Manny Parra was a phenom-turned-bust with the Brewers. The top-rated pitching prospect in the Milwaukee system in 2008, he battled injuries and inconsistency while logging a 5.12 ERA over five tumultuous seasons. Then he signed with Cincinnati.

Parra has been a reliable reliever since joining the Reds 15 months ago. The 31-year-old southpaw appeared in 57 games last year and struck out 11 batters per nine innings. He’s on a similar pace this season. Health is a big reason for his turnaround, as is a repertoire change. On the suggestion of Bryan Price – at the time the Reds’ pitching coach — Parra ditched his curveball in favor of a slider.

Parra’s relationship with his curveball was every bit as tumultuous as his tenure in Milwaukee. In many respects, it was the curveball that ditched him.

“I lost the feel for my curveball in late 2008, early 2009,” explained Parra. “That really hurt me, because everything else I threw was hard. My fastball was hard and my split was pretty hard. I had nothing to differentiate with, so hitters could get their timing going. If they saw the ball up, they’d let it fly.

“The more I struggled with my curveball, the more I was told to continue throwing fastballs. They said to just trust my fastball, but the more I threw it, the more I got hit. What happened is my lack of command got exposed. I threw enough strikes, but at this level it’s about command and I never had great command of my fastball. I’d always kind of relied on keeping hitters guessing. When I first came up in the minor leagues I was called a 90-mph thumber because I liked to mix it up. Losing that really left me lost.”

Losses followed. Hitters punished Parra, who saw his WHIP balloon to 1.83 in 2009. It was only marginally better in 2010 and 2011. His relationship with his breaking pitch was in serious need of counseling.

“There’s nothing mechanical that’s not also mental,” agreed Parra. “Every move you make starts with your image of it. To me, the two go hand in hand. I feel like I tried everything. A lot of people tried to help me and I worked my butt off to figure it out, but the more I tried the worse it got. Basically, I lost the identity of how I even used to throw.”

Upon divorcing the Brewers, Parra met someone who helped him find a new identity. The result was a parting of ways with his curveball.

“Last year, at the end of spring training, Bryan [Price] and I were talking,” said Parra. “He said he noticed that I accelerate my arm really well, but didn’t really do a whole lot of the manipulation with my curveball. A lot of guys will really try to get around the ball, but when I did that I would get messed up. He wanted me to stay behind the ball and throw a slider, which is mostly like a fastball, only you kind of just throw the outside of it.”

Prior to Price’s intervention, Parra flirted with a pitch similar to a slider. He took a liking to it, but it wasn’t a match made in heaven in the eyes of his old club.

“I started throwing a cutter, but that got axed pretty quick,” explained Parra. “Not by me, but by outside influences. In 2009, I was facing the Pirates and gave up a double on a cutter. I was told not to throw it again.”

Five years later, he’s thriving with the cutter’s cousin. The southpaw is quite fond of his new pitch – he’s throwing it over 40 percent of the time – but memories die hard.

“What’s funny is that my slider looks like a curveball once in awhile, depending on how I release it,” said Parra. “There are times I’ll go. ‘Man, that’s like my old curveball.’ I still have a slider mentality, though.”

Josh Tomlin will be on the mound tonight for the Indians. It will be the 29-year-old right-hander’s first start in a Cleveland uniform since he underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2012 season. The opportunity is well-earned. Tomlin has thrown 17 scoreless innings in his past two outings for Triple-A Columbus and has a 2.06 ERA overall.

Tribe fans can expect to see a revamped-velocity version of the pitcher who went 12-7, 4.25 in 2011. Tomlin still relies on cutters and command – he’ll never be confused with a fire-baller – but he’s throwing harder than he has at any point in his life. More importantly, he’s throwing free and easy.

“The injury prevented me from doing the things I need to do,” Tomlin said. “In 2011, maybe a month after the All-Star break, I started feeling like something wasn’t right. I tried to pitch through it late in 2011 and early 2012, but couldn’t command the ball and couldn’t cut it when I wanted to. I didn’t have the extension to get the ball down and away to righties. Subconsciously, I knew it was going to hurt when I did that, so I kind of cut the ball off trying to get it there. It got to the point where righties could eliminate a pitch away and sit middle in, and lefties knew I was going to work away. When a hitter can take away one side of the plate against me, it’s going to be tough for me to compete. Now I’m able to get the ball to that side and move pitches around to keep hitters off balance. That’s my game.”

Tomlin’s radar gun readers are also healthier. His fastball sat in the upper 80s before the surgery. Now it’s north of 90 mph.

“My velocity has crept up a little bit,” Tomlin said. “I’ve been 91-93 throughout the game with my fastball. My arm speed is better since the surgery. The crispness of my pitches is back to what they were before. Right now I feel like I’m a 15 or 16-year-old kid playing catch again. It doesn’t hurt, I don’t feel it, I don’t think about it. I just take the ball and pitch.”

Tomlin was reminded in spring training that he still has to “pitch” to be effective. He’s never been a power guy and a little extra octane isn’t going to change that.

“I got myself hurt against that Abreu guy with the White Sox,” Tomlin said. “I got him down 1-2 and tried to blow a fastball by him, in. I basically tried to throw the ball too hard – I guess I was overconfident – and left it over the plate. He hit it pretty good. That’s something I had to learn in spring training: How to hone in my new-found velocity and new-found feeling. I can throw pretty hard right now – at least for me – but throwing the ball by someone isn’t my game. I need to set them up to where 89-90 is still effective. It’s about making a quality pitch and missing a barrel, not lighting up the radar gun or trying to get too cute with my fastball.”

Tomlin’s cutter is his most attractive offering. It is also the shapeliest. Thanks to his rebuilt arm, he can tempt hitters with it in two different ways.

“I’m able to do things with my cutter now,” explained Tomlin. “I’m able to make it move horizontally if I want it to. If I get a guy 1-2 with a fastball, I can make it a little bigger. I also have one with more of a slider depth to it. Basically, I’m throwing two different cutters – one more horizontal to miss the barrel and one with a little more depth to try to get ground balls, maybe even a swing-and-miss. But for me, the cutter is a pitch to get weak contact early in the count to keep my pitch count low.”

Tomlin’s repertoire includes a curveball. It’s his third-best pitch and yet another that’s been rejuvenated by his surgery.

“My curveball is the pitch that’s probably been helped the most,” Tomlin said. “Again, I’m not thinking about it. I can grip it without that feeling of ‘I hope it doesn’t hurt.’ The conviction I have behind all of my pitches is the biggest change. It’s not like it was when I was struggling and my arm was bothering me a little bit. Not to make excuses, or anything like that, but the conviction I had then is nothing near what I have now.”

Nathan Eovaldi is making the transition from thrower to pitcher, and the results are striking. In 37-and-a-third innings over six April starts the 24-year-old Miami Marlins right-hander punched out 35 batters and allowed just five walks. His ERA was a sparkling 2.58.

Eovaldi is thriving on simplicity. Two out of three pitches he’s thrown this year have been fastballs averaging 96 mph. He’s consistently attacking the bottom half of the zone, resulting in a 55.5% ground-ball rate. According to bench coach Rob Leary, that’s by design.

“He’s getting a lot of [ground balls] on his fastball,” said Leary. “We’re not asking him to strike anyone out. We’re not asking any of our pitchers to strike anyone out. The more efficient they are, the longer they can go. We saw that with Henderson Alvarez recently when he threw a 90-pitch complete game. We want our pitchers to get outs with quality pitches, and the sooner the better. Balls down in the zone get put into play, typically on the ground.”

Pitchers with high ground-ball rates are often assumed to throw a two-seam fastball. Eovaldi doesn’t. With semantics in mind, even when his fastball sinks, it’s not a sinker.

“I don’t throw a two-seam,” explained Eovaldi. “I throw a four-seam and grip the ball the same every time. I’m just trying to throw good-quality low strikes and a lot more of my pitches have been down by the knees this year. I don’t really pay much attention to the movement I might be getting. I just throw to where the glove is.”

