Tim Kennelly

From BR Bullpen

Timothy James Kennelly

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Tim Kennelly is the brother of Mathew Kennelly, Sam Kennelly and Josh Kennelly. He reached AA at age 22, but peaked at AAA. Their father was a member of the Australian PGA for 16 years.

Kennelly was signed by scout Kevin Hooker for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2004. He made his minor league debut with the 2005 GCL Phillies, hitting .295/.415/.420 as their main third baseman. In the 2006 Claxton Shield, Tim batted .167/.231/.375 for the Western Australia Heelers, 3 of his four hits going for extra bases.

Kennelly split the summer of 2006 between the Batavia Muckdogs (.224/.293/.284 in 42 G) and the Lakewood Blue Claws (5 for 25, 2 2B, HR, 9 K). In the 2007 Claxton Shield, the Perth native was just 2 for 17. Back in the US that summer, he played for Lakewood (2 for 15), the Clearwater Threshers (1 for 6) and the Williamsport Crosscutters (.235/.296/.348 in 39 G).

Tim hit .289/.448/.311 in the 2008 Shield. He led the tournament with 12 walks and helped Western Australia to the pennant; he had one less hit than brother and teammate Mathew (14 to 13) in 2 fewer at-bats (47 to 45). He spent most of the 2008 US season with Lakewood, improving his batting line to .275/.357/.375, being used mostly as a backup outfielder.

Kennelly bats during the 2009 World Cup.

In the 2009 Shield, Tim batted .275/.324/.507 with 13 RBI in 16 games. He tied for 4th in the event in RBI and his 7 doubles were one behind leader Paul Rutgers. He continued to blossom in the minor leagues as well. With Clearwater, he hit .303/.382/.450 with 27 doubles and 46 RBI in 76 games despite having no set position (he played catcher, first base, third base, right field and left field). Promoted to the Reading Phillies, he batted .256/.338/.393 in 37 games. He made the Florida State League postseason All-Star team as the DH, then was put on Australia's roster for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. He hit .254/.333/.542 with 4 homers, 10 runs and 10 RBI in 15 games, starting in right field for Australia. He got the first run and RBI of the Cup when he homered off the Czechs' Jakub Toufar and added another homer later that day. He later had a 3-run homer against Taiwan and a solo shot off Puerto Rico's Alex Woodson as well as a 4-for-4 day against the Netherlands Antilles national team.

He produced at a .354/.410/.615 clip in the 2009-2010 Claxton Shield with 23 RBI in 24 games. He was 6th in average (between Josh Davies and Andrew Russell), was 3rd in runs (20, one off the pace), led in RBI (4 ahead of Davies and Michael Collins), led with 13 doubles (two ahead of Trent D'Antonio), tied for 2nd with 4 homers (2 behind Collins) and was second to Collins in slugging. Back with Clearwater in 2010, he batted .274/.341/.358; he was their main catcher but also their primary backup at both 3B and RF. When the Australian Baseball League was re-established in 2010-2011, he hit .245/.307/.402 for the Perth Heat.

Kennelly struggled on offense with Reading in 2011 (.215/.272/.343) while backing up Tuffy Gosewisch at catcher. He hit .317/.370/.415 with 7 RBI in 12 games in the 2011 Baseball World Cup, starting in left for the Aussies; he hit a homer off Team Canada's Nick Bucci as part of a 3-hit day. He excelled for Perth in the 2011-2012 ABL at .374/.438/.603. He was second in average (.035 behind Brian Burgamy), was 4th in OBP (between Kody Hightower and Brenden Webb), 5th in slugging (between Hightower and Webb), ranked 4th in OPS (between Hightower and Webb), tied Denny Almonte for 4th with 34 runs, was 2nd with 65 hits (two behind Burgamy), tied Almonte and Alex Burg for 6th with 10 homers, was 2nd with 39 RBI (3 behind Elliot Biddle) and tied Biddle for 2nd with 105 total bases. He won the MVP for his performance.

The Perth native bounced split the summer of 2012 between Clearwater (8.53 ERA in 7 G), Reading (.257/.281/.355 in 58 G) and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (.189/.218/.283 in 17 G), making it to AAA before going back to A ball as a pitcher. For the Heat in 2012-2013, he had a rough winter both on offense (.191/.296/.213) and as a pitcher (3 IP, 3 H, 8 BB, 4 K, 5 R, 4 ER).

He was back in the outfield for Australia in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, going 2 for 5 with a double in a part-time role. He got both of his hits in a 6-0 loss to South Korea, a double off Seung Song and a single off Kyung-eun Noh. The Texas Rangers picked him up but his pitching career ended with two outings for the AZL Rangers (2 H, 4 BB, 2 HB, 5 WP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 K in 1 IP).

His US career over, he returned to Australia, becoming a firefighter when not playing baseball. He hit .303/.345/.447 for Perth in 2013-2014. He was 9th in average, just ahead of his brother, and 7th in slugging (between Brad Harman and Jeremy Barnes). For the 2014-2015 Heat, he had a batting line of .255/.302/.440 with 8 homers and 34 runs in 47 games. He drove in 3 in the decisive game in the finals as Perth beat the Adelaide Bite to win it. For the regular season, he had tied for 5th in runs, tied for 5th in doubles (11) and tied for 7th in homers.

Kennelly saw limited time in 2015-2016 (.271/.377/.525) but was back in regular action in 2016-2017, hitting .323/.391/.573 with 13 doubles and 23 runs in 32 games. He tied for 10th in runs, tied Jordan Cowan for the most two-baggers, tied for 4th in dingers, tied Roman Collins for 3rd in total bases (71), was 7th in average, ranked 10th in OBP, led in slugging (.019 ahead of Robbie Perkins) and led in OPS (15 ahead of Luke Hughes).

He hit .250/.308/.250 in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Perth's third baseman had a batting line of .338/.393/.504 in 2017-2018 and he scored 36 runs in 31 games; the veteran even stole five bases in six tries. He was on the leaderboards in average (8th, between David Sutherland and T.J. Bennett) and runs (tied for 6th with Andrew Campbell and Bennett).

Tim had another big season in the 2018-2019 Australian Baseball League when the off-field firefighter was lighting up opposing hurlers. He batted .338/.419/.531 with 38 runs in 38 games and was 8-for-10 in steals. He was 8th in the league in batting average, was 7th in OBP (between D.J. Burt and Campbell), was 10th in OPS, tied Tristan Gray for the most runs, was 2nd in hits (54, one behind Dwayne Kemp), tied for 2nd in doubles (11), tied for 10th in home runs (6) and tied Gift Ngoepe for 4th with 85 total bases. He became the first two-time MVP in ABL annals and was part of the first joint MVP honor as he and Markus Solbach tied for the honor.

Sources[edit]

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