Kennedy Prepared for Role of Leader at CS Northridge

NORTHRIDGE — The game well in hand by the fifth inning, Adam Kennedy got a well-deserved breather. Cal State Northridge Coach Mike Batesole told his All-American shortstop to take the rest of the day off.

A couple of innings later, Batesole couldn’t find Kennedy in the dugout. Somebody said to take a look in the bullpen.

There was Kennedy in full catcher’s gear, warming up a pitcher.

“I would have been better off leaving him in the game, for God’s sake,” Batesole said.

Breather? None needed by a guy who lives and breathes baseball.

“I’ve never sat my whole life,” Kennedy said. “If I couldn’t be on the field contributing, I figured I’d help someone else.”

Kennedy views baseball through a lens wide enough to take in the entire Northridge team, which plays host to Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m. Tuesday. He thinks in plural, always saying “us” and “we” rather than “I” and “me.”

On what it meant to try out for the U.S. Olympic team last summer (he was one of the last players cut), along with teammate Robert Fick: “It was good for our school. Guys from big programs saw that Northridge is for real.”

On the major league free-agent draft in June: “If the team does well, I’ll be drafted higher. Some people have told me that’s not true, but it’s how I want to look at it.”

Batesole hopes Kennedy’s outlook becomes infectious; he wants the junior third-year starter to be a team leader.

“When things need to be said, he’ll say them,” Batesole said. “But really, all you have to do is watch him.”

Last season, Kennedy led by example, topping the nation in hits with 121 and leading all Division I leadoff hitters with 17 home runs and 81 runs batted in. He batted .393 and led Northridge with 308 at-bats, 94 runs and six triples.

The Matadors led the nation with 52 victories, won the Western Athletic Conference title and advanced to the West Regional final.

“Adam Kennedy is the best baseball player I’ve ever played with,” said Fick, Northridge’s All-American catcher last season and now a Detroit Tigers’ minor leaguer. “And there’s something about the way he goes about his business that makes him a great leader.”

The deep friendships Kennedy developed with Fick and Eric Gillespie, the Matadors’ All-American third baseman last season who is an Angels’ minor leaguer, is something he missed when practice began last fall.

The trio was almost inseparable on and off the field, challenging Matador basketball players to pickup games in the gym and playing video games well into the night. They also led Northridge from mediocrity in 1994 to the brink of the College World Series.

Only Kennedy (6 feet 1, 180 pounds) is left to continue the quest.

“Once we were into fall practice, I’d look around the field and my best friends weren’t there,” he said. “But I can’t think, ‘We don’t have Robert and Eric.’ I think about who we do have.”

And how much work needs to be done.

The weakest part of Kennedy’s game is his throwing, and he focused on strengthening his arm during the off-season. Most scouts project him as a second baseman in the professional ranks, although some believe he should play shortstop until he proves he can’t.

It’s clear that Kennedy, 21, is coveted. Baseball America magazine ranked him as the 47th-best professional prospect among college players in its most recent issue. However, he learned during his Olympic tryout not to believe everything he hears.

“I saw the highs and lows, guys who were first-round picks and guys who thought they were going to be, and weren’t,” he said. “I don’t want to be set on a particular round. I haven’t put that burden on myself.”

As a Northridge freshman he played left field and batted .360 with eight home runs. The following summer he was chosen most valuable player in the Alaskan Summer League.

Although he played left field in Alaska, during practice he took countless ground balls at shortstop with summer teammates Jack Jones of Cal State Fullerton, and Ben Reynoso of Fresno State.

“I began to really learn the position,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, who bats left-handed, drastically altered his batting stance, going from standing straight up to crouching with his weight back in order to generate greater power from his legs.

“I wasn’t getting anything into the ball standing up,” he said. “I needed a mechanism to load up.”

Scouts are amused at Kennedy’s short, whip-like practice swings, but he has power to the opposite field and is handcuffed only on live fastballs from left-handers.

Kennedy reaches base every way possible. He is an accomplished bunter and was hit by pitches 18 times last season.

Something new he might see are intentional walks. Because the Northridge lineup is missing four players--Fick, Gillespie, Kurt Airoso and Grant Hohman--who combined for 75 home runs and nearly 300 RBIs last season, the coaches have tossed around the idea of dropping Kennedy to the No. 3 slot.

More likely, he will remain at leadoff, so opponents are less apt to pitch around him.

“I’d love to hit leadoff but I have no problem at all batting third,” he said.

Kennedy’s stance might change, his position might change, but his approach remains the same:

Whatever is best for the team.