Howie Kendrick’s 15 years

It was in the bottom of the 9th inning. Howie Kendrick was batting, full-count, Kendrick took a fastball to deep right field, it was clearly a double, Kendrick didn’t stop at second, he kept running, unfortunately, he was out at third. It was a pity that Kendrick didn’t reach 3rd base safely and I was a little disappointed at the Dodgers stadium then.

Howie Kendrick announced his retirement last December. In his career, there are truly several memorable moments and cool things to watch. 2019 was surely an unforgettable year for Kendrick and the Nationals. We all know that the Nationals won the 2019 World Series Champions. But, let’s look back at game 1 of the NLDS. Howie Kendrick had two fielding errors in the first game of the NLDS and it was definitely a game that Kendrick would like to forget. However, a few days later, in the top of the 10th inning of the game 5 of the NLDS, bases loaded, Howie Kendrick sent the ball to deep center field, his go-ahead grand slam helped the Nationals head to the NLCS. In the NLCS, he was hitting .333/.412/.600 with 4 RBI. He had a pretty good series and he won the NLCS MVP. In the World Series, Kendrick batted .280/.308/.400. In the game 7 of the World Series, Howie Kendrick hit a go-ahead homer in the top of the 7th inning. That homer totally changed the game. In the 2019 postseason, Kendrick blasted two homers, yes, exactly two home runs, the two clutch homers came at the right time and Howie Kendrick became a hero in the postseason.

When we look at Kendrick’s career, Mr. Consistency is so consistent. As we can see, in these 15 years, Kendrick’s batting average remained at least .275 every month. He was consistently productive and a very reliable hitter in the lineup. 

Let’s go a little bit more. In Kendrick’s 15 seasons in the major league, we probably can say that he’s usually hot in August. In these 15 years, his batting average went over .300 nine times. Nonetheless, he usually cooled down a little bit in September as he had a batting average of over .300 only 4 times. If we change the benchmark to .280, Kendrick had a batting average over .280 eleven times in August. It’s also interesting to see that Kendrick batted .462/.517/.885 in August in 2019 and .410/.455/.623 in September. That might be a signal to indicate that Kendrick would have a good postseason?

Kendrick’s hustle play to try to advance to the 3rd base was still very vivid in my mind. At the Dodger stadium on a sunny Sunday afternoon, that memory was truly great. In Kendrick’s career, he was hitting .294/.337/.430. He collected 1747 hits and 127 homers. These numbers won’t make him a Hall of Famer. He was an All-Star only once. Nonetheless, that hustle play showed me how hard he was playing. The two clutch home runs in the 2019 postseason are going to be replayed again and again. Those great moments define his great career.