Kinney Can

Far from the madding crowd, one of this year’s real success stories is former Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Matt Kinney, having a fine year for the Brewers. With a solid outing last night (8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K) Kinney is now 3-3 (an accomplishment for the 16-29 Brew Crew) with a 3.43 ERA, and his overall line is more impressive: 57.2 IP, 44 H, 6 HR, 19 BB, 51 K.
The 26-year-old Kinney’s had little prior success at the major league level, although the Baseball Prospectus blamed last summer’s struggles on shoulder tendinitis that sapped his velocity. Hopefully he can handle the increasing pitch counts that are coming his way: 108, 109, 91, 110 and 116 in his last five starts. That’s still a pretty moderate workload, but if he hangs around 115 most nights out, that may start to take a toll on a guy who’s not accustomed to a full season major league workload.