Brotherly love brings together two of Jersey baseball's best sluggers
When they were 10 or 11 and would walk off the baseball field together, people always would ask the same question.
When they were 10 or 11 and would walk off the baseball field together, people always would ask the same question.
"Everybody would say, 'Are you guys brothers?'" Millville senior baseball star Buddy Kennedy recalled of his days on a youth travel team with Eastern senior baseball star Davis Schneider.
It wasn't surprising. They looked alike, thick-built kids with boundless enthusiasm for baseball. They walked alike, with a little waddle in their step. They played the same position. They always were together.
"We just clicked," Schneider said. "Right away, we had this bond."
The short answer to that long ago question: No.
The better answer: Kind of.
As they prepare for their final scholastic season, Kennedy and Schneider can fondly look back on a friendship first forged as members of the Young Guns travel team when they both were a lot closer to kindergarten than 12th grade.
"So similar," said Rowan University assistant coach Pat Fisher, who ran the Young Guns organization in those days. "Love for the game, No. 1. Work ethic, second to none. Open to coaching. Great support from their families.
"They both were third baseman but they both understood: Maybe I'll play a little left field, maybe I'll play a little first base, just to make things better for the team."
The similarity in body type is probably what struck a lot of people. They've changed a bit over the years - Kennedy is a little taller and heavier now - but back then they looked like two kids who emerged from the same mold.
"Exactly," Kennedy said. "That's what everybody used to tell us."
Kennedy is 6-foot-0 and around 210 pounds. He is widely regarded as one of the state's strongest players, a rare mixture of speed and power like the former Millville player to whom he is most often compared: Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout.
"That guy is a horse," Schneider said of Kennedy.
The Millville third baseman is planning to get his weight down to around 200 during the season. He said he's been eating a lot of chicken, cutting down on the junk food.
Schneider can hardly believe it.
"He never ate anything," Schneider recalled of Kennedy's eating habits as a youth player. "He would come to my house to sleep over and all he wanted was hot dogs."
Kennedy confirmed it.
"Hot dogs, that's all I ate," Kennedy said.
Schneider has been focused on his diet as well. He stands around 5-foot-10 and weighs around 185 pounds, down more than 20 pounds as a result of a rigorous regimen of exercise and a diet heavy on fish and broccoli.
"I just feel a lot faster," Schneider said.
Kennedy and Schneider are at the crest of a wave of heavy hitters in South Jersey who are threatening to steal some thunder from the guys on the hill.
For most of the last several years, thanks to changes in bat technology designed to lower the "boomerang effect" plus the emergence of big-time arms, South Jersey baseball has been dominated by pitchers.
There will be no shortage of top arms this season, led by Delsea senior Brad Dobzanski, a possible early-round selection in June's major-league draft, as well as West Deptford senior left-hander Drew Wilden, among many others.
But this could be the Year of the Hitter.
Eastern junior centerfielder Jack Herman, who teams with Schneider to form the engine room of the Vikings' powerhouse lineup, projects as possibly the best position player to emerge from South Jersey since Trout in 2009.
Seniors such as Tyler Dearden of Rancocas Valley, Tim Dezzi of Clearview, Joey Loperfido of Haddonfield, Tom Gardiner of Lenape and Jax Luzinski of Shawnee and juniors such as Nick Decker of Seneca, Jake Topolski of Lenape, Max Dineen of Pennsville and Nick DiVietro of Cherry Hill West are among other hitters/position players to watch.
Kennedy is one of the state's most intriguing draft prospects. A North Carolina recruit, Kennedy and his family have hosted around 25 major-league teams in home visits over the winter.
Kennedy is the grandson of former Phillies' infielder Don Money, who played 16 seasons in the major league and was a long-time roving minor-league instructor for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Kennedy was a first-team all-South Jersey selection as a junior. He batted .536 with nine home runs and nine doubles.
"I don't think there's anyone in South Jersey who is the complete package in the way he is," Millville coach Roy Hallenback said. "There might be somebody who runs as well. Or somebody who hits with as much power or has as good an arm.
"But I don't think there's anybody who can do everything as well as he does."
Schneider, a Rutgers recruit, also was a first-team all-South Jersey selection as a junior. He batted .439 with 16 doubles.
But for all his impact at the plate, Schneider's best asset might be his defensive work, according to Eastern coach Rob Christ.
"I love to watch him play defense, and how many kids can you say that about?" Christ said. "He loves to play defense. He challenges himself. He wants the ball hit to him."
Kennedy and Davis share an easy-going, placid demeanor that masks a raging competitive spirit.
"Davis seems so serene," Christ said. "But his motor is going 1,000 miles a minute. He looks so calm, so relaxed and he's as fierce a competitor as there is."
Kennedy is a rap music fan, "especially before games."
Schneider prefers country music although his pal has been trending in that direction in recent months.
"My girlfriend likes country so now I listen to country," Kennedy said.
Posing for photos on a recent night at the Sportz Central workout facility in Bellmawr, the two athletes shared an easy rapport.
Schneider said that's been the case since Day One.
"It was almost like we were the same person," Schneider said. "We liked the same stuff, we had the same build, we just had this immediate connection."
They played together for several seasons with the Young Guns, and have remained friendly as high school athletes.
They're not teammates anymore. In fact, their squads could clash this season in the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic and/or the South Jersey Group 4 tournament.
But in every other game, they'll be pulling for each other.
Kennedy still remembers people asking that question about his relationship with Schneider, back when they were 10 or 11, a pair of bright-eyed pre-teens who dreamed of being big, bad seniors for their high school teams.
He said he can give them the best answer: "I love him like a brother."
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