Ian Kennedy - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 4 of 12

I still think Ian Kennedy (pictured in autographed 2008 Ultimate Collection baseball card) is the best young pitcher in the Yankees organization and although he may not go into 2009 in the rotation I think he'll get there and have a lot of value in fantasy baseball. I know he got absolutely hammered in the big leagues last year but I'm willing to toss out those 40 innings as an adjustment period.

In over 150 innings at AA and AAA between 2007 and 2008 Ian Kennedy had a sub 2.50 ERA, roughly a 1.00 WHIP and 9 Ks per 9 and a walk rate of less than 3 per 9. This yields a Command Ratio of better than 3 which is stellar - 2 is when pitchers start to become very solid for fantasy purposes. Part of his undoing were 27 walks which looks to me like more of an outlier than what we can expect from Kennedy when he's more of a finished product.

Command and control pitchers sometimes take a little longer to adjust than the flame throwers and I think that's what we've seen so far with Ian Kennedy. I love his K rate considering it's not really his specialty. I could see Ian Kennedy turn into an AL East version of Kevin Slowey - solid innings eater with generally good stats all around. I think Kennedy is worth a late round sleeper pick on draft day.

Pick up an Ian Kennedy autographed baseball card on eBay!

More fantasy baseball sleepers,
Elijah Dukes - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 1 of 12
Anibal Sanchez - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 2 of 12
Delmon Young - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 3 of 12
Clint Barmes - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 5 of 12
Carlos Guillen - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 6 of 12
Alexi Casilla - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 7 of 12
Jeff Francis - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 8 of 12
Jonathon Niese - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 9 of 12
Juan Rivera - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 10 of 12
Jeff Clement - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 11 of 12
Joey Devine - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers , Part 12 of 12