“He throws a four-seam that’s real heavy,” explained catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. “Most guys throw the ball and you just catch it. Nate’s ball has that little extra oomph. He can throw it down in the zone and he can also throw it up here [at the letters] where it looks good and you swing, but it’s hard to square up because it’s 98.”

Leary feels Eovaldi is making the transition from thrower to pitcher, but acknowledges that the flame-throwing youngster is still a work in progress. Is he more than a thrower?

“Absolutely,” responded Leary. “He obviously possesses a real big arm, and when you have that type of fastball people are going to say ‘He’s a thrower’ or ‘He’s just a power guy.’ But I don’t consider him that. He just needs to continue to refine his pitches. He has the makings of three good off-speed pitches, it’s just a matter of consistency.

“He uses the slider more than his curveball, but at any time, or any night, they’re both very good pitches. They’re out pitches. Again, it’s just a matter of consistency. Between last year and this year we’ve seen him improve, and we want to continue to see good progress.”

Saltalamacchia echoed Leary.

“He’s obviously got a really good fastball, so once he gets his secondary stuff down he’s going to be one of the top pitchers in the game,” said Saltalamacchia. “He’d be right up there with Jose Fernandez right now if he didn’t struggle with his secondary a little bit. But he’s working on it. His slider is his second-best pitch and his curveball is becoming a good pitch. His changeup is getting better.”

Eovaldi’s understanding of how to pitch is clearly getting better. He’s still more about power than finesse, and probably always will be, but he’s no longer just a thrower. His emergence as a quality starter bears that out, as does his simple-yet-maturing approach.

“It’s not necessarily about velocity,” said Eovaldi. “If you can locate pitches you’re going to be good, no matter how hard you’re throwing. I’ve been able to throw a lot more quality strikes and repeat the good arm slot on my slider more consistently. How much I throw my curveball depends on the hitter, the situation, the count, and whether they’re on my fastball or not. It’s about knowing strengths and weaknesses, and mixing pitches. But everything is going to work off my fastball.”

——

At the end of the 2009 season I interviewed Josh Reddick for a now-defunct print publication. He was 27 games into his big-league career, having debuted that summer with the Red Sox. We covered several topics, from rookie hazing to rumors he would be traded in the offseason.

Reddick wasn’t traded that winter, but he was two years later, to Oakland. The A’s are at Fenway Park this weekend, so I decided it might be fun to revisit parts of our old conversation.

One of the first things I asked about was the mohawk he shaved off when he got called up from the minor leagues. His response was similar to what it was four-and-a-half years ago.

“I felt like it wouldn’t be a good first impression to make on a bunch of guys I didn’t know very well,” said Reddick. “A 22-year-old rookie making his debut in a mohawk probably wouldn’t look too good.”

The Oakland outfielder is colorful, and prone to changing his look from time to time, so I asked if he’d be comfortable wearing one now. He didn’t sound inclined. Not that he’s especially pleased with his current coif.

“My hair has pretty much been the same since then,” said Reddick. “I’ve gone with the longer hair look, except for now. The stylist screwed up and took too much off. But I haven’t done anything crazy with my hair like mohawk it, spike it or blond it. The only crazy thing I’ve really done here is the beard thing.”

The beard thing. Reddick explained it this way.

“Coco [Crisp] and I started a little one-on-one challenge for who could grow the best facial hair,” said Reddick, who in 2009 told me he’d ‘always been a facial hair guy.’ “This was coming into the spring of 2013. I dominated him. Coco couldn’t grow it nearly as well as I could. I decided to keep it for awhile, and then [WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan] challenged me to a beard-off. Everybody knows how big of a wrestling fan I am, so of course I jumped right on that. Later, he shaved mine off, which was fun. He’s the champion now, and his big push came right after our beard-off, so I’ll have to take credit for that.”

Is there anyone in the Oakland clubhouse who could compete with him in a beard-off?

“The only guy who seems like he could come close is [Derek] Norris,” opined Reddick. “He’s got a pretty good one right now. [Sean] Doolittle has had a pretty good one, but he keeps his pretty thinned. Mine was thick and long.”

Reddick admits he would have fit in well with last year’s well-bearded Red Sox team. It could have happened were it not for the December 2011 deal that sent him west. Don’t blame Theo Epstein.

“I got traded the year after Theo left for Chicago,” explained Reddick. “It was Ben Cherington’s first year. I actually saw Theo in spring training of 2012 and he said, ‘Yeah, man, I told you I wasn’t going to trade you. Ben did and he’s got his own willpower.’ So yeah, Theo held out his end of the bargain. He didn’t trade me.”

——

I wasn’t surprised to learn Mike Ekstrom is playing in Italy and blogging about the experience. Back when I authored the Minor Issues column at Baseball Prospectus, Ekstom was featured twice. On one occasion we discussed travel. In the other he weighed in on Dirk Hayhurst’s “Bullpen Gospels.”

Ekstrom had a fairly nondescript career stateside. He pitched for the Padres, Rays and Rockies, but most of his time was spent in the minors. His big-league resume consists of 51 relief outings from 2008-2012. Last year he turned 30 and logged a 5.14 ERA between a pair of Triple-A stops. The writing was on the wall.

“I didn’t have many good options back in the US,” Ekstrom told me recently. “I wasn’t really interested in indie ball or Mexico, so I thought of Italy. Europe had been on my radar for a few years as a place to travel and play before moving on. My team takes care of all my expenses, gives me a car, and pays a decent salary. I’ll make 16-20 starts and get to experience life in Europe for the summer. It’s a different atmosphere, but a fun place to play and live.

“I’ve been fortunate to see baseball in some unique places,” continued Ekstrom. “I’ve played in traditional markets like Australia and Asia, but I’ve also seen baseball in less-conventional places like Iceland, Vietnam, and now Italy. Playing before raucous crowds in Taiwan is exciting, but holding a baseball clinic in Iceland or watching Japanese businessmen and Vietnamese teenagers play a sandlot game in Hanoi are moments I really enjoy and like sharing.”

Sharing his experiences is something Ekstrom does well. It may not be fair to say he’s a better writer than pitcher, but he’s moving in that direction.

“I created Baseball Round the World as a way to learn some relative skills for when I need a real job,” explained Ekstrom. “Maybe that’s web design, writing or marketing. It’s also a way to share my experiences and keep in touch with friends and family back home. I’ve never been a huge fan of player blogs – they usually seem self-serving and lame – but it’s been a fun project. Plus, it’ll be nice to have something on my resume other than ‘fringe-average professional baseball pitcher.’

Ekstrom isn’t the only player – fringe-average or otherwise – whose stories will populate the blog going forward.

“I plan to expand the website and add interviews from old teammates and friends who’ve played overseas,” explained Ekstrom. “I think it’ll be really interesting to have a site that paints a picture of the wide variety of professional leagues and youth programs around the globe. When I’m done playing I’d like to work in international baseball in some capacity. So far I have interviews to post from guys who’ve played in Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Austria, Germany, and New Zealand. I’ll start rolling out interviews next week and expand from there.”

Here are two examples of Ekstrom’s writing. The first has yet to be published. The second is excerpted from an earlier entry in his blog.

Ekstrom: “Recently, I’ve heard a lot about John Grisham’s book Playing for Pizza – a novel about an American football player, playing in Italy. I think my Italian experience could be more accurately described as Playing for Parmesan & Prosciutto. It seems that in life and in baseball, everything in Italy revolves around food. Just last week, we had a 90-minute practice followed by a three-hour meat-fest of a team barbecue. Last night, our practice was cut short by some light showers – we don’t have a tarp, it’s great! — but the team dinner raged well past midnight. Even during our games, seeing a reliever pounding a piadina – the local flatbread, prosciutto and cheese sandwich – in the fifth inning isn’t out of place. Don’t get me wrong, despite our complete lack of speed on the base paths, I think it’s fantastic. This love of food isn’t specific to my team in Rimini either, Italian league teams largely stick to a station-to-station approach on offense. As an import player, initially I had some concerns about finding the right food here. On the contrary, the food has been a highlight and it’s unexpectedly helped me manage the running game while I’m pitching.

