Rockies Year in Review: Kyle Kendrick

Today we feature Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick.

Here at Rox Pile, we are starting a player review for each and every player that suited up in a Colorado Rockies uniform this season. This series will be going all the way up until Dec. 16 with player profiles posted every day.

Kendrick signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Colorado Rockies this past offseason, looking to add leadership and a veteran presence in Colorado’s up-and-down rotation. Kendrick was named the Rockies Opening Day starter against the Milwaukee Brewers — probably his best start of the 2015 season.

On Apr. 6 against Milwaukee, Kendrick was lights-out — something you wouldn’t have said for the remainder of the campaign. Kyle pitched seven scoreless innings, yielding seven hits while striking out six. Kendrick’s performance gave fans like myself hope, yet that feeling didn’t last very long.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Over his next eight starts, Kendrick went 0-6, yielding 39 runs in 46.1 innings pitched. From that point on, every single time the veteran toed the rubber, you knew Colorado’s offense had to match the opposition or else.

Kendrick continued to struggle as the chants for Rockies’ top prospect Jon Gray started to surface. However, Colorado didn’t budge with their offseason acquisition, keeping him in the rotation for the remainder of the year. Kendrick did suffer a shoulder injury in his start on Jul. 31 against the St. Louis Cardinals, sidelining him for the month of August.

Kendrick was terrible to say the least, giving up 33 home runs to the opposition which was tied for first in the Majors — James Shields. As for the season as a whole, Kendrick collected a record of 7-13, accompanied by a dreadful ERA of 6.32. Kendrick posted a WHIP of 1.52 — not to mention, opponents hit .302 off him. I’m not a so-called expert, but I know letting opponents hit at a clip like that won’t help your team very much.

Next: Rockies Year in Review: DJ LeMahieu

Right away, I really liked the signing of Kendrick to potentially be a four or five starter in Colorado’s rotation, then it soured. Colorado made the mistake, now they need to acknowledge it and move forward.

Overall Grade: F