Joseph Darley Kennedy (May 24, 1979 – November 23, 2007) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He pitched from 2001 to 2007 for the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

, and the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Early life

Kennedy was born in

La Mesa, California La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, located east of Downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of the Hills." History La Me ...

to John and Holly Kennedy. He had an older brother, John Kennedy Jr., and a younger sister, Bettianne Kennedy. Kennedy played Little League in

El Cajon, California El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

. He was a member of the 1991 El Cajon American Little League team that won the Southern California Little League championship. The team was eliminated after a first-round 3–1 loss to Kahulia East Maui in the West Region Tournament in

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

. He graduated from

El Cajon Valley High School El Cajon Valley High School (ECVHS) is a comprehensive public secondary school located in El Cajon, California, which is in the eastern county of San Diego, and serves students in grades nine through twelve. Established in 1955, El Cajon Valley is ...

, where he played baseball as well as

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and attended

Grossmont College Grossmont College is a public community college in El Cajon, California. Its name originated with the silent film actor and producer William J. Gross, who was enticed by Ed Fletcher to invest the purchase of land, part of which was called Grossmo ...

before entering the major league draft.

Professional career

Kennedy was drafted by the

in the eighth round (252nd overall) of the

Major League Baseball draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. He made his major league debut on June 6, with the Devil Rays.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Kennedy made his Major League debut on June 6, 2001, becoming the first lefthander to start a game for the Devil Rays in 219 games. He finished 7–8 in 20 starts for the Devil Rays. In his second season, he pitched in 30 starts going 8-11 while throwing 5 complete games for the Devil Rays. In 2003, he was named the Opening Day starter for the Devil Rays after having an abysmal spring training. He made 22 straight starts before being relegated to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

after suffering an arm injury in . He had pitched in 72 consecutive starts for the Devil Rays before being moved to the bullpen. He recorded his first career save on September 10, 2003, against the Blue Jays, pitching three scoreless innings.

Colorado Rockies

Traded to the

before the season, Kennedy became the first Rockies starter to have a sub 4.00

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

, setting a franchise record with a 3.66 ERA while going 9-7 for the Rockies. In 2005, Kennedy struggled as a starter for the Rockies, going 4–8 with a 7.04 ERA.

Oakland Athletics

On June 5, 2005, the A's showed interest in Kennedy. On July 13 of that year, Kennedy, along with pitcher

Jay Witasick Gerald Alphonse "Jay" Witasick Jr. (; born August 28, 1972) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched all or parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1996 to 2007, primarily as a relief pitcher. High school an ...

, was traded by the Rockies to the Oakland Athletics for

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Eric Byrnes Eric James Byrnes (born February 16, 1976), is a baseball analyst and former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Se ...

and

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

infield prospect

Omar Quintanilla Omar Quintanilla (born October 24, 1981) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Rockies (2005–2009), Texas Rangers (2011), New York Mets (2012, 2013-2014) and Baltimore Orioles (2 ...

. Kennedy pitched in the bullpen for Oakland before being pressed into the starter role in September when

Rich Harden James Richard Harden (born November 30, 1981) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball. Early years Harden attended Claremont Secondary S ...

was injured. Kennedy went 1-5 as a starter for Oakland, and finished the year with a 4–5 record and a 4.70 ERA in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

. Kennedy pitched well in a middle relief role in Oakland's bullpen in 2006, with a record of 4-1 and a 2.31 ERA. Unfortunately, his role was diminished as he missed three months with shoulder and biceps injuries. Despite struggling in spring training with an ERA above 11.00, Kennedy was named the fifth starter for the Athletics at the start of the season. Through June 2 he compiled a 1–4 record with a 3.30 ERA in 62 innings. He was ineffective afterwards and was placed on waivers.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kennedy was claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 4 after being placed on waivers by the Athletics. He was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

on August 15 after allowing 7 runs in 3 games and was released by the Diamondbacks.

Toronto Blue Jays

He signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on August 28 and was called up to the major league team on September 2. He pitched in nine games, all in relief, for the Blue Jays in the final month of the season and went 1–0 with a 5.14 ERA. He became a free agent after the season.

Scouting

Kennedy had a bevy of pitches at his disposal, featuring a 92-96 MPH four-seam fastball, a 90-92 MPH two-seam fastball, a slow curve, a diving slider and, possibly his second-best pitch after his fastball, a deceptive changeup. His powerful delivery was at the 3/4-sidearm slot, which made his pitches particularly hard for left-handed batters to pick up. He was also very effective against right-handed batters. After struggling a little as a spot-starter for the Athletics, he pitched well in the bullpen in 2006, holding his opponents to a .254 batting average and going 4–1 with a 2.31 ERA.

Death

On November 23, 2007, Kennedy was in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to be the best man at the wedding of a friend. He woke up in the middle of the night and collapsed at the home of his in-laws. He was taken to HCA Florida Brandon Hospital in

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name * Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

, where he was pronounced dead. At the time of Kennedy's death, he was married to Jami Kennedy, who was pregnant with their second child (the couple's first son was one year old at the time.) On January 15, 2008, it was announced by the medical examiner that Kennedy had died of

hypertensive heart disease Hypertensive heart disease includes a number of complications of high blood pressure that affect the heart. While there are several definitions of hypertensive heart disease in the medical literature, the term is most widely used in the context of ...

with degeneration of the

mitral valve The mitral valve (), also known as the bicuspid valve or left atrioventricular valve, is one of the four heart valves. It has two cusps or flaps and lies between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart. The heart valves are all one-w ...

."Medical examiner rules Kennedy died of heart disease"
January 15, 2008. Accessed January 15, 2008. After Kennedy's death, Frank Thomas kept Kennedy's glove in his locker wherever he played until he retired.

References

External links

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Joe 1979 births 2007 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona Diamondbacks players Baseball players from California Charleston RiverDogs players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Deaths from hypertension Durham Bulls players Grossmont Griffins baseball players Hudson Valley Renegades players Major League Baseball pitchers Oakland Athletics players Orlando Rays players People from La Mesa, California Princeton Devil Rays players Sacramento River Cats players Sportspeople from El Cajon, California Syracuse Chiefs players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Toronto Blue Jays players