The Minnesota Twins have learned to love the shift. According to Baseball Info Solutions, Ron Gardenhire’s club went into the All-Star break having shifted on 251 balls in play, 13th-most in baseball. Last year they shifted just 84 times on balls in play, sixth-fewest in baseball.

Paul Molitor is in charge of Minnesota’s infield defense. The Hall of Famer assumed the role prior to this season, and the modernization of the team’s approach has been in the works since he took over. In January, Molitor told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, “The game has changed so much; we’re seeing more overshifts and people not afraid to give up space based on tendencies, so it’s something I’m excited about learning about and applying to the way we play defense.”

When I talked to Molitor last month, it was apparent he’s learned a lot. And while he was clearly still forming opinions on certain specifics, he seemed pleased with the results he’d seen.

“I discussed it with Gardy [manager Ron Gardenhire] before the season and we decided if it would increase our chances of getting outs, we were going to go ahead and try it,” Molitor told me. “Sometimes it’s a little dicey because hitters are smart and some will react to the defense. They have enough confidence and bat control to counteract what you’re doing. But I’d have to say that more times than not, our shifts have worked fairly well. We’ve been burned a few times, as have most teams, but overall it’s been working in our favor.”

Molitor’s mention of confidence prompted me to ask about the psychological aspect. If a hitter is thinking about – and possibly questioning – his approach, has the defense already gained an advantage? Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Nava spent a month in Triple-A Pawtucket earlier this season. Whether he merited the temporary demotion is a matter of opinion. Regardless of any stated reasons, the Red Sox outfielder was sent down partly as punishment for not appeasing the BABiP gods.

Not long before Nava got the bad news, I discussed his sudden propensity to hit into bad luck with Red Sox beat writer Jason Mastrodonato. At the time, Nava had a line-drive rate a shade under 25% and a ground-ball rate just over 42%. His batting average was well south of the Mendoza line. Mastronato – a stat-savvy scribe – agreed with me that it probably wouldn’t be fair to send Nava down. The switch-hitter was coming off a year in which he hit .303/.385/.445. A reversal of fortune seemed imminent.

Shortly thereafter, Nava had a two-hit game, upping his BA to .149 BA and his BABiP to .167. His next 98 plate appearances came in a PawSox uniform.

The 31-year-old has been back in Boston since late May – platooning with lefty-killer Jonny Gomes – and has seen his numbers slowly climb. Notable is the fact his BABiP has risen over .120 points despite a line-rate nearly identical to when he was sent down.

Nava isn’t a numbers guy — he professes to not look at his stats – nor is he one to complain. While many players would take vocal umbrage at a demotion, the humble outfielder has kept his mouth shut and his chin held high. But he is willing to admit it was frustrating to go through a stretch where nothing was falling.

“I was very aware that my numbers weren’t completely representative of how well I was hitting the ball,” Nava told me on Friday. “I knew [the bad luck] was going to end eventually, it was just a matter of when. I never got to find out before getting sent down, but that’s part of the game. At the end of the day, I also knew I wasn’t hitting as well as I could.” Read the rest of this entry »

Much has been written about pitch framing, and Tyler Flowers knows the subject well. The Chicago White Sox backstop has caught 255 big league games and another 362 at the minor-league level. He’s no grizzled veteran, but at the age of 28 he’s far from a neophyte behind the dish.

Flowers is 6-foot-4, which makes receiving low pitches a challenge. It’s a facet of his game he’s working to improve, and he’s doing so fully aware that not all framing nuance is of a purely physical nature. Flowers shared his thoughts on selling strikes — and related matters — when the White Sox visited Fenway Park last week.

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Flowers on getting the low strike: “When the situation permits – nobody on base – I’ve been putting one knee down. I’ve been lowering my center of gravity probably another three-four inches, which strengthens my ability to handle a pitch at the bottom of the zone. Before, it was 10 inches high, now all of a sudden you’ve lowered yourself so the bottom of your zone is six inches high. You can handle that pitch and not have it carry out of the zone; you can be in a strong position to kind of hold that pitch and kind of massage it back up into the zone to keep it looking like a good pitch.

“I think smaller guys have an advantage in that department. Take a Jonathan Lucroy. He’s a little smaller — a little more wiry and limber – and is able to sit extremely low. Read the rest of this entry »

Art Kusnyer has had a long and fulfilling life in baseball. Currently on the coaching staff of the Chicago White Sox, the 68-year-old has been around the game since being drafted out of Kent State University in 1966. A big-league catcher for parts of six seasons, Kusnyer caught Nolan Ryan’s second no-hitter on July 15, 1973.

A journeyman who spent much of his career in the minors, Kusyner was a member of the 1974 Sacramento Solons. It was no ordinary season. His 17 home runs were eighth most on the team as the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate banged out 305 home runs in 144 games.

“We played at Hughes Field, which was a football field,” explained Kusnyer. “It was used for baseball for a few years, but it just wasn’t compatible. It was 230 feet down the left field line and 315 down the right field line. Center field was maybe 385-390. In left field they had this great big net – this 30-foot net you had to hit it over – but at 230 feet, guys would pop balls up and they’d go out. Bill McNulty, who ended up going to play in Japan, hit 55 home runs for us. Gorman Thomas hit 54. Sixto Lezcano hit [34]. Tommy Bianco hit close to 30 home runs. He went to the big leagues and his claim to fame is pinch-hitting for Henry Aaron.

“I was there two years and they were the worst I ever had as a catcher. Not only did we keep home and road ERAs for our pitchers, you couldn’t see for the first five innings, because the sun was so bad. I’d have balls clanking off of me and hitters would sometimes step out of the box when the pitcher released the ball, because they couldn’t see it. After the fifth inning, when the sun went down, that’s when the fireworks started. Balls would be flying all over the place. In one game, the Tacoma Twins hit something like nine home runs in the ninth inning to beat us.”

