ThinkBlueLA has learned that longtime Dodgers farmhand and former MLB manager Kevin Kennedy will be returning to the AM 570 LA Sports broadcast booth for a fifth consecutive season in 2018, alongside veteran broadcaster and former 19-year major leaguer Rick Monday.

“I’ll be working with Rick whenever Charlie [Steiner] is doing the television broadcast for SportsNet LA or when he is on vacation,” Kennedy said. “I ended up doing 40 games during the regular season last year – about half on the road and half at home – and will probably end up doing something like that again this year.”

Most Dodger fans agree that Kennedy and Monday are the Dodgers best radio broadcast team.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Kennedy, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Woodland Hills, California a lifelong Dodger fan, was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of San Diego State University in the eighth round of the 1976 MLB First-Year Player Draft. The former catcher was later traded to the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system and eventually to the Dodgers organization.

After eight seasons in the minors, Kennedy hung up his mask to become a manager in the Dodgers farm system from 1984 through 1991, and in 1992 he finally made it to the Show when he was hired as bench coach for the Montreal Expos.

Kennedy’s big break came in 1993 when he was hired to manage the Texas Rangers for the 1993 and 1994 seasons. The following year he was hired as manager of the Boston Red Sox for the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Kennedy began his broadcasting career in 1997 when he joined ESPN as a color analyst for their Wednesday night telecasts. The following season he became the analyst on ESPN Radio’s Sunday Night Baseball with Charlie Steiner. He also did Fox Sports Net’s Thursday Night Baseball in 1999 and 2000. Kennedy next served as an in-studio analyst for Fox from 2001 to 2008, while also contributing to Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports Radio and Prime Ticket’s Dodgers Live.

In 2009, Kennedy became a part-time television analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays for two seasons, during which time he received an Emmy for his broadcast of the American League East division-clinching game in 2010. He was hired by the Dodgers in 2014 as a game analyst whenever Steiner was filling in on the SportsNet LA television broadcast or on vacation, and also served as co-host of Dodger Talk with David Vassegh. All the while, Kennedy worked as a full-time co-host on MLB Network Radio from 2005 through 2011 and still does part-time work for the channel today.

As for 2018, Kennedy and Monday will be doing several spring training radio and television simulcasts in March before the regular season starts.

Welcome back, Skip!