“One difference in the games is that players – especially on the other team — are really passionate and vocal about each and every play. Perhaps it’s because we only play two games a week, but it really felt like a college atmosphere with the entire dugout hanging on each pitch. It’s quite a difference, and definitely less peaceful than the standard apathetic and silent Triple-A dugout. A small part of me felt bad for the umpire – except he was brutal — because regardless of him calling a strike or ball, one team was gonna be yelling at him. Capra means “goat” in Italian, and that’s gonna be my go-to word when yelling at the umpires.”

——

On at least one occasion, Bill King used far stronger language when expressing his opinion to an official. Notable is the fact he was broadcasting the game.

A legendary broadcaster in the Bay Area, King was the voice of the Oakland A’s from 1981-2005. He also called games for the football Raiders, from 1966-1992, and the basketball Warriors, from 1962-1983. His life and career are chronicled in “Holy Toledo: Lessons From Bill King, Renaissance Man of the Mic,” which was published last year. The book’s author is a legend of his own. Ken Korach worked alongside King and is now in his 19th season in the A’s radio booth.

In Korach’s words, King “had a thing for authority figures which manifested itself in his feelings for umpires and officials. He wore his emotions on his sleeve and there was no middle ground.”

I asked Korach for examples of King’s emotional diatribes. He shared two, both of which are told in more detail in his book.

Korach: “According to my boss, Ken Pries – he still works for the A’s – several times he got a call from Major League Baseball expressing concern about something Bill allegedly said on the air about umpires. One time Ken was called down to the umpire’s dressing room at the Coliseum because the crew chief felt Bill had crossed the line, that it had been a personal attack. Ken checked the tape and told him, ‘Listen, I think Bill got emotional, but I don’t think he crossed the line or got personal.’ He gave the crew chief the tape and said, ‘If you have a problem, let me know.’ He never heard back.

“The most-infamous Bill King story was from December 1968. The Warriors were playing the Supersonics, in Seattle. It was a very competitive game with a lot of fouls. Late in the game a call went against the Warriors. Bill was working courtside and wearing an old harness mic, which was attached to his chest. Bill was outraged by a call made by Ed Rush – maybe the most famous NBA official ever – and ripped off his harness mic. He screamed at Rush, ‘You mother______!’ The engineer didn’t get his signal to cut the crowd mic, so those words went out over the air, over 50,000 watts in Northern California.

“A few years later, in December, the Warriors were in San Diego playing the Clippers. Ed Rush got a Mother’s Day card and wrote on it, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, Ed.’ and gave it to Bill before the game. From that point on, every year, Ed and Bill would celebrate Mother’s Day, in December, in honor of what happened that one day in Seattle.”

Dan Uggla isn’t the most popular player in Atlanta, and he has only himself to blame. The well-compensated second baseman has hit .213/.320/.399 since being acquired from the Marlins prior to the 2011 season. After going deep 36 times in his first year in a Braves uniform, he’s seen his power numbers plummet. His K rate has climbed.

Uggla isn’t necessarily cooked. The ability to drive a baseball is still there, and his OBP skills – always good for a low-average hitter – haven’t completely deserted him. At 34 years old, he’s not over the hill. It’s a matter of rediscovering his stroke, which he readily admits is easier said than done.

Uggla talked about his struggles, and what it will take to regain his old form, prior to a mid-April game at Turner Field.

——

Ugla on his approach: “When I first broke in, I was more of a hitter. I wasn’t worried about home runs at all. I knew I had power. But after a few years of hitting a lot of home runs, I kind of… you have to be mentally strong enough to stay within yourself and just try to hit the ball hard where it’s pitched. The last couple of years, whether it was because of coming to a new city, getting a new contract, or whatever, I got caught up in trying too hard and wanting to hit home runs. I let my approach get away from me. It’s been a huge challenge to get back to where I was. I doubt I’ll ever be known as a hitter that hits home runs, as opposed to a guy that hits homers and swings and misses a lot.

“I’ve always been a see-ball-hit-ball guy. The difference the last couple years is that when I’ve seen a pitch in the zone, it’s been an automatic, ‘I can hit a homer on this pitch,’ rather than, ‘Just see it and hit it hard where it’s pitched, and if it goes out it goes out.’ My approach hasn’t changed as far as looking in zones or sitting on pitches – it’s still see-ball-hit-ball – I’m just not hitting as well as I did.”

On walks and strikeouts: “Some people draw a bunch of [walks] and some people don’t. You can look at it a couple different ways. For guys who can hurt you with one swing — the 30-homer guys — pitchers are going to be more careful. They’re going to try to pick around you a little more. They’re going to throw more balls out of the zone, more junk in the dirt. You get better at laying off those pitches. At the same time, guys who don’t walk a lot make more contact when they swing the bat. I’ve been making a little more contact this year, so my walk rate is down. That’s fine. Everything is going to pan out the way it’s supposed to pan out.

“Joey Votto makes a lot of hard contact and walks a lot. Freddie Freeman makes a lot of hard contact and doesn’t walk a lot. Guys like me and Russell Branyan… we’re not really cutting down our swings with two strikes. We’re just trying to be selective and battle. We can still go deep with two strikes.

“If it was after 2011, I’d say you could look at my career and say what you want about strikeouts and I’ll prove you wrong every time. But the last two years it has been a problem. It does need to be addressed. I didn’t drive in 90 runs and hit 30 homers, so there has to be an adjustment made. I have to get my swing back to where I’m making more contact so I can drive in runs. That’s whether it’s with home runs, two-out base hits, or whatever. Last year there were way too many strikeouts and not enough production.”

On Three True Outcomes and advanced stats: “I’ve heard [TTO] a lot in the last few years. I probably wasn’t on that list when I was in Florida, but that’s the perception here in Atlanta. Everybody looks at batting average, but when you get to this level it’s all about run production. I’ve always been a guy who produces runs. Even though I had the worst year of my career last year, I still drove in almost 60. That’s not good by my standards, by any means, but it’s not terrible.

“My on-base percentage was somewhere around .300 and when you hit .180 that’s hard to do. That’s been a big thing for me. I’ve always had a pretty good on-base percentage, whether I hit .240-something or .280-something. I’ve been close to scoring 100 and driving in 100, and that’s what’s most important to me.

“I don’t look at WAR and stuff like that. I’m familiar with it – things like ‘The Shredder’ on MLB Network – but I know how people view me. None of that matters. Last year was tough because I wasn’t able to live up to my usual self, but everyone is going to have a down year. I know what I’ve done in my career, and I know what I’m capable of.”

On his swing: “I had a lot of bad things going on in my pre-swing last year and that led to my swing not being very good. My setup wasn’t letting me get to the right spot to recognize pitches and put the barrel on the ball. I was missing pitches I should be hitting. I wasn’t in sync mechanically. There’s a huge connection between mental and physical. Being mentally strong is important, and mechanically… all the years before, I was always able to hit. If you threw a 99-mph fastball and I was ready for it, I was going to hit it. Last year that wasn’t the case. It was more that if I hit it, I got lucky. I’m trying to fix that. It’s definitely a work in progress, but I feel great this year. I haven’t got hot yet, but I’m feeling better and better every day.”

It’s no secret that Christian Yelich can hit. The 22-year-old Miami Marlins outfielder was drafted 23rd overall in 2010 for much that reason. He proceeded to hit .313/.387/.499 in the minors before being called up last July. This year he’s off to a .315.384/.393 start in 99 plate appearances. Many view him as a future batting champion.

Yelich is more guarded than most. I’ve asked hundreds of hitters about their approach, and almost all have been willing to expound on it. Not Yelich. When I broached the subject earlier this week he was personable yet reticent.

“I will not tell you that,” responded Yelich. “I do look for stuff up there, but I don’t really want to say what I’m trying to do. I don’t like talking about my approach.”

That wasn’t the answer I’d hoped for, as talking to the talented youngster about his craft was a primary reason I ventured into the clubhouse. Pursuing it from a different angle, I asked if he is the same hitter now as when he signed.

“I think you stay the same,” answered Yelich. “Guys get in trouble when they try to change when they get to pro ball, or when they get called up to the big leagues. Making major changes usually isn’t a great idea, but you can make adjustments. Teams make adjustments to you and you make adjustments to them. That’s the game of baseball.”