Nolan Ryan gave up 324 home runs [including playoff games] on his way to the Hall of Fame. It goes without saying hitters didn’t see the ball very well off of him. The all-time leader in strikeouts tossed seven no-hitters. Kusyner remembers No. 2 like it was yesterday.

“It was at Tiger Stadium and he had 17 strikeouts, the most in any no-hitter,” said Kusnyer. “Usually he just beat the shit out of you, because he had the hard curveball and you’d be blocking balls. That particular day he was right on. You know how the infield grass is cut out in front, in a half circle? When the ball got just a little bit past that, it would explode. It would just take off. I remember when he struck out Norm Cash early in the game. When Cash was walking back to the bench, one of his teammates asked him, ‘How is he throwing?’ Cash said, ‘Don’t go up there.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Samardzija has some old-school in him when it comes to pitch counts. Ditto work loads for late-inning relievers. The 29-year-old righthander feels starters should be given more of an opportunity to work deeper into games. As for closers, whatever happened to the multiple-inning save?

On Sunday, Samardzija went seven innings and threw 108 pitches in his first outing since being traded from the Cubs to Oakland. His high for the year is 126, which came on May 5 when he went nine innings and earned a no-decision. The game two months ago is more in line with his way of thinking.

“Back in the day, the game was left in the starter’s hands,” Samardzija told me three days before he was dealt. “If the starter pitched well, he was given his 120 pitches. The game was decided by the starting pitchers. It’s different now and I think that’s unfortunate. When you get into tough situations, regardless of your pitch count, a lot of times a reliever is brought in. I understand why – it’s to preserve the game — but you have to keep your relievers’ arms fresh too. I like the idea of the starters deciding what happens in the game.”

Given the spate of pitchers undergoing Tommy John surgery, injury fears have an ever-increasing influence on workloads. The old-school righty doesn’t see a direct correlation. Read the rest of this entry »

John Baker isn’t a cookie-cutter catcher in the mold of a Yogi Berra or a Crash Davis. He doesn’t read comic books or converse in cliches. The Chicago Cubs backstop is a deep thinker who sees parallels between pitchers and a character in American Psycho.

Baker attended Cal Berkeley, but the foundation for his pitch-calling acumen was laid much earlier. It revolves around memory and perception, and is related to books from Winnie the Pooh to The Catcher in the Rye.

“As a catcher, you have to retain certain visual things,” Baker told me. “The more I’ve played – over my 13 seasons – the more I’ve noticed things kind of end up being the same. A ball comes out of a lane and the next ball comes out of a lane. Sometimes I get a deja vu feeling. I know what happened before, and maybe we can change the outcome this time by going with something else.

“I’ll remember a swing the same batter took a few years ago. It was on a pitch similar to what we just threw him, and if we go back to that spot he might hit the ball into a gap. But if we throw the next pitch in that same lane, with a little bit of a wrinkle, maybe we can get a ground ball.”

How does that relate to books? The former California Golden Bear explained:

“Having read a lot as a child helps me remember certain game scenarios and which pitches to call. I think a big part of memory development comes through reading books. As a kid, that’s what took me to thinking about things after the fact. When I’d be done with a chapter, I’d be lying in bed trying to figure out what the heck just happened. I believe that’s how I began processing what I’ve seen before.”

I asked the 33-year-old Baker if calling a game is akin to the writing process.

“It’s not really like the process,” replied Baker. “It’s more like writing a novel with some sort of muse. That muse is your pitcher. From an artistic point of view, you have to be the seed in a guy’s brain that allows him to make the right brush strokes. You have to be able to offer up a scenario by putting a sign down that he’ll believe in.

“A pitcher and a catcher is a two-person relationship, not unlike a novelist and reader going back and forth. In this case, the pitcher would be the reader, albeit with more input. Actually, maybe I’m the editor and the pitcher is the writer. I’m telling him, directionally, which way he might want to go at this particular moment. If I can do it in a way he thinks it’s his idea, even better. A big part of my job is convincing people my idea is their idea.”

An ability to create believable characters is a necessary skill for any writer. Baker is a bibliophile, so I asked if he could equate a protagonist from a novel to a pitcher.

“If I had to pick one, it would be Patrick Bateman in the book version of Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, Baker answered after a pregnant pause. “Bateman was this insecure guy. He didn’t really believe in himself and was always trying to show he was ‘the man’ with his business cards, his music choices, and his reservations. In baseball, sometimes we get caught up in that kind of environment.

“Sometimes I see that with teammates, especially pitchers. They’re trying to do the right thing, while in reality they’re crazy. But you kind of want that crazy to come out of them. A big part of sports is understanding a person’s mindset and who they are. If he’s a psycho, you have to let him be a psycho. Sometimes we try to run away from that instead of letting a guy operate inside of his own crazy environment. It’s what makes him successful, yet we try to manage him so he’s the same as everyone else.”

Baker’s belief in individuality doesn’t extend to pitch calling. His idea that a catcher is akin to a good editor resurfaced when I suggested pitching is like poetry.

“I’m not sure it’s poetry,” said Baker. “I think it’s more chaotic than that. People use the analogy, ‘He’s a painter and he’s throwing beautiful pitches,’ but it’s really more basic. The most appropriate mindset for a pitcher would be 100 percent focus on executing the current pitch. That’s all that should be going through his head. As a catcher, I have a different point of view, which is, ‘What did the pitch before look like and how will the pitch we’re going to throw now set up the next pitch?’ He’s living in the present and I’m living in three places at the same time. My lens is a lot larger.

“The way you win a baseball game is by winning every single pitch, once. A pitcher can’t think of it like a book, because then he’s thinking about how it starts and how it’s going to finish. He’s thinking about that story arc when he should be living right in the middle. He should be living in the moment and trusting the guy behind the plate.”

Baker readily admits that’s not always easy. He knows a catcher can’t be viewed as a dabbler in teen fiction. He needs to be seen as a producer of best-sellers.

