to second base to further take advantage of his speed,
range and fast legs.
The Pirates have no such position move in mind for Kendall, a .308
career hitter who has batted .300 or higher twice in his three major league
seasons. They certainly don't want one of the cornerstones of their
rebuilding program to move out of town; they've offered him a $16.5
million, three-year contract extension even though he is signed through
2001.
"I don't really care where I bat ... second, third, first," Kendall
said. "If they want me to leadoff, I have no problem with that."
Kendall's run production likely will suffer if he leads off, as his 75
RBIs were third among the last-place Pirates to Kevin Young's
108 and Jose
Guillen's 84. Last year, Kendall batted third 102 times and second 40
times.
But while Kendall won't steal as many bases as Womack, who led the NL
in stolen bases the last two seasons, his on-base percentage of .411 ranked
seventh in the NL and was nearly 100 percentage points higher than Womack's
.319. Kendall also struck out only 51 times, compared to Womack's 94.
With his ability to get on base, Kendall conceivably could be the
first catcher with 40 stolen bases in a season if the Pirates decide a
catcher's legs can stand the wear and tear of running the bases.
"We talked a lot about it before we traded Tony," said general manager
Cam Bonifay, who has remade the Pirates' lineup with a succession of
offseason moves. "Stealing bases and scratching out runs was a big part of
our offense the last two years, but we feel that by improving our offense,
we'll have more big innings and more extra-base hits."
With Womack gone, the Pirates probably will start only three players
who were in their opening day lineup last season: Young at first, Guillen
in right and Kendall at catcher.
The infield should be three-quarters new with Benjamin at second, Pat Meares at
short and Ed
Sprague at third, and Brian Giles and Brown will start in the outfield
unless Al
Martin makes a major push during spring training to regain his job.
With so many changes going on around him, Kendall must figure that
changing spots in the batting order is the thing to do.
"I've never worried about where I hit," Kendall said. "I've just
always wanted to play."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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