Editor's Note: ESPN analyst Tom Candiotti writes a weekly scouting report. Here is the former knuckleballer's book on San Francisco Giants second baseman Jeff Kent.

Kent and Barry Bonds might be the most feared No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in baseball this year. The Giants' tandem got untracked earlier this season when manager Dusty Baker made the genius move of shuffling the batting order, hitting Kent in front of Bonds.

	Jeff Kent Second Base San Francisco Giants Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI AVG OBP SLG 136 33 101 .323 .377 .578

Managers often use this tactic -- batting someone ahead of the team's best slugger -- when they want to break a struggling hitter out of his slump. The hitter's confidence can grow because he will usually get many more hittable pitches, especially fastballs. This is what has happened to Kent. Pitchers would rather "give in" to Kent and take their chances with him than walk him and go after Bonds.

Even without a batting-order change, Kent is a dangerous hitter with one NL MVP Award to his credit. His credentials are solid, and he is well respected among pitchers throughout the league.

Strengths
Kent does many things well at the plate. He can hit for average, hit for power, and hit in the clutch. He is a pull hitter who loves to feast on fastballs. Because gets great plate coverage, he is able to pull outside fastballs with authority. He will also drive the ball to the opposite field on occasion, but he prefers to hit from the left-center-field gap to the left-field foul line.

I have seen Jeff put together some solid at-bats even when he gets behind in the count. He will foul off a lot of pitches, work the count, and then deliver when he gets his pitch. He is a mature hitter who has learned to hit the different types of breaking balls. Early in his career he had trouble with off-speed pitches. Now he can hit them hard.

Weaknesses
Kent still has a tendency to chase pitches out of the strike zone. This usually happens when a hitter gets frustrated at the plate or when he gets behind in the count. Many pitchers will try to make Jeff fish for breaking balls in the dirt or will try to get him to swing at high fastballs once they get ahead in the count.

Jeff stands very close to the plate; sometimes, it even looks like his hands are over the strike zone. When pitchers see this, they will try to attack him with hard fastballs inside off the plate and then away with sliders or curves. While his closeness to the plate allows him to get great coverage, he is also susceptible to getting hit by the pitch.

Overall
Like the opener Monday night, the rest of the Giants-Dodger series will be entertaining to watch. The key for the Dodger pitchers will be to control Rich Aurilia and Kent. If they can, then they will be able to pitch around Bonds or at least be able to pitch him very carefully.

Any way you look at it, however, the Giants have two MVPs -- Kent and Bonds -- in the middle of their lineup who can do a ton of damage.

ESPN baseball analyst Tom Candiotti won 151 games pitching in 16 major-league seasons.