“Trust is a big leap we ask pitchers to make,” said Baker. “A catcher is almost like a religious figure. He’s getting somebody to buy into whatever book he’s got. It’s: Buy into Hinduism or Buddhism or Catholicism; believe in me and I’ll lead you down the right path.’ It starts to sound snake-oily after a while, but in essence what you have is two people with the same objective. You’re trying to win this baseball game and I’m trying to win it with you.”

——

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of talking with Cubs TV analyst Jim Deshaies. With Len Kasper, the 54-year-old former big-league lefthander forms one of the top broadcast duos in baseball. Prior to going behind the microphone 18 years ago, Deshaies played for 12 seasons and won 84 games. His best years came with the Astros, including a 1989 campaign where he went 15-10 with a 2.91 ERA.

He had trouble with Barry Larkin. The Reds Hall of Famer went 16 for 36 off Deshaies, with five home runs. One game in particular stands out.

“Back in the early 1990s, when USA Today used to do a lot of player surveys, we were in Cincinnati playing the Reds,” remembered Deshaies. “Before the game, I filled one of them out. The last question was, ‘Who is the Best Player in Baseball?’ Barry Larkin had the speed, the defense, the power – he could do everything – so I put him down as the best.

“That night, as if to prove a point, I gave up three home runs to Barry Larkin. He hit one to center, one to left, one to right. Fastball, changeup, slider – he hit all three of my pitches in three different directions. What I proved that night was that while I wasn’t a very good pitcher, I was a helluva scout.”

He didn’t have much success against Tony Gwynn either. The Padres Hall of Famer went 18 for 52 off him. That didn’t make Deshaies unique. Gwynn’s .346 batting average versus Deshaies was only .008 higher than his lifetime mark.

“Pitchers uses to talk about how to get Gwynn out,” said Deshaies. “All across the league it was, ‘What do you do with Tony?’ Nobody had a good answer. The default kind of became, ‘Throw it down the middle. Let him hit it early and hopefully it will be at somebody.’ If you went away he was going to exploit that hole between third and short, and if you went in he’d pull a double to right. If you threw it down the middle he might hit a fly ball to center field. There was a grain of truth to that, but a lot of it was: why bother expending all the energy and all the pitches to set him up when in essence he wasn’t, quote unquote, ‘set-up-able?’”

As a rule, the lefthander tried not to throw too many pitches right down the middle. However, he wasn’t shy about throwing his nothing-special fastball up in the zone.

“I had kind of a short-arm delivery, so I was a little sneaky,” explained Deshaies. “You hear guys refer to pitchers as having an ‘invisiball.’ It looks very hittable, but they swing through it or pop it up. Sid Fernandez was like that. I was like Sid-lite. It’s funny – I still hear people reference it today, because there are so few pitchers who pitch that way. I’ll hear broadcasters say, ‘This guy reminds me of Deshaies’ because he doesn’t throw hard, but he throws high fastballs.”

Deshaies broke into the big leagues with the Yankees in 1994. When he got there, he received advice from one of the top lefthanders in the league – and largely ignored it.

“My very first start was at Yankee Stadium,” said Deshaies. “Ron Guidry and I were pitching each end of a doubleheader and he asked what I do. I told him I throw high fastballs. He said, ‘You can’t do that up here, kid.’ That was a little daunting.

“Here’s the irony: Everybody tells you when you get to the big leagues, ‘Just keep doing what got you here,’ but then somebody like Guidry tells me it won’t work here. That set me back a little bit, but then I kind of put it away and didn’t think about it.”

What else does he remember about his first game?

“Being on the mound and not being able to feel my legs,” said Deshaies. “My heart was racing. I also remember giving up a long home run to Harold Baines. I don’t remember if it was on a high fastball or not.”

——

A little over a month ago, the Sunday Notes column featured R.A. Dickey and Max Scherzer on the subject of pitch counts. The 1963 game where Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn each threw over 200 pitches was the starting point for the discussion.

I also spoke with Mark Buehrle for the story, but his responses ended up on the cutting room floor. The Blue Jays southpaw deserves to be heard – he’s on pace to throw over 200 innings for the 14th consecutive year, and leads all active pitchers with 2,998 innings pitched – so he’ll get his due here.

Given Buehrle’s durability, one might think he’d view the Marichal-Spahn duel as doable in the current era. That isn’t the case.

“That’s not happening nowadays, with me or anybody,” exclaimed Buehrle. “That’s ridiculous. There used to be guys throwing 300, 400 innings and I can’t even fathom that. Especially with all the injuries happening. I couldn’t see it.”

The 35-year-old has walked just 2.1 batters per nine innings over his 15 seasons. This despite what he considers a big reason pitch counts and innings loads are what they’ve become.

“The strike zone has gotten half of what it was back in their day,” opined Buehrle. “The game has changed to make it harder to throw. Go back to even the 1980s and 1990s, and see the strike zones. Look at how much guys were getting. It’s definitely shrunk up in size.”

Scherzer and Dickey weighed in on conserving energy for later in the game. They also touched on how effort levels impact innings loads. What are Buehrle’s thoughts on those subjects?

“In your head, you go out there for six or seven innings and do what you can to get through them,” said Buehrle. “That’s what’s expected of you. I don’t really save bullets. At my age, I don’t have many bullets to save anyway. As for [effort level], guys like Scherzer are more balls out and letting balls fly. I’m not doing that. I just go out there and pitch.”

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Many infielders will tell you their glove is like a part of their hand. For that reason, they’re quite protective of their leather. Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney – one of the elite defenders at his position – is among them. I asked him about his glove of choice prior to Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park.

“I use an 11-and-a-half [inch] Wilson A200,” Barney told me. “It’s the same model I’ve used for about seven or eight years. The individual glove I’m using now – my gamer – is in its third season. It’s the longest I’ve ever had a glove last. I don’t play catch with it, or do anything with it, until the game starts. Warming up my arm before a game, I’ll use a different glove.

