Kinney making pitch to return to majors Coach thinks ex-Ram can still contribute

It’s been almost 12 years since Bangor native Matt Kinney realized nearly every young man’s dream and was drafted by a major league baseball team.

Now in his 13th season of organized professional ball, the 30-year-old Kinney is simply hoping for a chance at his sixth stay in the big leagues.

If he and Fresno Grizzlies pitching coach Mike Caldwell get their wishes, it would be an extended stay.

“I’d love to see that,” said Caldwell, who also worked with Kinney when they were with Milwaukee (2003-04). “He’s a great person and I’d have no problem with him going up because I know he can contribute. He’s done it before and he knows what to expect.”

So what’s keeping him at the Triple-A level, so maddeningly close to the big leagues?

“First, he’s got an average arm and everybody’s looking for plus arms,” Caldwell said, referring to pitch velocity. “Beyond that, he has to be as consistent as possible because he has pitches to get people out, not strike them out.”

The 1995 Bangor High graduate has been with five major league teams (Boston, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and San Francisco) and played parts of five seasons (2000, ’02, ’03, ’04, and ’05) in the majors. He re-signed with the Giants as a free agent in January after playing in their organization the last two years.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound righthander has made 10 starts for the Grizzlies this season, compiling a 3-5 record with a 4.47 ERA. In 54 2/3 innings, he has allowed 60 hits and 11 walks while striking out 37. Opposing batters are hitting .275 against Kinney this year.

“I like the fact he tries to pitch ahead and is pitching to contact early in the count before trying to expand the strike zone,” said Caldwell, who pitched big league ball for 14 seasons. “The thing he’s stayed most consistent with is not being afraid to put the ball in play. He’s learned that contact is a good thing.”

He has learned that changing speeds is good, too.

“I think one of his best pitches is his slider. He uses it a lot and creates some angle with it along with depth,” Caldwell said. “He’s taken it and learned how to throw it at two different speeds while still making it look like the same pitch coming out of his hand.”

On Sunday, Kinney gave up five earned runs, seven hits, and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He also notched seven strikeouts but came away with a no-decision.

“More than anything else, he usually stays pretty positive, even when he’s struggling,” Caldwell said.

Ironically, Kinney was having better success at the plate this season, batting .308 with four hits, one RBI, and one run scored in 13 at-bats.

Kinney, who was drafted in the sixth round of Major League Baseball’s 1995 first-year player draft by the Boston Red Sox, spent all of the 2006 season with Fresno, going 8-7 with a 4.80 ERA in 24 starts and 28 total appearances.

Kinney is 19-27 with a 5.29 ERA in 103 major league appearances – 58 of them starts. He was traded by Boston to Minnesota along with Joe Thomas and John Barnes for Greg Swindell and Orlando Merced in 1998. The Twins traded Kinney and Javier Valentin to Milwaukee in 2002 for Gerry Oakes and Matt Yeatman. He has been with the Giants since signing as a free agent in November 2004.

As a veteran pitcher, Kinney gets different treatment from Caldwell than he would as a younger farmhand.

“Obviously, you try to treat them with respect and find out what’s keeping them in Triple A and what can be tweaked to get them called up,” Caldwell said. “I also try to get them to be assistant coaches by helping us with the younger guys on the staff. He’s a great person and he’s doing a great job with both those things.”

Piney Point Village Rocket?

Not only is Roger Clemens not a native Texan, the future Hall of Fame pitcher born in Dayton, Ohio, is not a resident of Katy, Texas, despite public misconception.

Thanks to a reader from the Houston suburbs, we find out that the “Katy Rocket” is actually living in an exclusive town located about 8 miles from downtown Houston called Piney Point Village. While Clemens did attend Spring Woods High School in Houston and did live in Katy briefly, he no longer lives there and isn’t from there. Katy is 30 miles outside Houston.

The Piney Point Village Rocket has made three minor league starts the last two weeks and will make his 2007 big league debut Monday for the New York Yankees in Chicago against the White Sox.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net