The left-handed hitter was fairly forthcoming on mechanics.

“Coming into pro ball I was a little taller,” said Yelich. “I was basically straight up. I really wasn’t on my legs a whole lot. I made an adjustment to spread out a little bit. Guys were throwing harder and I was able to recognize pitches a little better that way. That’s the only major mechanical adjustment I’ve made.

“Physically, every hitter is different. Guys have things they do when they’re successful, and things they do when they’re starting to go bad. You have to be able to recognize what those are. You learn yourself coming up through the minors; you learn your swing better.”

He remained reserved when I revisited his approach.

“Your first go-round in the big leagues against some of these teams… I’m learning pitchers,” said Yelich. “Certain pitchers do certain things and fall into patterns. And pitchers try to learn hitters. That’s why I don’t want to tell you about my approach at the plate. It’s a big part of the game. Certain guys pitch you a certain way and other guys pitch another way.”

I asked what a hitter can divulge that can’t be ascertained from video and scouting reports.

“You’d be surprised,” said Yelich. “That’s just the way it is.”

——

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is open about what it means to be a Marlin. The 28-year-old catcher is a veteran presence on a team loaded with youth and promise. Last season he was the second-youngest starter on a team that won the World Series. I asked “Salty” about going from Boston to Miami.

“There’s a lot less media here,” answered Saltalamacchia. “There aren’t 25-30 [reporters] waiting for you after a game like in Boston. Otherwise, the biggest difference is that there are a lot of younger guys. I’m finding myself saying things like ‘This is how we did it’ or ‘This is what I’ve seen.’ In some ways, it’s almost more of a coaching [role].

“We have a lot of young guys who can play but are still trying to find themselves,” continued Saltalamacchia. “The league doesn’t really know them, so it’s fun to see them go out there and just kind of see-ball-hit-ball. That’s kind of a Catch-22. In one respect it’s good, because you want them to be… how should I say this? With veteran guys you know what you’re going to get. With young guys there are still a lot of unknowns. It’s fun for me to watch them go out there and just play the game, have fun, and kind of search for who they are.”

I asked Saltalamacchia, a week short of his 29th birthday, if he has a firm grasp of who he is as player.

“I pretty much know who I am now,” said Saltalamacchia. “I don’t go out there to do more than I’m capable of doing. The best thing about veteran guys is you don’t see them trying to be something they’re not. They know what they can do with certain pitches and they do it. They also know how to control their emotions. Young guys are still young. They try to prove themselves by doing more.

“When I was in Texas, I would watch guys like Mike Young hit and be like, ‘Man, that would be awesome; I’m going to try to do that.’ But that wasn’t me. I’m not going to be a contact hitter. I’m going to work counts and try to hit gaps. I’m going to have my strikeouts. It wasn’t until I got to Boston and talked to Varitek, Pedroia and some of the other veterans – they said ‘Hey, don’t get away from who you are.’ Dave Magadan was another huge help as far as finding out who I am.”

Saltalamacchia feels Jose Fernandez has yet to fully find himself. That’s bad news for opposing teams, as the Marlins ace is already one of the best pitchers in baseball. He is also, as Salty recognizes, just 21 years old.

“Jose has amazing stuff, but he’s still kind of throwing the ball,” opined Saltalamacchia, one day before Fernandez overpowered the Atlanta Braves with 97-mph fastballs and knee-buckling curveballs. “Once he discovers how good he really is and starts pitching, he’s going to be really, really good.”

The veteran catcher cites 28-year-old closer Steve Cishek as an example of a pitcher with a good understanding of who he is.

“There are times he’ll come set and wait a few seconds, because he wants the hitter to maybe think a little bit more,” said Saltalamacchia. “Or he’ll just bear down and really concentrate on where he wants the pitch to go. He’s got a good understanding of who’s up and he knows how to slow the game down. If you’re able to slow the game down enough to where you’re thinking and not just gripping the ball and throwing… that’s something that comes with experience.”

——

Vidal Nuno has experienced a lot at a relatively young age. The 26-year-old southpaw went from California to Kansas before Cleveland took him in the 48th round of the 2009 draft. Two years later he was pitching in the independent Frontier League. Last week he replaced the injured Ivan Nova in the New York Yankees starting rotation.

How did Nuno end up at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas?

“It was about opportunities and needing to see the world a little bit, see the United States,” explained Nuno. “I talked to family members, and a couple of scouts told me the best way to get my name out there was to move on from San Diego. I had options – I could have gone to San Diego State – but I needed to get out and meet new people, have some new connections.

“I wasn’t drafted out of high school. I was a small kid, barely throwing 82, but I had good command and a heart that made me compete. I had that going for me.”

Those attributes were enough for Nuno to excel at the small-college level and get drafted. They weren’t enough to keep him in pro ball. The Indians released him after a nondescript first full professional season in low-A. I asked the stocky lefty if he feared his career might be over when he was let go.

“Oh yeah,” admitted Nuno. “That’s always a question when you get released, or even when things aren’t going your way. It was a little downfall for me. What they told me was there weren’t enough innings where I was at. They’d drafted a lot of pitchers the last two years and there is always going to be a depth chart. Teams are going to give the chances to the guys who got the bonus money. It’s about getting an opportunity, and when I’ve gotten an opportunity I’ve done my best to take advantage of it.”

That’s exactly what Nuno has done since the Yankees signed him off the scrap heap. Despite a fastball that averages just 89 mph, he’s pitched himself onto a big league staff. How did he do it?

“It’s been heart and work ethic,” opined Nuno. “I also added a changeup and a cutter from Double-A to now. I’ve always had good command, but instead of having two pitches, I have five or six. I use all of them. I have to.

“It’s all about pressure points and arm action. I’m not a flamethrower. I’m a crafty guy. I have to be crafty and make the ball move. If I do that and locate in and out, it’s going to be a good day.”

——

Mick Kelleher didn’t have a particularly good day on August 7, 1977. Playing for the Chicago Cubs, the 5-foot-9, 170 lb. infielder suffered bruised ribs tangling with Dave Kingman. Known for his prodigious power, “King Kong” stood 6-foot-6 and weighed well over 200 pounds.

Kelleher currently coaches first base for the Yankees. When he consented to talk about his infamous fracas, the first thing I asked was, “Are you braver than you are smart?” Kelleher laughed. “I was at that time.”

“Kingman was with San Diego and the game was in Chicago,” remembers Kelleher. “Bob Shirley was pitching for the Padres and Steve Renko was pitching for the Cubs. Steve was about 6-6, 260. We had a knockdown, drag-out all day long. There were two fights prior to the one I got in with Kingman. People were throwing at each other.

“Kingman came up and Renko hit him in the shoulder. He didn’t charge the mound, he just went to first base. The next guy hit a ball to short and he turned it over to me – I was playing second base – and here was Kingman, coming in, standing straight up. He didn’t slide. He basically came after me. I went to the ground, but then got up and we fought. He’s a big man, but in the heat of battle you kind of lose it. It didn’t matter how big he was, we were going to fight. The next thing I knew we were on the bottom of the pile.

“I ended up with five bruised ribs on the side where he hit me. I had a wrenched neck and a charlie horse. When my feet hit the ground I flipped him over my shoulder and one of his legs landed right on my thigh. I was pretty banged up.”

The ramifications were far different than they would be today. Kelleher and Kingman were the only two players ejected from the game. Both were fined $250 and neither was suspended.

Following the season, Kingman signed with the Cubs as a free agent and the two became teammates. Upon reporting to spring training, Kingman found Kelleher wearing a provocative piece of apparel.

“I had a t-shirt my fan club in Chicago had given me,” explained Kelleher. “It said ‘King Kong Killer.’ His nickname was King Kong and mine has always been Killer. I used to wear the t-shirt around the clubhouse. He wasn’t a real popular guy and we didn’t know each other very well at that point, but I’d go around the locker room wearing the t-shirt. I’d be punching my fist into my other hand. Everybody got a real kick out of that.

“Dave and I ended up becoming friends. We never talked about the fight. It was just something that happened in baseball on that one particular day. That’s the way the game was back then. He never brought it up and I never brought it up. We did joke about the t-shirt, but that was about it.”