“One out of every four or five gloves I get ends up being a gamer. The others will be backups. It never happens that one of my backups becomes my gamer. If something happens with the gamer, I find a new one. The last glove I got rid of was in 2011. There was a backhand I dropped, and I threw the glove away right after that.”

The 28-year-old Oregon State product doesn’t drop many. He’s won both a traditional Gold Glove and a Fielding Bible Gold Glove, and has led NL second basemen in fielding percentage each of the past two seasons. He’s committed just 24 errors in over 4,100 innings.

Barney has played 502 games as a second baseman. On the rare occasions he’s played elsewhere – 16 appearances at shortstop and six more at third – he’s used his gamer.

“I use the same glove at any position,” said Barney. “I don’t know how some guys can switch from a bigger glove to a littler glove. For me, the feel needs to be the same. Your glove molds to your hand over time. If someone else sticks their hand in there and moves the leather a little bit, it could ruin the way it feels to you.”

What would he do if a teammate went into his locker and grabbed his glove?

“That wouldn’t happen,” said Barney. “At this level, guys kind of know not to do that. If someone stuck their hand in my game glove, it would be a problem. But protocol says you wouldn’t do it, so I’ve never had to deal with anything like that. Guys know how important gloves are.”

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Chris Davis agrees with Barney when it comes to protecting gloves. The Baltimore Orioles slugger also cherishes his lumber, a 35-inch, 33-ounce Louisville Slugger M356. He says it has “a little bigger head and a medium-sized handle” and has been his weapon of choice for the last three years.

While he sticks with the same model, Davis says he’s “not a guy who has to have a certain bat.” Nor is he the overprotective type who gets upset if someone picks up one of his bats. According to the first baseman, gloves are a different story.

“Hands are shaped differently and some guys have bigger hands than others,” explained Davis. “And some guys don’t wear their gloves all the way on the their hand. Some put their whole hand in it and others kind of just put their fingers in it. Once you get a glove formed to your hand, you don’t want somebody else stuffing their mitt in there.”

“I think pitchers are more particular about who puts their hand in their glove, which I think is kind of ironic, because most of the guys who have grabbed a glove of mine and put their hand in it have been pitchers. But it doesn’t happen very often. Not too many people bother picking up a first baseman’s mitt. It’s more likely one of the middle infielders’, because they’re usually the guys with the cooler-looking gloves.”

The Cleveland Indians had two first-round picks in last month’s amateur draft. They used them to select University of San Francisco outfielder Bradley Zimmer 21st overall and prep lefthander Justus Sheffield 31st overall. The former is beginning his professional career with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the short-season New York-Penn League. The latter will begin his in the rookie-level Arizona League.

According to scouting director Brad Grant, the club narrowed its top pick to Zimmer and an unnamed second player approximately six hours before the start of the draft. Using the information at their disposal, they determined the brother of Royals pitching prospect Kyle Zimmer would likely be available when picked at 21.

“As we got closer to the draft we had an inclination – especially day of – he’d be there,” said Grant. “We weren’t sure, so we had a Plan B in place, but we thought there was a pretty good chance.”

I asked Grant what made the Indians believe Zimmer and their Plan B would still be on the board. Read the rest of this entry »

Jason McLeod’s official title with the Chicago Cubs is Senior Vice President, Player Development and Amateur Scouting. Prior to assuming his current position in November 2011, he worked in the same capacity for the San Diego Padres. Before that he was the scouting director for the Boston Red Sox.

McLeod’s track record – particularly on the amateur scouting side – is impressive. Players drafted under his watch include several big-league all-stars. More recent picks populate top-prospect lists.

The 42-year-old McLeod is slated to interview for the recently-vacated general manager position in San Diego. This interview was conducted prior to Josh Byrnes being fired and McLeod being reported as a possible replacement.

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McLeod on scouting, player development and collaboration: “When you look at teams that have historically done well — the Cardinals are an easy example — from an outsider’s perspective you try to glean as much information as you can on how they’ve gone about things. Certainly, you want to model yourself after the organizations that have been most successful in scouting and player development.

“There’s been this adage of scouts versus player development guys, but in my experience I’ve never seen a clear case of we-do-what-we-do and you-do-what-you-do. At least not to any extreme. I’m not sure exactly how many organizations have one guy overseeing both departments, but I’d guess it’s 8-10. I’ve been in that role for a few years now, and I think it‘s obvious that communication is big. Read the rest of this entry »

The line jumped out at me when I read it in the Minnesota Twins press notes earlier this week; “Brian Dozier has hit 30 home runs in the last 365 days.” A look at the stat sheet showed something else of interest: The 27-year-old second baseman is on pace to draw 100 walks.

Thirteen months ago, Dozier had seven home runs and two dozen walks in a little over 400 big-league plate appearances. His batting average for the season was barely over the Mendoza Line. Then came a skull session with hitting coach Tom Brunansky, accompanied by some serious film work.

“On May 20 last year, in Detroit, Bruno and I broke down everything,” Dozier told me on Tuesday. “It was kind of sink-or-swim for me. I was on the verge of getting sent down, so I knew I had to make an adjustment. We got me more grounded – more in my legs – which made my pitch recognition better and my power go up.

“It was about getting my foot down. My foot was up in the air when I started my swing. I’d see a ball coming into the zone and start to swing, and if the ball started breaking away I’d already be committed. Now I’m able to see the ball longer.”

Not being familiar with his old mechanics, I asked Dozier to clarify. Did he get rid of a leg kick he’d been using as a timing mechanism?

“It wasn’t really a leg kick,” responded Dozier. “It’s basically that I was coming down on my toe instead of flat-footed. My foot could be down with my toe, but it still wasn’t down. My hip would start to fly open as I started my swing and I couldn’t stop it. Now I’m more grounded. We call that counting clicks. The more clicks you have once your foot is down, the longer you have to see the ball. Six to eight clicks is a really good thing and at the beginning of last year I only had three or four.”

