Old-Timers Jason Kendall And Ivan Rodriguez Both Off To Surprisingly Hot Starts

Jason Kendall and Ivan Rodriguez were once elite catchers, offering above average offense and defense at a chronically weak position. For the last decade or so, both catchers have been fully itinerant, leaving behind their original teams (where they made their name) and bouncing from club to club for whatever they can get. Since 2007, Rodriguez has played for five teams, for example. Interestingly, this winter Kendall (36) and Rodriguez (38) were signed to identical two-year, six-million dollar contracts with the Royals and Nationals, respectively. Purely mercenary moves from each player’s perspective, both the Royals and Nationals sold the presence of their new, old, catcher with praise for their leadership and professionalism.

↵Predictably, the blogging-set chortled at these justifications, and for good reason. Neither team has any reason to light six million dollars on fire in the form of a Jason Kendall mentoring session. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the usual snark: both guys started the 2010 season incredibly hot.

↵Rodriguez is hitting .444 for the Nationals, with a bit of power. Heading into Wednesday night’s games, Rodriguez led the National League with seven doubles. Kendall hasn’t been quite that good, but is nevertheless sporting a .352 batting average, recording a hit in all fourteen of his games played in 2010. Rodriguez, playing in his 20th season, is the more interesting of the two players, and is a great catcher at a historical level. If he’s truly revived for 2010, he stands to reach 3,000 hits with much more aplomb (he’s currently over 250 hits shy) and brio than we might have thought. Maybe.

↵Thankfully, both teams still offer plenty to joke about, but for now we’ll need to hold off on those gritty veterans jokes.