Kyle Rodney Kendrick (born August 26, 1984, in
Houston, Texas) is a starting pitcher for the
Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball.
Kendrick was a three-sport standout in football,
basketball, and baseball at Mount Vernon High School
in Mount Vernon, Washington. Kendrick was drafted by
the Phillies in the 7th round of the June 2003 MLB
Draft. Kendrick turned down the opportunity to play
quarterback at Washington State University.
Kyle was first called up to the Phillies after
pitcher Freddy Garcia was placed on the DL. Kendrick
singled to right field in his first major league
at-bat during his first major league appearance - an
afternoon game at Citizens Bank Park against the
Chicago White Sox on June 13, 2007. He pitched six
innings and gave up three runs. Kendrick's father
Morrie, who was in attendance, got a hand on (but
did not catch) a foul ball during the game.
Kyle's first loss came on July 18, 2007, against the
Dodgers, 5-4.
Kendrick (7 points) came in fifth, and lost out to
Ryan Braun (128 points) in the vote for the 2007 NL
Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award by 488 major
league players and 30 managers.
Before the 2008 season, the Phillies (led by pitcher
Brett Myers) pulled a prank on Kendrick by telling
him that he was traded to Japan for a player named
Kobayashi Iwamura. When Kendrick realized it was
only a prank, he was relieved and Myers repeatedly
shouted that he got "punked," referring to the
popular TV show on MTV, Punk'd[3]. "Kobayashi" was
referring to Takeru Kobayashi, the world-famous
Japanese hot dog eater, and "Iwamura" was referring
to the last name of Tampa Bay Devil Rays third
baseman Akinori Iwamura.