Once again I needed some clarification. Could he better define “counting clicks”?

“It’s about being on time,” explained Dozier. “You can have a leg kick like Jose Bautista or you could be as quiet as Joe Mauer. It’s once your foot is down — click, click, click – to the point of contact. If I’m starting my swing and it’s one, two, three, bam!, that’s three clicks. That’s not good. What I’m referring to is the in-between from the time you get your foot down to the time you make contact. More clicks means your foot is down early and you can see the ball more.”

I asked Dozier how he views the relationship between power and walks. Is he drawing more free passes because he’s hitting home runs, or is he going deep because he’s seeing more pitches?

“I think it’s all about sticking with my plan,” responded Dozier after a long pause. “This is my third year and I’m learning which pitches, so to speak, I can hit out. I have a better idea of what I need to lay off of. When I get a pitch in my zone is when I try to crank it.”

The home run numbers stand out – especially for a middle infielder – as does the walk rate. Batting average is another story. Dozier’s slash line is .243/.355/.449. Is that a concern?

“Batting average is probably the most overrated stat in baseball,” said Dozier. “Your job is to get on base, so you want to keep your OBP up. You obviously want a good OPS as well. Scoring runs and driving them in are the most important things.”

——

Dozier isn’t the only one counting clicks and putting up numbers. Detroit Tigers outfielder JD Martinez is hitting .312/.342/.596. He’s also red hot. The erstwhile Astro is 14 for his last 31 and has left the yard four times in his last six games.

Martinez’s emergence isn’t dissimilar to Dozier’s. Their backstories differ, but each has turned a corner thanks to mechanical tweaking. Not satisfied with the arc of his young career, the 26-year-old Martinez decided to rework his swing over the offseason.

“A guy I was working with showed me all these commonalities of great hitters,” Martinez told me last month. “I saw that there were good things about my swing, but also some bad things. My swing was too in-and-out-of-the-zone. When we slowed it down on film, I could see my bat was in the zone for one or two clicks. Good hitters are in the zone for six to eight clicks.

“It was a matter of bat path. I’ve changed my swing so it’s more of a slight uppercut to be level with the angle of the pitch. My swing used to be more east to west. The bat was in the zone from here to here, then it was out. Now I’m in the zone longer, which allows my margin of error to be greater.”

Martinez was a .332 hitter in the minor leagues and showed plenty of potential in parts of three seasons in Houston. But while he displayed occasional power, he was all too susceptible to slumps. Opposing pitchers were doing a good job of exploiting his cold zones. Changes were in order.

“At this level, if you have a glitch in your swing, pitchers are going to find it,” said Martinez. “The big leagues are the big leagues. Here, it’s not about talent. It’s not about whether you can hit a 95-mph fastball or whether you can hit a slider. It’s a chess game and about making adjustments. If a pitcher sees you can’t hit a fastball in, he’s going to keep pitching you in. He’s going to find that hole and exploit it. Basically, I needed to change my swing to adjust to how I was being pitched.”

Martinez brought his new mechanics to the Venezuelan Winter League and found he was able to handle the pitches he used to struggle with. He continued to fine-tune his swing when he returned stateside, and reported to spring training anxious to finally establish himself in the Astros lineup. He was never given the chance. Houston released him in mid-March and Detroit picked him up a few days later.

“There’s not much I can say about that other than they wanted to go in another direction,” said Martinez. “I wish I’d have been given more time to show what I can do, but that’s what they decided. I’m not a negative person, so I’m not going to say anything bad about the Astros. I’m just happy the Tigers picked me up and are giving me an opportunity. It’s been hard to keep my timing down, not playing every day, but I’ve been able to prove to myself that the changes I made will work.”

——

Kevin Plawecki is proving himself in Double-A. The 23-year-old New York Mets catching prospect is hitting .329/.373/.493 in Binghamton. Just as importantly, he’s displaying improved defensive skills.

Drafted 35th overall in 2012 out of Purdue, Plawecki projects to hit for average at the big-league level. The former Big 10 Player of the Year uses the entire field and has excellent bat-to-ball skills. But he does need to improve his plate discipline. In 1,013 professional plate appearances he’s fanned 104 times and has drawn 81 walks. He’s not exactly backing down from his approach.

“If you’re not striking out, you’re obviously swinging the bat,” said Plawecki. “You have to swing to make contact. I understand I don’t have a lot of walks, but I’m a hitter, not a walker. I’ll take walks, but I don’t think anybody gets in the box looking for one. If the pitch is in the zone, I see no reason not to swing at it. Ultimately you’re trying to get a hit every time you’re up to bat.”

Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez acknowledges the former Boilermaker is a free-swinger, but also sees a lot to like. One thing he expects to improve is Plawecki’s power production, which has been surprisingly sparse for a player with a linebacker’s build. Plawecki has six home runs this year and 21 since entering pro ball.

“He uses the whole field and is good at making adjustments,” said Lopez. “I think the home runs are going to come in time. We all know power is the last thing to develop, and Kevin has good size. He has a good understanding of how to control the barrel, so it’s mostly a matter of learning the strike zone better. Once he starts doing a better job of laying off the marginal pitches and focusing on his hot zone, the power numbers will go up.”

He’s already upping his caught-stealing percentage, which is a respectable 33 percent this season. A good receiver, Plawecki made great strides with his throwing in spring training. Working with big league bench coach Bob Geren, and minor league catching coordinator Bobby Natal, he turned a question mark into a positive.

“It was about cleaning up my arm action,” explained Plawecki. “I was a little too long and kind of getting caught on my front side a little bit. In a sense, my arm was having to catch up to my body. We eliminated that and got everything working together.”

How close to big-league ready is Plawecki?

“He’s close, but I don’t want to put a time frame on him,” said Lopez. “That wouldn’t be fair. We have to remember this kid was in the South Atlantic League at the beginning of last year. I will say that he’s making good progress.”

