Born December 19, 1984, Ian Kennedy plays MLB for San Diego Padres as their pitcher. Kennedy throws five types of pitches, including two-seam and four-seam fastballs at around 90 to 95 mph, a knuckle-curve at around 75 to 78 mph, a Vulcan changeup that is above average, and a cutter at around 85 mph. Kennedy started playing baseball in school and he was awarded many "valuable player" awards. In college, he played for University of Southern California and again received several awards and broke school records.
Kennedy started his professional baseball career in 2006, when he was drafted in the first round by the New York Yankees. He pitched for New York Penn League's team, Staten Island Yankees for 2.2 innings. In 2007, he played 63 innings for Tampa Yankees of Florida State League and posted record of 6-1, 1.29 ERA, and struck out 72. This earned him a promotion to Trenton Thunder, Double-A team of the Eastern League, where his record was 5-1, ERA was 2.59, and he struck out 57.
