Kinney working his way back to majors Bangor native now in Giants’ system

It may seem like Bangor’s Matt Kinney is back to square one.

After pitching for Milwaukee and Kansas City in the major leagues a year ago, Kinney currently finds himself in Class A.

He is pitching for the San Jose Giants, the California League affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

But the primary reason he’s in Class A is he had some arm tenderness this spring and was sent to extended spring training.

The 28-year-old righthander and 1995 Bangor High School graduate has made five starts with San Jose and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of them. He is 3-0 with a 2.10 earned run average and has 34 strikeouts and just 14 walks in 30 innings.

“It’s one of those things. I have to be patient a little while,” said Kinney. “I’ve been throwing the ball really well. I have to wait for them to move somebody out of Triple-A.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in Triple-A [Fresno of the Pacific Coast League] within the next three weeks,” said San Francisco director of player development Jack Hiatt. “We didn’t sign him to pitch in the low minors. We got him with the expressed hope he’d be a candidate to make our major league club. He had a pretty good setback in spring training so we had to bring him back slowly and build up his pitch count.”

Hiatt has been pleased with Kinney’s progress in San Jose.

“He has an outstanding arm and he knows how to pitch. He’s a nice guy, a good worker and we’re really pleased to have him,” added Hiatt. “He’ll have a chance to help them in San Francisco if he can pitch the way he’s capable of.”

Kinney signed a free agent contract with the Giants in the off-season and made three appearances for the parent club during spring training.

He said his fastball has been clocked consistently between 92-94 miles an hour “and I topped out at 98.”

He is also throwing a curve, slider and change-up.

“I feel I can throw all four pitches in any situation,” said Kinney. “I’ve improved my change-up a lot. It’s a lot more effective. And I’ve been pretty consistent with my curve and slider.”

Kinney said his changeup is a split-fingered change.

He likes the Giants organization and said they tried to obtain him last year “but the Brewers wouldn’t make a deal with them.”

Kinney, a sixth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1995, said he is confident he can return to the major leagues and be productive.

He has 98 major league games under his belt and is 17-27 with a 5.27 earned run average. He was 3-4 with a 5.78 ERA for the Brewers in 32 appearances before being obtained by Kansas City, where he was 0-1 in 11 relief appearances with a 7.16 ERA.

“At some point, I know they’ll move me up to Triple A where I’ll get challenged a little more,” said Kinney. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in ‘A’ ball or in the major leagues, if you make good pitches, you can get guys out. I hope things work out.”

As for now, he doesn’t mind being in San Jose. San Jose is currently leading the North Division.

“We’ve got good guys on the team and I like the coaching staff,” said Kinney who pitched 6 2/3 innings of seven-hit, one-run ball in a 4-1 win over Bakersfield Wednesday, striking out eight and walking two.