——

Matt Wisler didn’t look like the top pitching prospect in the San Diego system in his first four Triple-A starts. The 21-year-old righthander was promoted to El Paso in May and proceeded to allow 21 runs in 13-and-a-third innings. It was a rude awakening for a hurler who’d breezed through the California League and dominated Double-A.

This year’s Baseball America Prospect Handbook lauds Wisler’s mental toughness and poise, and both were evident in the way he bounced back. In five appearances since, the Bryan, Ohio native has allowed 10 earned runs in 31-and-a-third innings.

“It was definitely tough,” Wisler said of his four-game debacle. “I was kind of playing head games with myself, over-thinking everything and wondering what I was doing wrong. I was in my head too much.

“I had one big inning every game and that killed me. You have to be able to stop the bleeding once you get guys on base, and I was allowing four or five runs before I knew it. I was letting the game speed up on me rather than settling down and making my pitches.”

Wisler had a 2.03 ERA last year in the hitter-friendly California League. What made his transition to the Pacific Coast League so tumultuous?

“The Cal League is a hitter’s league, but the PCL is a hitter’s league with better hitters,” explained Wisler. “Here, your mistakes get punished a lot more, and I was leaving balls up to get punished. I was giving up doubles and triples with guys on. I gave up a lot of home runs as well.

“I couldn’t command my fastball down in the zone. It was up, flat, and easy to hit. I was maybe overthrowing a little bit, especially in the first couple of games. When things started to unravel, I’d try to do too much instead of taking a step back and just making a good pitch. I was trying to blow it by hitters, and that’s not going to happen at this level.”

El Paso pitching coach Mike Cather knows Wisler well, having previously served as the Padres minor-league pitching coordinator. He agrees the youngster learned a lot in the lambastings.

“He found out making pitches is a lot more important than trying to out-stuff somebody,” said Cather. “He took some damage, but his learning curve is extremely steep. He figured things out pretty quickly.”

According to Cather, Wisler’s changeup usage is improving and his slider is average-plus with more depth than run. His two-seam fastball has good late action and his four-seam fastball has “another three or four mph under the hood for when he wants to go for a punch out.” Cather likes Wisler’s increased abilty to add and subtract, varying his fastball velocity between 89 and 95.

Wisler’s two- and four-seam usage is determined partly by feel, partly by handedness.

“It kind of depends on the day and the hitters,” explained Wisler. “If there are a ton of lefties I’m probably going to throw 55-60 percent two-seams. If there are a lot of righties I’m probably going to be 70 percent four-seams. How many arm-side pitches I’m throwing depends a lot on the lineup.”

Will Wisler get an opportunity to face a big league lineup this summer as a fresh-faced 21-year-old?

“I think there’s a significant chance he could pitch in San Diego this year,” said Cather. “It could be a spot start, or a two-start stint, just to get his feet wet. It could also be out of the bullpen. There are different ways to break a guy into a major league environment.”

——

Karsten Whitson signed with the Red Sox yesterday. An 11th-round pick this year out of the University of Florida, the 22-year-old righthander reportedly received a $100,000 bonus. In 2010 he turned down a reported $2.1 million after being taken ninth-overall by the Padres out of high school.

If Whitson regrets his earlier decision, he’s not letting on. When I spoke to him last week, he professed to being proud of what he’s accomplished over the past four years. Any looking back is done with positives in mind.

“My time at Florida was great,” said Whitson. “I went to the College World Series, won two SEC championships, and graduated [with a degree in psychology]. It was a very tough decision, but after doing some self reflection I though it was the right choice. I’d always been a huge Gators fan and it was a dream of mine to play there. I was able to do that, and now I’m following my dream to play professional baseball.”

I asked Whitson if bonus parameters were discussed prior to the 2010 draft.

“No,” replied Whitson. “ I got picked and they just kind of threw a number at me – what they valued me at – and talking with my family it seemed like pursuing an education and a degree was more important at that time in my life.”

Whitson went 8-1, 2.40 in his freshman season at Florida. Then came the injury that threw his future earnings further in doubt.

“My sophomore year, I felt some discomfort in my forearm,” explained Whitson. “I had a little tendonitis, and being the young player I was, I came back from that a little too fast, which led to some shoulder issues. There’s always been a lot of torque in my delivery, and pitching around the forearm soreness led to the internal impingement in my shoulder. There was some build-up on the joint — a callus building up on the nerve – so I decided to go ahead and get it cleaned up by Dr. Andrews.”

The 6-foot-4 righty threw in the mid-90s before the injury. That dropped to the high 80s before he went under the knife and missed the 2013 season. I asked Whitson where his velocity is now.

“My last college start was against LSU in the SEC tournament and my velo was great,” said Whitson. “I was 93 to 97 and my slider was up to 88. It’s all starting to come together for me, not just my shoulder, but also my feel. I missed some time over the past few years, but I’m heading in the right direction. I’m with a great organization that’s going to develop me the right way.”

As for the money he passed up four years ago, that will matter even less if he reaches the big leagues and goes on to earn a multi-year contract. His response when I suggested as much?

“Absolutely,” said Whitson. “Absolutely.”

In his own words, Trevor Bauer has “always been into math, science and engineering.” That will come as no surprise if you’ve heard the 23-year-old Cleveland Indians righthander talk about his craft. He addresses pitching in much the same way a physicist expounds on matter.

He inherited his mindset – and by extension his approach to pitching – from his father. Ironically, bloodlines weren’t responsible for his love of the game.

“He’s been huge in my development, both as a person and as a baseball player, but he actually didn’t play growing up,” said Bauer. “He wanted to, but his family couldn’t afford to buy him a glove. He’s always encouraged me, though. My first year of not playing tee-ball – my first year of kid pitch – it was bases loaded and nobody out and they brought me in to pitch. I got out of it and after that my dad was like, ‘We should get you some pitching lessons to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.’”