Carlos Beltran understands who he is as a hitter. But that doesn’t mean he’s always the same hitter. The 37-year-old New York Yankees outfielder adapts according to feel and he focuses better in some situations than in others. Still, you can’t argue with the results: He’s hit .283/.356/.497 with 363 home runs since breaking into the big leagues with the Royals in 1998. In 51 postseason games he’s hit .333/.445/.683 with 16 home runs.

Beltran talked hitting prior to last night’s game at Fenway Park.

——

Beltran on mechanical adjustments: “Every year, you don’t feel the same so you have to find a way. You find a position where you feel comfortable mechanically and work with that. The way I hit last year compared to how I’m hitting this year is a little bit different. One thing is the position of the bat. Last year I felt good with my hands like this [slightly forward] and this year that feels a little uncomfortable. This year they’re back a little bit.

“When I was coming up in the big leagues, I talked to a lot of guys I looked up to. One of those guys was Edgar Martinez. I asked him if every year he feels the same. He said ‘No, every year I don’t feel the same.’ Your body feels different. Maybe some years you’re into your legs a little more, and other years you’re more comfortable a little bit taller. It’s basically how you feel. For me, left and right are two different swings. Depending on how I feel, I might be the same from both sides or I might be different.

“You need to feel comfortable, but you can’t be doing one thing in one at bat and in the next at bat do something different. You need to be confident with what you’re doing.”

On having a strong base: “I have to feel I’m in my legs. For example, if a pitcher takes a long time to release the baseball my legs are going to get tired. When I feel like the wind is moving me back and forth… like if it’s windy and I feel off-balance, I don’t like that. I need to step out and reset. When I feel set, I feel good hitting-wise. After every swing I take, I try to reset myself and think about my lower body. Once I feel like my lower body is there, then I transfer all my concentration on the pitcher.”

On his approach: “I concentrate on my strength. I’m not a guy who hits the ball a lot to the opposite field. I hit more center and right center and concentrate on getting a pitch in an area I know I can handle. If it’s a pitch on the outside corner, I know I can’t do much with that pitch. Unless I have two strikes, I don’t want to swing at it. If it’s a pitch on the inside corner and I don’t have two strikes, I don’t want to swing at it. That’s a pitch where, even if I take a good hack, I feel I’m not going to do much with it. I have to look for a pitch out over the strike zone, in or away. Basically, near the middle. Pitchers are going to miss and you have to be ready to hit and take advantage of that pitch when they miss.”

On hitting with runners on base: “I love RBIs. I love to drive in runs and take a lot of pride in those situations. I believe I’m a different hitter with guys on base. Leading off an inning, I feel like maybe my concentration is not there. When I have guys in scoring position I concentrate more because I know if I get a hit we can tie a ballgame, take the lead, add to our lead or shorten a deficit.

“You don’t want to make an out, but you have to be realistic. You’re going to fail a lot. I’m not trying to give away at bats, but like I said, I’m a different hitter with guys in scoring position.”

Mitch Nay is one of the top prospects in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. A supplemental first-round pick in 2012, the 20-year-old third baseman combines raw power and an advanced approach. His grandfather deserves a lot of the credit.

Nay grew up learning the game from Lou Klimchock. A journeyman infielder who spent parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues, Klimchock played for five teams and counts multiple Hall of Famers among his former teammates. He’s passed along much of what he knows to his grandson.

“He’s been a big influence on me,” said Nay, who is playing with the low-A Lansing Lugnuts. “He’s helped with instructional stuff, like hitting and throwing. He’s pretty much been my teacher since a young age.

“My grandpa is also the president of the Arizona Major League alumni, so I’ve been able to hang out with a lot of big names – historical figures in baseball – like Brooks Robinson and Bob Feller. I’ve been around the game my whole life, which makes being in pro ball almost second-nature.”

Nay is already older than his grandfather was when he debuted with the Kansas City Athletics at the end of the 1958 season.

“He played his first game at age 18,” explained Nay. “Last year when Jurickson Profar came up and hit a lead-off home run they were talking about the youngest guys ever to do that. My grandpa was on the list.”

Can he imagine what it would be like to play in the big leagues at such a young age?

“There’s so much I need to learn before that time comes,” admitted Nay. “It would definitely be a challenge, but my grandpa has talked to me about what it’s like. He’s told me to visualize it, to think of myself in some of these guys’ shoes. He says stuff like, ‘Imagine yourself getting on a plane in the middle of the night, going to a new city and waking up there to play a game.’”

Surprisingly, Klimchock practiced visualization in the 1960s. Less surprising is that his grandson does so now.

“When he played, he used to be on deck visualizing himself hitting a line drive over the shortstop’s head,” said Nay. “He says your mind doesn’t know the difference from what your body does. I do that sometimes too. If I’m facing a sinkerballer, I’ll visualize him getting it up and me hitting it in the gap.”

Nay describes his hitting approach as looking for a pitch that’s middle to middle-away, focusing on the right-center field gap, and having a good two-strike approach. You can probably guess where that comes from.

“My grandfather’s approach was pretty simple,” said Nay. “It was basically to stay up the middle and have a good two-strike approach. Growing up, he’d always talk to me about the importance of not giving away at bats. Don’t strike out; put the ball in play. I’ve come to realize you can sometimes hit the ball farther with two strikes, because your approach is better. You can still have power with two strikes.”

Klimchock has taught his grandson more than approach. He’s taught him about the past.

“He’s talked about facing pitchers like Don Drysdale,” said Nay “He’s told me about guys he played with, like Roger Maris and Hank Aaron. I’ve learned a lot about baseball history from him. He even played for a few teams that don’t exist anymore.”

——

Here is a description of the home run Klimchock hit as an 18-year-old, excerpted with permission from the SABR BioProject. It was written by Chuck Johnson.

“When he stepped to the plate as the leadoff hitter for the Kansas City Athletics on the final day of the 1958 season, 18-year-old second baseman Lou Klimchock was looking for his first major-league hit, not to make modern major-league history. Playing in just his second major-league game, Klimchock achieved both. On the mound that day for the homestanding Chicago White Sox was 19-year-old Stover McIlwain. A tall, lanky right-hander, McIlwain was also making his second major-league appearance, and, as fate would have it, his last. Klimchock picked out a McIlwain offering he liked and drove the pitch into the Comiskey Park right-field stands for his first major-league hit and home run. It was the first time in modern major-league history that a teenager had homered off a teenager.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the Baseball Biography Project, it is an invaluable and rapidly-growing resource. The Society for American Baseball Research [SABR] champions the game’s rich history, and the BioProject committee, headed by Mark Armour, is an ambitious part of those efforts. A primary goal is to publish a full-life biography of every major league player in history. Klimchock’s is one of 2,770 that have been completed as of this date.

According to Armour, it took close to six years to reach 1,000 bios, and another 3.5 years to get to 2,000. At its current pace the third 1,000 will take just over two years. The committee is currently producing 400-450 biographies annually, which is roughly twice the rate that new major league players are debuting. If you’re interested in becoming involved, please contact  bioassign@sabr.org.

——

Harry Chiti is still awaiting his biography. It needs to be written. A catcher for four teams from 1950-1962, Chiti broke into the big leagues with the Cubs as a 17-year-old bonus baby. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the first player ever traded for himself.

His son, Dom Chiti, was a minor league pitcher for six seasons before becoming a coach, scout and special assistant. He now serves as the Orioles bullpen coach. I asked Dom about his late father.

“My father was a huge influence on my baseball life,” said Dom. “I was probably more advanced mentally because of him. I learned to change speeds at an earlier age than most guys. He would talk about the game inside the game, like the cat-and-mouse that happens between pitchers and hitters.

“He’d relate stories about players and how to pitch to them. Ted Williams was one. He said Ted Williams used to walk to home plate and say ‘If you can throw three balls on the outside corner you can have my strikeout, but don’t miss.’ He also told me how he’d be going to catch a ball – it was right there – and Ted would take it right out of his glove. His bat speed was that ridiculous.”

In April 1962, the fledgling New York Mets acquired Chiti from the Indians. Two months later he was sent back to Cleveland.

