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Full Name: Kevin J. Whelan
Born: 01/08/1984
Birthplace: Kerrville, TX
College: Texas A&M
Height: 6′ 0″
Weight: 200
Bats: R
Throws: R

Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the fourth round (120th overall) of the June 2005 Draft. … Acquired by the New York Yankees from the Tigers on Nov. 10, 2006 along with RHPs Humberto Sanchez and Anthony Claggett in exchange for OF Gary Sheffield.

2009 Season
Team	League	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
TRN	EAS	4	0	2.63	30	0	0	0	2	54.2	38	17	16	1	28	63	1.28	.200
SWB	INT	0	0	2.84	14	0	0	0	1	12.2	7	4	4	0	13	22	1.29	.159

2008 Season:
Team	League	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
TAM	FSL	1	0	4.67	9	0	0	0	1	17.1	11	9	9	0	14	19	0.94	.186
TRE	EAS	2	0	4.35	15	0	0	0	1	20.2	13	10	10	2	15	27	0.46	.176

Kevin Whelan’s little league team won the 9-and 10-year-old state championship. He hit the game-winning homerun to allow his team to get to the state tournament.

High School:
Kevin Whelan earned four baseball letters at Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas. He batted .367 as a junior and was the team’s MVP his senior year. Whelan earned all-district as well as academic-all-district honors all 4 seasons and was all-state his junior and senior seasons.

He was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated in the top 10% of his class. He also earned 3 letters as a strong safety and running back for the Tivy football team. The NHS Logo Started in 1921, the National Honor Society, or NHS, is an organization whose intent is to recognize middle and high school students in the United States and across the world.

College:
Whelan attended Texas A&M University and joined the Aggies as a catcher in 2003.
Batted .245 (12-for-49) with a home run and six RBIs.

As a freshman he started five games as the team’s designated hitter. He played four in left field, three as catcher, and one in center field. He never got it going behind the plate so after his struggles during his freshman and early sophomore year, Kevin gave pitching a try because he had a very strong arm. He maintained his duties as the back-up catcher.
Kevin had some growing pains during his first season as a pitcher.

Split time between pitching and catching as sophomore. He finished 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in 10 games as a pitcher and hit .233 (10-for-43) with a home run and four RBIs behind the plate.

The Texas A&M Aggies lost Justin Pouk who was their starting catcher and this limited the development of Kevin Whelan as a pitcher as he was forced to be the second team catcher.

Whelan played summer ball in the Cape Cod League in 2004 and led the league with 11 saves while posting a 0.42 ERA and striking out 32 batters in 21.2 innings of work. He was named his team’s Most Valuable Pitcher and earned the league’s Russ Ford (Relief Pitcher of the Year) Award while earning spots on the Cape Cod All-Star team, the All-Cape Cod team, and the Baseball America Magazine Summer League All-America Team. He was named the No. 10 prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America. .The Cape Cod Baseball League is a baseball league located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, in which many college baseball stars play during the summer.

After pitching really well in the 2004 Cape Cod League, Whelan rejoined the Aggies in 2005 and went 4-1 with a 2.90 ERA and four saves while striking out 40 batters in 31 innings on the mound.

Tigers: Whelan went to the Detroit Tigers as a 4th round draft choice in the 2005 amateur draft. He signed with the Tigers for $265,000.

He dominated both New York-Penn league and Midwest League hitters. Kevin’s totals during his professional debut included a 1.48 ERA, 15+ K/9, 5:1 K to walk ratio and 15 saves in 25 appearances.

He was selected as the Tigers Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August after posting a 0.84 ERA (10.2 IP/1 ER), nine saves and 20 strikeouts in 11 appearances for West Michigan. He was also named the 10th-best prospect in the Tigers organization and 18th-best prospect in the New York-Penn League following the season by Baseball America

In 2006 he ranked third among all Detroit Tigers’ Minor League pitchers with 27 saves. He was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA in 51 games for the Class A Advanced Lakeland Tigers. Whelan limited opposing hitters to a .178 batting average (33-for-185) and held right-handed hitters to a .158 average (18-for-114). He ranked third in the league in saves, ranked second among all Florida State League pitchers with 46 games finished and ranked fourth with 51 games pitched.

Was named FSL pitcher of the week on 04/16/2006.
Was a named FLS Mid Season All Star on 6/17/2006

He finished with 42 saves as a closer with the Tigers but would be a middle reliever and starting pitcher with the Yankees.

Kevin Whelan was acquired by the New York Yankees from the Tigers on Nov. 10, 2006 along with RHPs Humberto Sanchez and Anthony Claggett in exchange for OF Gary Sheffield.

In 2007, if you combine his Class A Advanced Tampa and Double-A Trenton stats, he went 6-2 with a 2.62 ERA in 38 appearances (eight starts) in his first season with the New York Yankees organization. He held opponents to a .162 batting average with right-handers batting just .133 off off him.

He began the season with Trenton and posted five straight scoreless outings, converting on all three save opportunities (9.0 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 11 K) He was then transferred to Tampa on June 11, then returned to Trenton on July 23. He started for the first time with Tampa making seven starts (2-0, 1.93 ERA, 12 BB, 28 K) and held opponents scoreless four times. He was named Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending July 8 (1-0, 10.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K). Following the base ball season, he appeared in three games with the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League (0-0, 12.00 ERA).

In 2008, he opened the season on the disabled list with a right forearm strain (April 3-May 13) He missed another month from June 24-July 30 with a right elbow strain. Whelan held left-handed batters to a .098 batting average (5-for-51, 0 HR). He made two postseason appearances for the Eastern League champions, allowing four ER in 2.1 IP. He pitched with the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League, holding opponents scoreless in nine of his 11 outings.

In 2009, he had a great season. He pitched between Trenton and Scranton as a relief pitcher and was a combined 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA in 41 games and held opponents to a .192 batting average against.

Scouting Report:

What he throws:
Fastball, Splitter, Slider and Changeup.

Fastball:

His fastball reaches 95-96 mph and topped out at 97 mph with the Tigers organization. Has very good movement on his fastball. In 2009, he walked 5.5 batters per nine innings which was not good.

Splitter:
What makes him a prolific strike out pitcher is his splitter. He commands it very well and handcuffs opposing batters when ahead in the count.

Slider:
The slider has gotten better but it’s not a strikeout weapon. He doesn’t have the confidence to use it in hitters’ counts. He throws it as a get-me-over strike to get ahead in the count.

Changeup:
He doesn’t use his change up much and the further development of it took a back seat to his slider.

Overall Pitching:

Whelan is a much better pitcher when he’s ahead in the count because of his incredible splitter. His major problem is throwing strikes to get ahead in counts consistently because his fastball command is erratic. He walks a lot of batters.

A catcher in college, he threw the ball with a shorter arm action and release than he has as a pitcher. The Yankee tried improving his command by lengthening his arm slot but he had a difficult time finding his comfort level with the new mechanics. As a result of this, and partly due to the lost development time with his forearm injury, his command has actually gotten worse with the Yankees.

YankeesDaily’s Projection and ETA:

The Yankees have left him unprotected two years in a row in the five rule draft, in 2008 and in 2009. If another team takes him, I’m not sure how he’ll fare with the control issues he has.

I started making Whelan’s profile before the five rule draft so I decided to finish it even though he was exposed.

Tags: kevin whelan, kevin whelan - prospect profile - new york yankees, new york yankees, prospect, Yankees, yankeesdaily

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