Pitching lessons became a part of his formative years, especially after he was introduced to the Texas Baseball Ranch.

“When I was 10, I started taking pitching lessons from a guy named Jim Wagner,” said Bauer. “In 2003, Jim went to the American Baseball Coaches Association conference and heard a guy named Ron Wolforth talk. A year later my dad sent me down to Ron’s camp in Texas. It’s fairly expensive, but he bought me six camps. I’ve been going back there every summer since.”

Bauer’s father has remained engaged every step along the way, and not just financially. Some of the support has been typical of father-son relationships. Other aspects have been outside the box.

“He would always encourage me to do my throwing,” said Bauer. “There were times in high school where I’d have a bucket of balls on each handlebar of my bike, a backpack on my back, and a glove on my hand, riding to the park to throw. He also came to all of my tournaments. But I think where my dad has been the biggest influence on me is with his background.”

Bauer’s father – after a short stint running a Dunkin’ Donuts out of high school – earned an engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines.

“He thinks about things very scientifically,” said Bauer, who followed in his father’s footsteps and studied engineering at UCLA. “You’re taught a very specific process. You have an ultimate outcome – you want to build a bridge or build a plane – and ask yourself, ‘OK, what are the components I need to get there? How am I going to go about getting the job done as efficiently as possible?’ I was brought up that way by him. I’ve always been into math, science and engineering, so we communicate very well in that respect.

“Whenever there’s something I want to do baseball-wise… say I want to throw harder. What do I need to do to achieve that? I need to get stronger, faster, more athletic; I need to change this or that about the physics of my mechanics. My dad and I will apply that process. We talk about that stuff a lot. A lot of the progressive training methods I’ve used are the culmination of work put in by Jim Wagner, Ron Wolforth, my dad, and myself. We’ve tried to design the most optimal training program possible. That extends to pitch sequencing and learning the shapes of my pitches.”

Math, science and engineering. It’s hard to overemphasize the degree to which the Bauer mindset is based on those disciplines. Their study of pitch movement – including how a hitter perceives an incoming pitch – is a good example.

“My dad built a series of Rebar,” explained Bauer. “He set it up 20 feet in front of the mound and I’d throw a ball through a small hole in it. He put a camera behind me, so when the ball passes through the grid we could generate coordinates. Basically, we created a coordinate grid for the ball going to the plate. We could say, ‘OK, at 20 feet out of your hands it’s at X, Y, and at the plate it’s at X1,Y1.’ We could figure out the average movement so I could work on throwing all of my pitches to look the same at 20 feet.

“My dad understands the Magnus force and how spin affects the way the ball moves. If I’m ever struggling with a pitch, I’ll play catch with him. He’ll recognize if the spin axis is wrong – maybe my curveball axis is tilted the wrong way because of how the ball is in my hand – because we’ve played catch and talked about it for so long.”

In many respects, the son has been the teacher as much as the student. Trevor grew up learning from his father – and still does — while Warren Bauer, chemical engineer who never played baseball, has become well-versed on the science of pitching.

“I’ve taught him a ton,” said Trevor Bauer. “Everything he knows about baseball is due to either me teaching it to him or him doing research because I play. Once I became interested in pitching, he started learning everything he could to help me out. The depth of his understanding about pitching is pretty impressive now.”

Like father, like son. Like son, like father.

——

It should come as no surprise that Marco Gonzales is the son of a pitching coach. The 22-year-old lefthander is one of the top prospects in the St. Louis Cardinals system thanks in part to an advanced feel for his craft. He’s moving fast. Twelve months after being drafted 19th overall out of Gonzaga University, he’s already in Double-A.

Gonzales’ father, Frank, is currently the pitching coach for Colorado’s short-season affiliate, the Tri-City Dust Devils. The former minor league hurler taught his son well. Marco has a 1.77 ERA this season between two levels and a 11.3 K/9 since a mid-May promotion to Springfield.

The younger Gonzales is known for his pitchability, a label he embraces.

“That’s my identity as a pitcher,” agreed Gonzales. “I throw in the low 90s, but by no means is that overpowering. The ability to command the strike zone and mix in three different pitches for strikes is definitely my strength.”

Until recently, the Fort Collins, Colorado native featured four offerings. He’s scrapped a pitch he developed – and used effectively – at Gonzaga. As a result, his curveball has taken on a somewhat bigger role.

“I threw a cutter the past two years or so, but in spring training I had a little minor forearm flareup and shut that pitch down,” said Gonzales. “I suspected that was part of the problem, so now I’m just fastball, changeup, curveball. The cutter is a pitch that uses the extensor muscles on the outside of your forearm, and that’s where I was getting sore. We kind of mutually agreed to shut it down for now.

“I’m throwing my curveball in different counts this season. It’s my third [best] pitch, but I still need to use it. That said, because of my changeup it does kind of get thrown on the back burners a little bit.”

The savvy southpaw’s signature pitch is a plus changeup that makes his otherwise average fastball play up. Well-educated on his craft, he recognizes which one should be prioritized to augment the other.

“My number-one pitch is my fastball, and I think that should be the case for anybody, unless maybe you’re a specialty closer,” said Gonzales. “As a starter, your fastball needs to be your best pitch. For me, that means locating it to both sides of the plate with some run. That’s what pitching is all about.

“I throw both a two-seam and a four-seam and use them pretty equally. If my two-seamer isn’t running on a given day I’ll go with more four-seamers, but if both are working I’ll throw both pitches to left- and right-handed hitters. I like to throw my two-seamer to the arm side of the plate, away to righties and in to lefties. There isn’t much velocity difference between them, maybe just one or two [mph].”

Mechanically, the lefthander is pretty much what you might expect from someone who grew up learning to pitch, as opposed to just reaching back and firing fastballs.