“When he got traded for himself it was actually a cash deal,” said Dom. “I don’t know how many people know this, but the money went to pay for the Chief Wahoo that went up in right field at the old ballpark. That’s what the money was used for. My dad wasn’t so much traded for himself as he was traded for a sign.”

——

Many players excelled in multiple sports before settling on baseball. Orioles outfielder David Lough played two in college and could have played a third. His primary youth sport is the one he gave up first.

“I loved soccer,” said Lough, who came of age in Akron, Ohio. “I played my whole life. It was my No. 1 go-to sport in high school, and I received a lot of D-I offers, but I kind of grew out of it. I never grew out of baseball. I’ve loved being on the diamond from the time I was a little kid playing tee ball. I knew in college it was what I wanted to keep playing.”

Football replaced soccer as Lough’s second sport, despite him having played it only one year in high school.

“My senior year, I grew a real liking for football,” said the speedy 5-foot-10, 175-pound fly-chaser. “I ended up going to college to play both football and baseball. I went to Mercyhurst, a Division-II school in Erie PA, and was a receiver and kick returner. We were in the [Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] when I played, with schools like Grand Valley State. It was good quality football.

“I started putting it together my junior year — I had a couple of touchdowns – but my first few years of college football were a real growing period. In high school, I’d go to the huddle and our quarterback would tell me what to run. I didn’t know the plays. I would go from football practice to soccer practice, and would have soccer games on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Friday I’d have a football game. I was a busy guy and missed a ton of practice time, mostly because of soccer.”

——

Tommy Hunter excelled in a less-traditional sport. The Indianapolis native was a two-time judo champion.

“I was young when I did judo, only 10-12 years old,” said Hunter “I didn’t have any special moves, or anything like that, but I was pretty good. I won the Junior Olympics in judo. It’s basically a national tournament, so while it’s not something you’d call prestigious, it was pretty big for me.”

The Orioles closer is 6-foot-3, 260 pounds. I asked how big he was as a preteen judo champion.

“I wasn’t big when I was 12,” said Hunter. “I wasn’t big until I was a sophomore in high school. I was a normal kid. I wasn’t abnormal.”

My response was, “Unlike now?”

“You think I’m abnormal?” answered the affable-but-large hurler. “Wow. That’s pretty [bleeped] up. But that’s alright. You’re entitled to your opinion. I think I’m pretty [bleeping] normal.”

His home state of Indiana is a hoops hotbed. What about basketball?

“I played in high school, but I wasn’t very good,” said Hunter, who wryly added “I was a white kid and played the token minutes. I kept the GPA up for the team.”

——

Matt Bowman will elevate the GPA on most teams he plays for. The New York Mets pitching prospect majored in economics at Princeton University. Pro ball hasn’t been a steep learning curve for the 2012 draft pick. Last year he went 10-4 with a 3.05 ERA between low-A Savannah and high-A St. Lucie. This season he’s allowed just one run in 12 innings at Double-A Binghamton.

Bowman has a future in a big league front office when his playing days are over. The 22-year-old right-hander’s senior thesis had general manager written all over it.

“It looked into how much a win is worth in free agency,” said Bowman. “I looked into projected wins and what a team thinks they’re paying for a win as opposed to what they end up paying for a win. Why is there a discrepancy between the two? I looked at players and evaluated them basically as stocks paying off dividends in the form of WAR. What is their variance season to season, and based on that, what value do they hold?”

I asked him if any other players in the Mets’ organization speak the same saber-economic language.

“Jeff Reynolds, who is in St. Lucie right now, graduated from Harvard,” said Bowman. “I spoke to him a little bit about it. There are certainly players who like to play GM and will talk about who’d they’d want to acquire in free agency, but I think the numbers aspect might make me a little unique.”

Bowman’s approach to his own stats is more mainstream.

“When it comes to my personal experience, I’m the complete opposite,” admitted Bowman. “As a starter, I think the most important stat is innings pitched. It’s the old-school opinion that starting pitchers should be workhorses and eat up a lot of innings. I’m aware if certain other stats are good or bad, like my strikeouts-to-walks ratio, but I mostly try to avoid them. Getting caught up in stats can lead to complacency, or getting a little too involved if things are going poorly.”

Bowman had eye-popping numbers in this last start. Pitching against New Hampshire, he allowed four hits over seven scoreless innings with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Preparation played a big role in his overpowering outing.

“I got to scout them in the stands a few days before,” explained Bowman. “I talked to Kevin Plawecki, my catcher, and we came up with a game plan. I basically told him what I wanted to do with each hitter and asked him to remember it. Once I’m on the mound, I don’t like thinking about that. Whatever he put down, I threw. My fastball and slider were working and I sprinkled in my other pitches as well.”

The Princeton product keeps notes on batters he faces, but not on himself.

“I feel that breaking down your personal performance too much can be detrimental,” opined Bowman. “There’s a feel to pitching and the simplest numbers are the most important. How deep did you go into the game and did you put up a zero? If you’re trying to do more than that, I think you’re trying to be a pitcher you’re not.”

Tim Bogar was hired over the off-season to be Ron Washington’s bench coach in Texas. It looks like a good fit. Their relationship stretches back to Bogar’s minor-league playing days.

Bogar’s background is also a fit for the front office. The 47-year-old is well-versed in sabermetric concepts, having worked under Joe Maddon in Tampa and Terry Francona in Boston. He also spent a season with Bobby Valentine, giving him an up-close look at what can happen when managerial decisions are based more on whimsy than analytic judgment.

General manager Jon Daniels says Bogar wasn’t hired as a conduit to the team’s analytics department. That doesn’t mean he won’t influences the more-traditional Washington. Defensive-positioning is an early indicator.

“We’ve been shifting a little more this year,” Daniels told me earlier this week. “That’s something Tim Bogar is implementing. He, along with Wash, sets our infield. They communicate with Mike Maddux, so we can defend according to the game plan against hitters. I don’t know exactly how shifts are measured — how extreme a guy has to be out of “standard position” to qualify — but Wash and Dave Anderson did shift some in the past. Tim is a little more aggressive with it.”

According to Baseball Info Solutions, the Rangers shifted 355 times last season — 10th most in MLB — and are slightly ahead of that pace two weeks into the current campaign. What happens henceforth will depend on matchups and, as Daniels alluded to, interpretation.

“We’re shifting, although probably not as dramatically as some would want,” said Bogar. “There are a lot of people out there who would like everybody to be shifting in a certain way. I’d say we move guys enough to be noticed, but sometimes not enough for it to be considered a shift.”

Would there be more-pronounced shifting if he, not Ron Washington, was running the ball club?

“We’re just trying to put our players in the best possible position to succeed,” Bogar replied diplomatically. “Wash and I talk all the time about what we want to do with certain players and certain situations. Ultimately, it comes down to what he wants, but we discuss a lot of things.”

It was a different story when he served as Bobby Valentine‘s bench coach.

“Bobby didn’t ever ask my opinion,” said Bogar. “He actually didn’t talk to me at all. He wasn’t like Wash.”

“The way Wash runs his staff is very collaborative,” agreed Daniels. “He wants guys to speak their mind. Wash was actually Tim’s manager in A ball, so they weren’t starting from scratch. They already had a rapport. Wash has encouraged him to be an active part of the in-game decision-making process.”

Does Daniels hope Bogar’s saber-friendly approach will rub off on Washington?

“He wasn’t hired for that,” said Daniels. “I’m sensitive to the idea Tim was put in to implement front office strategy. That’s not the case at all. The bottom line is that Tim is a good baseball man. He’s a good coach and teacher. He’s smart, a good communicator, detail-oriented, and knows how to use information. He has the ability to merge both [traditional and sabermetic] ideas.”

Daniels does as well. As a matter of fact, the Rangers GM believes melding the two is essential.

“There’s a give and take,“ explained Daniels. “Wash and I talk about things and some we agree on and some we don’t. But at the end of the day, we supply as much information as we can and trust the staff to use it to the best of their abilities. I’m not looking to agree with every move we make. It’s more about the bigger picture of getting our players in the best position to succeed. There are different ways to accomplish the same goals.”

