Kendy Richard was an amateur free agent signed by the Braves in 2024 out of the Dominican Republic.What Were Expectations?
Expectations were nearly non-existent for Kendy as he put up solid but not fantastic numbers over in the Dominican Summer League in 2024. As a 20 year old, Kendy appeared in 13 games and had a 3.48 ERA with a 6.97 K/9 and 3.48 BB/9 rate. While the ERA is quite nice for the league, at 20 you expect any sort of prospect to be solid in that league, which to his credit, Kendy was. As a result he was destined for stateside ball in 2025 because of those numbers.
Kendy appeared in 16 games, 10 as a starter, in 2025. He began the season with the FCL Braves where he really stood out – appearing in 6 games where he had a 7.46 K/9 and 3.83 BB/9 rate. With an ERA of just 1.81, Kendy forced the Braves to promote him to full season ball, which is a bit of a surprise given his lack of experience in professional baseball. Kendy would appear in 6 games for the Augusta GreenJackets where he saw his strikeout numbers sky rocket up to 10.41 K/9, but his walk rate would also rise to 4.24 BB/9. We got our first real look at him and what we saw was a more polished lower ceiling arm as Kendy sat in the low 90s with his fastball and had a nice slider/sweeper that he felt comfortable enough to throw to both sides of the plate against RHB and LHB. While he really needs that third pitch to come on strong next year, it’s safe to say Kendy really made a name for himself in 2025 and turned himself into a pitcher to monitor.What Went Right?
Pretty much 2025 went right for Kendy. He turned had a very solid year for himself, putting up strong numbers throughout the season. While the pure stuff wasn’t there at this stage, it was almost refreshing to see a pitcher live on pitch ability rather than pure stuff at this point of their career.
Not much really went wrong. Kendy went from an organizational filler to a potential name to watch. At 6’2” 195 and a great base, it looks like he may be able to squeeze a little bit more out of his fastball which would make him a potential interesting pitcher.2026 Outlook
After putting himself on the map in 2025, a repeat performance by Kendy would be huge for him. There won’t be many expectations because he doesn’t really possess an elite arsenal, but if continues to show growth he will rise in the ranks and provide value in an organization with tons of pitching depth.
