If you’re going to follow someone around, you could do a lot worse than Roy Halladay. Kyle Kendrick (BlueClaws 2004-06) has apparently taken to the new Phillies ace, and even earned the nickname Kyle Halladay, as Tyler Kepner of the NY Times tweeted yesterday:

Phils’ Kyle Kendrick works out early with Halladay, plays catch with him, and has a reddish beard. Teammates are calling him “Kyle Halladay”

Kendrick made his big league debut in 2007 and won 21 games over the next two seasons (after skipping Triple-A). But he had a 5.49 ERA in 2008 and spent most of 2009 in Triple-A, having been effectively passed by JA Happ and others.

But entering 2010, Kendrick, who went 3-1, 1.96 in September with the Phillies, is in a competition with Jamie Moyer for the 5th starters job. And he’s trying to learn from one veteran (Halladay) to beat out another.

As Jim Salisbury notes here, Kendrick, who usually arrived at camp around 8 am, now arrives around 5:45 with Halladay.

“He’s in good shape, the best I’ve seen him in,” manager Charlie Manuel said on Friday. “He looks strong right now, and that’s good.”

Kendrick added: ”My work ethic has gotten a lot better, I think,” Kendrick said. “Before, I just did my own thing. I didn’t really have a plan. Now I have a plan, thanks to Roy.”

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 11:19 am and is filed under Past BlueClaws, Spring Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.