——

All pitchers have the same goal of throwing quality strikes. How they go about it isn‘t always the same. Red Sox left-handers Jon Lester and Andrew Miller deliver pitches from different sides of the rubber.

“I started out on the third base side, then I went to the first base side,” said Lester. “Now I’m not all the way on the first base side, but rather a little bit toward the middle. I moved about a year and a half ago when I was having trouble with my hip. This kind of alleviated some things. I felt it was easier for me to get the ball to the glove side.”

“I stand on the third base side,” said Miller. “I think that opens up the strike zone a little more. I was on the first base side until probably 2011. I think that adds to deception and creates better angles, but it narrows the strike zone for you. I sacrificed some angle, but my slider is a pretty big breaking pitch and I carry enough angle as it is.”

Physical starting points aren’t the only things that will differ. So is the focus pitchers put on endpoints.

“Each guy is going to have his own gig,” said Lester. “Take this guy pitching [on the clubhouse TV] for the Orioles. [Zach Britton] is a big power sinker guy, so he’s probably not throwing for the glove. A guy with a lot of movement is probably aiming for areas, but I’m a four-seam guy. I have to throw it to the glove. That’s where my focus is.”

Chris Hernandez, a left-handed pitcher for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, doesn’t throw to the glove.

“I never throw to the mitt, because I have so much movement,” said Hernandez, who features a cutter. “I just try to stay between the knees. I always tell my catcher to set up on halves of the plate. Let’s say the middle of the plate is the point. Instead of setting up on the outer black, I have him set up in between the point and the black. I throw the ball and let it play for a strike.”

Hernandez is more precise when it comes to breaking balls, but he‘s still not throwing directly to the mitt.

“If I’m throwing a curveball for a strike, I usually aim for his shoulder,” explained the left-hander. “My curveball is going to break from his right shoulder to the mitt. With a changeup, I’ll focus on the bottom of his face mask to drop it in for a strike. If I don’t want to throw it for a strike, I’ll focus more on the mitt and let it fall below the zone.”

Lester and Miller visualize their breaking pitches, albeit in slightly different ways.

“If I’m throwing a strike curveball, I’m looking at the glove,” said Lester. “I’m a visual person, so I pick out spots in my head, or remember a curveball I threw in the past that I can draw from. I visualize it and throw it.”

“A slider, a pitch that has that much action… personally, I have to visualize the whole path of the pitch,” said Miller. “I’m not throwing at a left-handed hitter’s hip. That’s too simplified for me. I need to see the whole thing in my head. If I wasn’t visualizing, I’d be in deep trouble.”

——

D.J. Baxendale has a backup plan. If his playing career doesn’t pan out, the 23-year-old Minnesota Twins pitching prospect will be interviewing his former teammates.

“I was a journalism major in college,” said Baxendale, who attended the University of Arkansas. “My aunt was a news anchor in Texarkana for awhile, and I’ve always wanted to do something in sports, so I jumped right in. I learned from taking classes that a lot of work goes into it, but I liked talking in front of the camera and interviewing people.”

The right-hander isn’t ready to switch sides of the microphone just yet. He went 12-7 with a 3.90 ERA between Fort Myers and New Britain in his first full professional season. This year he’s back with the Double-A Rock Cats, who are expected to add Byron Buxton to the roster once his wrist injury is fully healed.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be Byron Buxton,” said Baxendale. “Being such a high-profile guy… it’s got to be tough. Knowing Buxton, he was really shy about it at first. I give him a lot of credit for how much he‘s grown up in that area. He’s really worked on being able to talk in front of a camera, and to talk to reporters. He feels a lot more comfortable in that environment now. It’s not always easy.”

How do players view the media when they enter a clubhouse?

It’s kind of a mixed reaction,” opined Baxendale. “Some guys don’t really like talking to the media, because don’t feel comfortable with it. Some guys don’t really have a care either way, they just see it as part of the job. Then you have guys who really enjoy talking to the media. They like cameras. They get a real kick out of it.”

I asked if there is ever resentment toward a player getting the lion’s share of attention.

“No, it is what it is,” answered Baxendale. “We all have a pretty good idea of where we rank as prospects. We know the higher-up guys draw the most. There are first-round picks and there are 40th-round picks. That’s just part of life in the minor leagues.”

Where does he fit in?

“I don’t like to classify myself as far as prospect status,” said the 2012 10th-rounder. “I let all the big sources handle that. Whatever they want to say about me, they will. That’s how it works.”

——

Robbie Ross is working out of the Rangers rotation after spending the last two years in their bullpen. He embraces his new role. The 24-year-old southpaw told me he likes starting because “It’s your day. You work as hard as you can to get ready for it, and when you get out there you do your best. I like that mentality.”

Ross approaches his vocation the way he approaches life. His glass is half full, and he keeps everything in perspective.

“It’s important to slow things down and just do what you can to get outs,” said Ross. “If you put too much pressure on yourself it becomes difficult to perform. Sometimes you can press so hard it’s not a game anymore. Instead of something you enjoy, it becomes stressful. This is supposed to be fun. Control your mind so you’re not thinking the bad things. Think about the good things.

“We’re working as hard as we can, but we have to remember we get to be out here playing a game. I’m where I’m at because of what God has blessed me with. [A baseball career] is very short-lived, so I want to enjoy this and do the best I can.”

Last September, Ross did his best to support an important cause. He and his wife, Brittany, participated in the NOH8 campaign, a charitable organization promoting marriage, gender and human equality.

“It was important to us because it was a no-hate campaign,” explained Ross. “[Gays and lesbians] are being discriminated against. There’s a lot of bitterness and hate being directed toward them. What we were saying is that they shouldn’t be treated wrong. They’re people and should be showed love.

“There are obviously guys [in MLB] who are gay. That’s something we’re going to have to deal with [when players start coming out]. We should love people and accept them for who they are. As a Christian, I believe God is going to ultimately judge us for how we live our lives. There’s no reason for us to be judging.”

Ross is non-judgmental, but the same can’t be said for everyone wearing a big-league uniform. I asked him what the response was from teammates and others within the game.

“No one really had much to say about it,” said Ross. “It was mostly just Christian people asking me what I thought. It was different for a lot of them, but I think there was a lot of acceptance. They knew my heart was in the right place. I was just trying to be accepting and show people love.”

When I asked Kyle Lohse if he’ll be a pitching coach someday, his response was, “In some ways, I already am.” The 35-year-old right-hander is more than a mentor to the younger members of the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitching staff. Last season he led the club in innings pitched [198.2] and ERA [3.35]. Two years ago, with the St. Louis Cardinals, he threw 211 innings and had a 2.86 ERA. Lohse relies on control. Since breaking into the big leagues in 2001 he has walked just 2.5 batters per nine innings.

Lohse talked about his evolution as a pitcher, including the formative years he spent working with Dave Duncan, when the Brewers visited Fenway Park over the weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

Will Smith’s repertoire includes two- and four-seam fastballs, a slider, a curveball, and a changeup. How frequently he used each of those pitches changed markedly from 2012 to 2013. Last season he threw 14% more two-seamers and 15.9% fewer four-seamers. He also threw 18.3% more sliders and 5% fewer curveballs. His changeup became mostly an afterthought.

The results were striking. In his first season as a reliever, Smith lowered his ERA from 5.32 to 3.24 and upped his K/9 from 5.92 to 11.61. He did so while pitching for the Kansas City Royals. The 24-year-old southpaw is now with the Milwaukee Brewers, having been dealt in the offseason for Norichika Aoki.

I asked Smith about pitch usage prior to Friday’s game at Fenway Park. I began by inquiring about his scant use of two-seamers in his first two outings. He pointed to small sample size, adding that he‘ll throw more as the season goes along. Fair enough. He also mentioned feel and scouting reports. Again, fair enough.

His comments about last season were similar. Regarding slider and curveball usage, Smith said “That was just what the scouting reports called for and what I felt comfortable with. [The slider] was working for me and it’s hard to go away from something that‘s working. Same thing with my curveball. Some hitters are better curveball hitters than slider hitters, and a lot of the guys I faced were better curveball hitters.”

