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February 29, 2008 Spring Training 08 Joe Janish

Notes On Eddie Kunz

Eddie Kunz psyches himself up before pitchingI’m not sure that Eddie Kunz is as ready for MLB as everyone would like, but he already has some “color”. See that photo to the left? That’s Eddie Kunz after finishing his warmup pitchers, right before taking the mound. He stood for about five or ten seconds, apparently in some kind of a zen pose or personal psyche-up session. It reminded me of an old-time closer known as “The Mad Hungarian”, Al Hrabosky, who used to talk himself into a frenzy before pounding his fist into his glove and taking the mound. The point of the routine was to either intimidate the batter or at least let him know that Hrabosky was out of his mind.

Since this was the first time I saw Kunz in a game, I don’t know if this moment of meditation is something he does all the time. I hope it is … it would be nice to see a bit of character and individuality added to a game that has lost quite a bit over the last 25 years. Enough of the cookie-cutter ballplayers!

Another note on Kunz: his body type and pitching motion are both similar to Mets setup man Aaron Heilman. See the comparison below — Kunz is on top, Aaron’s on the bottom.

Pitching style of Eddie Kunz compared to Aaron Heilman

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. isuzudude March 1, 2008 at 9:48 am
    That’s a really good photo comparison. Certainly looks like the two have very similar arm angles and pitching syles. I’d have to imagine that if Kunz is pitching anything like Heilman is now in 2009, you’d have yourself a very good argument to move Heilman back into the rotation..especially with the potential departures of Pedro, Perez, and Duq.