“There’s no max effort with me,” said Gonzales. “As a starter who isn’t overpowering, I don’t want to burn my innings out right away. My effort level usually stays pretty steady throughout the game. I feel my delivery is pretty clean. My dad, being a pitching coach, has always enforced balance, repeatability, driving off my back leg, and having a good finish. Those are things I focus on and feel I do well.”

——

It was especially fitting that Garin Cecchini’s parents were on hand for his big-league debut earlier this month. The Cecchini’s are very much a baseball family. Glenn is the head coach at Barbe High School in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His wife, Raissa, is an assistant coach. Garin’s younger brother, Gavin, plays in the Mets system.

After the game, I asked the 23-year-old Red Sox rookie about his first two at bats – a strikeout looking and an opposite field double.

“Walking up to the plate the first time, I was, ‘I’m not going to be nervous!” said Cecchini, who returned to Triple-A Pawtucket the following day. “Then I got in the box and it was, ‘Hmmm… OK, I’m nervous.’ But it was a good nervous. It was in my stomach. It was a happy nervous.

“On the hit, I was watching the ball a little bit running to first base. When I knew it was going to hit off the Green Monster, I put my head down. But I was smiling. I always have a smile on my face when I’m playing this game. I’m living the dream. Even if I’m in Triple-A, I’m living the dream. I’m playing baseball for a living.”

I asked Cecchini what it was going be like to see his parents when he walked out of the clubhouse a few minutes later.

“It’s going to be awesome, man. What else can I say? It’s going to be awesome.”

——

A player’s teammates are his second family, which means the happy-go-lucky Cecchini has plenty of brothers-in-arms in the Red Sox system. One of them is highly-regarded first-base prospect Travis Shaw, who is hitting .303/.386/.504 this year between Portland and Pawtucket.

“I was thrilled for Cheech when he got called up,” said Shaw. “I’ve played with him since [short-season] Lowell and it kind of hit home for one of my best friends in baseball to live his dream. Him getting his first big league hit was awesome. He came back down to Pawtucket with the biggest smile on his face.”

Shaw should make his own debut someday. When it happens, no one will be more excited than his father, former All-Star reliever Jeff Shaw.

“When I get called up, I know my dad will be on the first flight to where I’m playing,” said Shaw. “He’ll be excited. As a matter of fact, I think he’ll be even more excited than me. He follows my career closely and is going to be absolutely thrilled.”

Travis had plenty of thrills growing up as the son of a big-league closer. He even made it onto SportsCenter once – much to his embarrassment. It happened while he was a bat boy for one of his father’s teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Apparently I was disgusted about how my dad was pitching that night,” explained Shaw. “I was in the dugout and I threw my hands in the air. Later, SportsCenter had a split screen of him walking a guy and me throwing my hands up like, ‘What are you doing?’”

——-

Fathers, sons and baseball go together like hand in glove. With that in mind, I asked six players, and one coach, about the relationship they share with their fathers and the game they love.

Dave Martinez, Tampa Bay Rays bench coach: “My dad was hard on me. If one day I was two-for-four, he wanted to know why I wasn’t four-for-four. He stayed on me pretty good. When you’re young, you want to say ‘Hey dad, give me a break,’ but looking back now, it was a life lesson.

“When I was playing in the big leagues he’d call me up and say, ‘I watched the game on TV and you’re dropping your hands; you did this, you did that.’ Even to this day he’ll call me every now and again to ask, ‘Why did you guys do this, why did you guys do that?’ But that’s just my dad loving the game, and loving me.”

Evan Gattis, Atlanta Braves catcher: “I have to admit I cried when I was signed up for tee ball. But after that it was just what we did. At the side of the house there were these two little worn out places where my dad and I would play catch. There’s just so much love I have for my dad and for baseball. He still plays catch, too. If I ever go to home run derby, he wants to throw to me.”

Brock Holt, Boston Red Sox infielder: “My dad wasn’t a baseball guy. He was a football and track guy who played pretty much every sport but baseball, but we did play catch and he’d hit me ground balls. After a while, I got a little too strong for us to play catch. One time in high school, in the back yard, he missed my throw and it hit him in the leg. It’s kind of crazy to think he never played baseball, because kids normally do what their dads do. He let me follow my own path.”

Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves pitcher: “My dad never played baseball but he’s really enjoying it now. He travels all over the country on his motorcycle to check out the ballparks and watch me play. He’s here in Boston now. He and a few of his buddies rode their motorcycles up from Alabama. He took the tour of Fenway and has also taken the tour at Wrigley.”

Wil Myers, Tampa Bay Rays outfielder: “My dad helped me along the way – he helped me with my swing and took me to practices – but the biggest thing he did for me was not sugar-coat anything. He told me the truth, whether I had a good game or a bad game. If I got two hits, he wanted to know what happened in the other at bats. He kind of backed off once I got into pro ball, but he still watches all of my games on TV.”

Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves infielder: “He wanted me to do well and succeed, but he mostly wanted me to have fun. I didn’t have to worry about him getting mad if I struck out or made an error. He was proud of me whether I did good or bad. My own son plays baseball – he’s eight – and I’m bringing him up the same way. I think he’s more competitive than I am. He gets really mad if he doesn’t win. He follows what I’m doing, but he’s more worried about getting his own hits.”

Michael Bourn, Cleveland Indians outfielder: “It was a marriage made in heaven pretty much. My daddy started me playing baseball when I was a little boy, just four or five. It’s a game he loves, and a game I love, so we had some good times growing up together.

“He was my coach for a few years and there was no slack cut. He was an old-school coach who was demanding and stern. He didn’t show me any favoritism. Now I’m a grown man and have my own son. He’s four, and I’ve already got him swinging a bat. I used to be the child and now I’m the father. It’s a completely different perspective. My daddy used to tell me, ‘You’ll see some day when you have kids.’ Now that I’m experiencing it first hand, I appreciate him even more. He pushed me, but he was also proud of me. I want to say ‘thank you’ to him for that.”