Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy talks about the differences between starting and relieving

Ask Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy the biggest difference between starting and relieving and the first thing he says is: “No free pitches.”

Here’s what he means.

By the time a relief pitcher faces a hitter, the hitter has already had two or three at-bats against the starter and is all warmed up, ready to swing the bat. Early in the game a hitter might let a fastball go by to see what the starter has that night, but won’t do the same with a reliever.

That part of the contest is over and it’s now game on.

In the later innings, there aren’t many pitches, at-bats or innings left, so everybody needs to bring their A-game — and bring it right now.

That gets Kennedy to the second thing that differs between starting and relieving: You better find your two-strike curve before you leave the bullpen.

As a starter, if you’re warming up and can’t find your curve, you can afford to say, It’s OK, I’ll find it once I’m on the mound; I’ve got 100 pitches to work with, and the warmup pitches between innings, and that curve will show up at some point.

As a reliever, you aren’t going to be on the mound long enough to find anything, so you better have everything working right away. So you throw more off-speed pitches during warmups. You could be two pitches into your outing and need your best curve right now, and if you don’t have it that could be the ballgame.

Shorter outings, better stuff

Fans watch a reliever throw one great inning, then see him get pulled and wonder why the manager didn’t let the reliever keep pitching; after all, he was throwing great. But there’s a good chance the reliever threw great because he was only throwing one inning.

If a pitcher knows he’s throwing a single inning — usually fewer than 20 pitches — he can cut loose and empty the tank, and that makes his stuff better.

As a starter last season, Kennedy’s fastball averaged 92.4 mph; this year, as a reliever, it’s 94.4. Last year, his cutter averaged 88.1 mph; in 2019, it’s 91.4. His curve has picked up 3 mph on average and his changeup has picked up about 2.5.

Shorter outings, better stuff.

And a manager might limit a reliever to one inning because he’s thinking ahead to the next game.

Kennedy says if he only throws one inning he’s generally good to go the next night. If he throws more than one inning and has to go through an “up-down” — pitching, sitting, then pitching again — he’ll feel it the next day and might need the night off.

You don’t want to kill the golden goose ... or overwork a quality reliever.

Paying attention

There’s a difference between watching baseball and really paying attention.

You can watch baseball with a beer in one hand and a dog in the other, but to really pay attention you have to put down the Bud and brat.

Kennedy laughs and says that as a reliever he pays more attention during games than he did as a starter. If you’re a starter and the Angels are in town for three games, but you’re not scheduled to pitch against them, you can worry about the Angels later.

If you’re in the bullpen, you might pitch against them tonight.

So you better lock in and see what’s working and what isn’t working; you don’t want to lose a game because you didn’t notice Mike Trout or Albert Pujols has moved up on the plate and that fastball away you were planning to throw will now be a fastball down the middle.

One AB at a time

As a starter, you might have three game plans for attacking a single hitter: First time, we’ll bust him inside, second time we’ll go away, third time we’ll use the changeup we didn’t show him in those first two at-bats.

According to Kennedy, a reliever can’t think that way.

You don’t know if you’re going to face this guy again anytime soon, so go right at him; don’t use one at-bat to set up the next one because there may not be a next one.

If the hitter has a glaring weakness, attack it. Don’t wait for a bigger situation to exploit his weakness; you may never get another opportunity.

Mistakes early vs. mistakes late

Let’s say a starter makes a mistake early and gives up a home run in the second inning. His team comes back but loses the game by one run when the closer gives up a walk-off homer in the ninth.

In a one-run loss, both home runs hurt equally, but which home run will be featured in the post-game highlights?

As a starter you can make up for an early mistake by pitching well the rest of the way; as a reliever, the mistake pitch might be the last one you throw that night.

Kennedy got his first save on March 30 and blew his first save the next time he pitched. And just in case you had any doubts, Kennedy can tell you that blowing a save is no fun.

Your teammates did everything necessary to win a game, presented it to you on a silver platter, and all you had to do was seal the deal with three more outs.

After that blown save, Kennedy sat in the dugout thinking that except for him the game would be over and his teammates would be in the clubhouse celebrating a win. But because he didn’t do his job, they were still playing and would go on to lose.

Pitching with everything on the line late in a game comes with extreme pressure. The best relievers don’t let that get to them; others feel it.

The ninth inning is different

Kennedy has pitched in the ninth inning six times in his career, and five of those innings have come this season. He’d heard it said before, but now Kennedy knows for sure — the ninth inning is different.

Kennedy said he’s seen too many guys who were just fine pitching in the sixth, seventh or eighth but became different pitchers in the ninth. And that ninth-inning pressure makes some pitchers worse and some pitchers better.

Kennedy mentioned former Royals closer Greg Holland, a guy who pitched better in the ninth than the eighth and better when the margin was one run, not more than four. It was like Holland couldn’t get interested unless the game was on the line.

Other guys don’t have the right mental makeup to do it. When the spotlight gets hot, they wilt.

So if you’re one of those people who advocate using your closer early, you better make sure you’ve still got someone with a tight head gasket to pitch the ninth.

Set roles

Kennedy says the following with absolute, 100 percent certainty: Everybody prefers set roles.

It’s easier on the relievers and the manager. Everybody knows the situations they’ll pitch in and that means they also know when to get loose and when to be ready to take the mound.

Using a different formula every night can spread chaos and uncertainty: guys warming up and not getting used, guys who should have been warmed up having to do it in a hurry, and guys being thrown into situations they haven’t prepared for.

Kennedy thinks there’s still some mixing and matching going on, but eventually the Royals relievers will settle into their roles.

One last difference

On the day he’s scheduled to pitch, a starter gets to show up late, pick the clubhouse music and use whatever pregame routine he thinks will get the best results.

While Kennedy was in uniform the other day, ready to go, Danny Duffy — one locker over — was still wearing a Minot State basketball jersey and bobbing his head to reggae music.

Kennedy was talking about relief pitching. Suddenly, he looked at the clock on the wall, realized he was late for whatever he was supposed to be doing and took off running.

Ian Kennedy — relief pitcher — had work to do.