IronPigs’ Buddy Kennedy working to get his timing back ... again

Buddy Kennedy stood at various points in the batting cage four hours before Tuesdays IronPigs game against the visiting Worcester Red Sox.

Bench coach Chris Tank Adamson was behind the pitching machine, adjusting the speed of the balls being thrown after every series of pitches.

Kennedy was searching, as every hitter does at some point every season, for his timing.

The IronPigs infielder and South Jersey resident was trying to recapture the timing that allowed him to slash .361/.438/.629/1.066 in a 25-game stretch and be named the International League hitter of the month for May.

The 26-year-old started June in a 3-for-34 slide before Tuesdays game with six strikeouts, but more alarming to him, a lot of weak contact.

The quality of getting out, Kennedy said, I didnt feel good.

No one wants to get out, but if I hit a blooper to the second baseman compared to a line drive to the right fielder, theres a difference.

If Im [lining out to right field] and getting out everythings fine.

But I knew [recently] I was getting too far out on my front foot.

Thats been my challenge all year.

I had it in Norfolk [from May 29-June 1], was completely fine, had a bunch of hits.

Charlotte [from June 3-8], my timing was bad and also had bad luck.

Kennedy fell in a 1-2 hole against Worcester off-speed specialist Isaac Coffey in his first at-bat Tuesday, then saw three consecutive curveballs.

Slow (78.5 mph), slower (73.1) and slowest (72.7).

Kennedy fouled off the first two curveballs with uncomfortable swings.

Kennedy then relied on his pre-game work to stay back that extra split second.

He squared up the third curveball and hit it 386 feet for a solo home run.

It was his first extra-base hit in 10 games.

It was perhaps the start of another comfortable stretch at the plate.

Im just trying to hit the ball hard, he said.

If youre out on your front foot, youll never hit the ball hard.

Its really trying to be consistent with my timing, be ready for the fastball when its thrown and adjust 1-2, 0-2, to the breaking ball and put on a good swing.

Kennedy also walked and was hit by a pitch in Tuesdays game, one in which Coffey and three relievers baffled the IronPigs offense which managed only two other hits in an 8-1 loss.

The Millville, New Jersey, native spent parts of the previous three seasons in the majors with the Diamondbacks, Tigers and Phillies.

He was the last position player cut from the major league roster at the end of spring training.

The Phillies kept Kody Clemens, who then hardly played and was eventually designated for assignment and claimed by the Twins where hes batting .244 with 12 extra-base hits in 33 games.

Kennedy came to the Phillies organization in mid-June 2024, then promptly batted .370 and had a 14-game hitting streak to start his tenure with the IronPigs.

He eventually made his Phillies debut on Sept.

6, stayed there for 10 days, then returned in the final week of the regular season.

This season in Triple-A, he is slashing .289/.393/.466/.858 with more RBIs (37) than strikeouts (36) and more hits (57) than games played (53).

Hes found a way to be more consistent at the plate even while spending more time defensively at a position hes far less comfortable at.

Hes played 580 combined games at second and third baseball in his minor league career.

He played 13 games the previous eight years at first base.

Hes played there 33 times in 2025.

If you put pressure on yourself, he said, youll just eat at your mind more and your body will be destroyed.

I take a different look at it: 1.

Was it a good pitch to hit? 2.

Was it in the strike zone? If it wasnt in the strike zone and it wasnt a good pitch to hit, then the conversation just ends there.

Next time, be on the fastball.

Tank has been telling me all year that if I hit the ball hard and get out, was it out over the plate and a good pitch to hit? [If so], well then lets dive into it.

If not, you start stirring your brain around.

You dont want to get into a mental funk.

The IronPigs are in their first funk of the season in part of an offense that has managed only 16 runs during a four-game losing streak entering Wednesday.

Nine of those runs came in one game.

They lost the leagues best player, Otto Kemp, to the Phillies to replace the injured Bryce Harper.

They lost one of the leagues top pitchers, Mick Abel, to replace the injured Aaron Nola.

They also have Justin Crawford, Cal Stevenson, Garrett Stubbs and Christian Arroyo nursing injuries.

So, Kennedy is one of the remaining offensive weapons in the middle of a lineup that is trying to secure the franchises first playoff berth since 2018.

Lehigh Valley (43-21) is 4.5 games ahead of Nashville and five games ahead of Jacksonville for the first-half title with 11 games left.

The first-half champion hosts the second-half champion in a best-of-three series for the right to play the Pacific Coast League champion in a one-game final in Las Vegas on Sept.

27.

Up next RHP Gabe Mosser (1-1, 6.00 ERA) faces Worcester RHP Richard Fitts (0-0, 12.00) in a 6:45 p.m.

first pitch Thursday.

Fitts has made only one Triple-A start after beginning the year with the Red Sox, then going on the injured list.

Mosser, a Parkland graduate, is making his third Triple-A start after opening 2025 with Double-A Reading.

Morning Call senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at [email protected].

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