During Friday’s introductory press conference, Dodgers new second baseman Howie Kendrick said all the right things at all the right times when asked about coming to the Dodgers, and he did so with genuine sincerity – not to mention an enormous smile. But he said something that will also put a smile on the faces of longtime Mike Scioscia fans as well.

“Mike called me and goes ‘Hey man, your’re going to an organization that plays the game the same way we do, the same philosophy. They like to take the extra bases, it’s always going to be an aggressive style of play,'” Kendrick said. “That’s the way we played with the Angels.

“My first experience with Mike was in ’05 and he was like ‘Hey, go out and make mistakes, that’s what we want you to do, that’s how you learn to play the game. You can’t be afraid to make the mistakes,'” added Kendrick. “That’s how you learn, and then you will know yourself too. The whole first to third thing, being aggressive, we we’re the only ones doing that for a while and then a lot of other teams got back on to that – scoring runs from other bases. It just makes for fun baseball and it puts pressure on the defense.”

The first thing you notice about Howie Kendrick is that he loves to share his warm smile.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Kendrick, who has spent his entire professional career with the Angels, was drafted in the 10th round of the 2002 First Year Player Draft out of St. Johns River Community College in Palatka, FL. The 31-year-old Jacksonville native has a career slash line of .292 / .332 / .424 for an OPS of .756. He has 78 career home runs and has never hit below .279 in any of his nine major league seasons. But while Kendrick is proud of his career offensive numbers, it his his defense that he is focused on the most and constantly striving to improve upon.

“I think that’s the part of my game I work the hardest at,” said Kendrick. “Just looking as I was coming up and that’s all you hear ‘Oh he’s an average defender or you can’t do this or you can’t do that.’ I think I like to try to prove people wrong in that aspect.

“I haven’t really been afraid to make mistakes,” added Kendrick. “If you make mistakes being aggressive I can live with that, but if I’m passive and make mistakes I can’t really live with that because I’m leaving something out on the field. I think the biggest thing is to go in the game and let it happen and just play hard. If I can live with myself at the end of the day knowing that I gave everything I had then that’s enough for me. You’re not really out there trying to impress anybody else, you want to impress yourself.”

If there’s one somewhat uncomfortable aspect of the Kendrick acquisition it’s the fact that he becomes a free agent at the conclusion of the 2015 season for the first time in his MLB career. Will this be a distraction for him or for the team? According to Howie it won’t.

“I haven’t really thought much about it,” said Kendrick. “I will be a free agent at the end of this year but I think my main focus right now is trying to get in and get to work. I haven’t really though much about the contract stuff, I never have, I just kind of go out and play baseball.

“That’s part of the game and every guy wants that,” Kendrick added. “But at the same time I just want to go out and play the game and play it right and win. And if you do those things, all that other stuff will take care of itself.”

Kendrick said that although he will miss playing everyday with his longtime shortstop and good friend Erick Aybar, he is looking forward to playing with recently acquired Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who he has been a big fan of for many years.

“Jimmy’s great out on the field,” said Kendrick. “I’ve never played with him but I’ve seen him play. I’ve been a fan of his for a while just from watching him on ESPN over the years, his MVP season, he’s my era. When I was a young guy in the minor leagues and stuff you watch guys like that, you’re excited to see guys like that play. And actually be his teammate is going to be even more fun, to be able to turn double plays up the middle. I think spring training is going to be huge as far as getting in and getting comfortable with how he plays the game.”

As the press conference wound down, Kendrick introduced his wife Jody, their soon-to-be (on Christmas Day) six-year-old son Owen and their three-year-old son Tyson, who pretty much took over the press conference and explained the finer points of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spider-Man to the gathered media.

Kendrick with his three-year-old son Tyson and five-year-old son Owen.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

They say that first impressions go a long way and if there was one thing that Kendrick seems to have an abundance of it’s self confidence; and just like young Tyson, Howie is also not lacking in enthusiasm either.