Knowing he would have faced a higher percentage of same-sided hitters as a reliever than he did as a starter, I asked if lefty-lefty match-ups were a big part of it. He said, “Yes, I would say so.”

Following our conversation, I went back to his stat page. I knew he dominated lefties last year — .157/.204/.353 in 77 plate appearances — but I hadn’t looked at his 2012 numbers. They weren‘t what I expected. In 101 plate appearances, lefties hit him to the tune of .356/.402/.495.

A follow-up seemed in order. After the game — a 6-2 Brewers win in which Smith threw 23 pitches — I dug a little deeper. I first asked about his fastball usage that day, as I couldn’t tell from the press box if he was throwing two- or four-seamers. “I threw more twos today,” he told me. Why? “Mostly scouting reports.“

According to PITCHf/x, Smith threw an equal number of two- and four-seamers on Friday, nine of each. He also threw three curveballs and two sliders.

Last year he utilized his slider nearly 30 percent of the time. Opposing batters hit .093 against it.

Scouting reports or feel? I didn’t press Smith on yesterday’s pitch selection, but I did regarding 2012 and 2013. Given the difference in results, both pitch-specific and overall, was he maybe downplaying feel? Was his slider simply his best pitch?

“It was more feel last year,” admitted Smith. “I didn’t have as much confidence with the slider [in 2012]. It was still kind of a new pitch for me, so I was trying to get used to it.”

His best pitch in 2014? We’re only a week into the season, so it’s too early to tell. But if Smith has the same feel for his slider as a year ago, expect him to be very good out of the Brewers’ bullpen.

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Expectations are high for Maikel Franco. The 21-year-old third baseman is the top-rated prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. Last year he hit .320/.356/.569, with 31 home runs, between high-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. He’s beginning this season with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

No one questions Franco’s bat speed or power. Both are plus-plus. There are, however, some concerns about his plate discipline. The free-swinging Dominican walked 30 times last year in 581 plate appearances.

I asked Franco if he’s too aggressive at the plate.

“Sometimes, yeah,” responded Franco. “Sometimes I feel like I’m too aggressive, but when that happens, I say to myself, ‘Just keep it nice and easy, he’ll come to you. Just be ready for everything.’ I’ve been here five years now. Coming to the USA, they said ‘Do it like you do.’ When I go out there, I try to see the ball good, swing, and try to make good contact.”

Franco does make contact. He fanned just 70 times last year. According to Lehigh Valley coach Mickey Morandini, the youngster has made great strides in the plate discipline department, despite his aggressive ways.

“I’ve really seen him grow,” said Morandini, who managed Franco in A ball. ““He wants to swing the bat, but his recognition of breaking balls is much better now. He used to swing at a lot of balls out of the zone, and he‘s learned how to lay off some of those pitches. One thing he does better than anyone I’ve seen in his age group is he’ll swing at a pitch out of the zone, and when he gets that pitch again, he won’t swing at it.”

IronPigs manager Dave Brundage has less experience working with Franco, but likes what he sees.

“What he mostly needs is experience,” said Brundage. “He has great hands, both offensively and defensively. He just needs to shorten things up a little bit and not try to do too much. That’s typical for a young player. They get to big league camp for the first time, like he did this year, and want to show everybody all at once what they can do. They maybe swing a little harder, wanting the ball to farther. But Maikel has the complete package. It’s just a matter of tightening things up, making sure his mechanics are sound and he’s staying within himself.”

In batting practice, Franco’s focus is all about discipline. Once the game starts, he goes back to what comes naturally.

“In the cage, I hit to the opposite field,” explained Franco. “Center field, right field, center field, right field. That’s what I’m thinking about in BP, But when I go out there [in the game], I know I can just throw my hands, so I don‘t think about anything. It’s just see the ball, hit the ball hard.”

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Will Middlebrooks came up through the Red Sox system with a profile similar to Franco‘s. A power-hitting third baseman, he was the team’s top prospect despite plate discipline issues. To some extent, they’re still there. Middlebrooks has drawn 34 free passes in 675 big-league at bats. He also has 33 home runs and projects to hit many more.

Carlos Gomez is likewise not shy about letting it fly. His power has emerged in recent seasons — he went deep 24 times last year — but the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder has walked only 146 times in 2,737 plate appearances.

I asked Middlebrooks and Gomez how Franco might best be served going forward. Based on their own experiences, should the young Phillies’ prospect begin taking more pitches, or should he stick with what’s gotten him this far?

“I don’t know him, so I can only speak for myself, but I got better by figuring out my swing and figuring out my plan,” said Middlebrooks. “In the minor leagues, I felt like a lot of guys would try to get ahead with heaters, so I’d be up there hacking at heaters right from the first pitch. Instead of looking at one part of the plate, I’d see a heater and whether it was inner third or outer third, I’d hack at it. I hadn’t learned to zone guys up. Now I’ll take that pitch.”

I asked him if it’s easier to be patient if you’re allowed to be yourself at the plate. In other words, is it easier to be disciplined if you aren’t thinking about being disciplined?

“I think that’s true,” said Middlebrooks. “I feel if you’re told to be disciplined, you get passive. I dealt with that some. I was trying to be more disciplined, trying to see more pitches, and ended taking good pitches to hit. I was up there almost predetermined, like “I’m going to take here.’ I think you need to learn your zone and just be yourself.”

Gomez had a similar take.

“It’s hard to tell what he should do, because I don‘t know him,” said Gomez. “But if he’s got power… not everybody is the same. What makes me do better at the plate is when I swing aggressive and hard. I dominate when I swing at a ball I can dominate, not when I chase pitches. But I’m aggressive, so I look for a pitch I can drive out of the ballpark. I tried to be different, but it didn’t work. In the last year and a half, I’ve just been me.

“When I was younger, I wasn’t really told to see more pitches. It was more to hit the ball on the ground and run. When I first came up, they saw me as a speed guy, not a power hitter. Now I’m trying to hit a high line drive to the middle of the field, or a home run. They’re just letting me be myself. I think that‘s what you have to be.”

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Players aren’t always themselves when they step between the white lines. Over the course of a long season, there are going to be times you‘re nowhere close to 100 percent. The issue isn’t always physical. It can also be mental, and sometimes it‘s not simple.

Mike Nickeas has been through the grind. Currently playing for Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bison, the 31-year-old catcher is in his 11th professional season. Nickeas knows you occasionally have to fight demons in order to survive.

“I’ve seen guys get in the batter’s box and be tight,” said Nickeas. “It’s happened to me as well. You feel anxiety, and that hinders your performance. I’ve played with guys who have had to go on medication because they were mentally crippling themselves. I’ve also seen guys who aren’t as talented, yet they’re the best players on the field because their minds tell them they are. The psyche is really powerful. You can tell yourself anything you want, but if it’s not something you truly believe in your subconscious, it’s not going to do anything for you.

“Fear exists in baseball, and how you deal with it is personal. To each player it’s a different thing. If anyone on this field tells you he’s never experienced fear, whether it’s fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being hurt, he’s lying. And fear drives anxiety. You need to find ways to cope with that.”

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J.A. Happ had to cope with fear last season. The Blue Jays left-hander was taken from the field on a stretcher after being hit in the head by a line drive in early May. He didn’t return to the mound until August. Following his return, I asked him about the mental demons Nickeas talked about.

“At this level, everybody has the physical tools to be successful, so the mental part of it is everything,” said Happ. “I’ve obviously had ups and downs with that. You’ve had success before, but for whatever reason, doubt creeps in and your confidence level isn’t where it needs to be.

“My experience [of getting by the line drive] was that I was just anxious to get back out there. I wasn’t real concerned about getting hit again. If I’d have thought about that, I think it would have crippled me as far as being able to execute and finish pitches.

“Does fear exist? It’s part of the game, whether it‘s fear of getting hurt or fear of giving up the big hit. Baseball humbles people. As far as throwing a pitch and giving up a big hit, it happens and you have to move on. You realize it’s not the end-all and be-all, but at the time it’s hard to convince yourself of that. Everybody wants to succeed. But in the grand scheme of things, there are more important things in life.”