You probably haven’t heard of him, but Brian “Pete” Peterson is an invaluable member of the Detroit Tigers organization. Working within the realm of sports psychology, and alongside Dr. George Carlo, the 58-year-old Peterson is heading into his 10th season as the team’s Performance Enhancement Instructor. It isn’t a unique role — a handful of other teams employ someone in a similar capacity — but thanks to his background and experience, few, if any, are better at helping players gain a mental edge.

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David Laurila: How would you define your role with the Tigers organization?

Brian Peterson: My title is Performance Enhancement Instructor and my job is to help all of the players, in the entire organization, be clear of mind while they’re going about their business. That’s probably the easiest way to describe it.

DL: How did you get involved in professional baseball?

BP: I was a minor league pitcher for four years. My first year was 1976, in the Northwest League. I came out of the University of Oregon and was with one of the very first independent teams.

Later, and before coming to Detroit, I worked for the Florida Marlins. I was a pitching coach for six years — five in the Midwest League and one in the Eastern League — and then I was with them for three years in my current role. When the Marlins were sold, I was one of about 25 or 30 minor-league personnel who was let go. In September of 2002, Dave Dombrowski hired me. Prior to that, the Tigers didn’t have anyone in my position.

DL: How may teams currently employ Performance Enhancement Instructors, or Sports Psychologists? Read the rest of this entry »

Drew Smyly will come to camp as a non-roster invitee, with an outside shot of making the Tigers starting rotation out of spring training. It’s more likely that the 22-year-old southpaw will begin the season in Triple-A Toledo, but even if he does, he’s clearly on the fast track to the big leagues.

Drafted in the second round in 2010, Smyly started his professional career last season, and he did so with a bang. Splitting the year between high-A Lakeland [14 starts] and Double-A Erie [7 starts] he went a combined 11-6, 2.07, logging K/9 rates of 8.6 and 10.4 in his respective stops. Following the regular season, he threw 17 scoreless innings for Team USA.

Smyly talked about his path to pro ball, and how he gets hitters out, late in the 2011 season.

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In his recent FanGraphs interview, Manny Acta said that Lonnie Chisenhall is “going to probably be the most important piece of the puzzle in our infield.” The Indians skipper was referring primarily to the young third baseman’s defense, but he obviously will have to produce with the bat as well. Despite Chisenhall’s less-than-impressive rookie numbers — .255/.284/.415, in 223 plate appearances — that isn’t expected to be a problem. The former first-round pick went into last season rated as the top prospect in the organization, with Baseball America calling him “one of the best pure hitters in the minors.”

Chisenhall talked about his approach to hitting when the Indians visited Boston last August.

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David Laurila: I first talked to you in 2008 when you were playing in the New York-Penn League. How much have you changed as a hitter since then?

Lonnie Chisenhall: I don’t think I’ve changed all that much. I do have a better feel of what to do in certain counts — what I’m going to get and things like that — so I can take advantage in hitter’s counts. I used to be basically see-the-ball-hit-the-ball, but now I’m up there with a better plan. I’m putting myself in better situations. But I don’t think that my stance or swing has changed too much.

DL: How would describe your hitting approach? Read the rest of this entry »

Tony Campana will never be confused with Prince Fielder. As a matter of fact, outside of being left-handed hitters, the two couldn’t more different. For Cubs fans who dreamed of having Fielder in their lineup, that isn’t exactly a good thing.

Why compare a diminutive spare outfielder to a behemoth free agent who was a long shot to come to Chicago in the first place? Because — despite the hiring of Theo Epstein — that is who the Cubs are right now. Campana doesn’t hit home runs, and you won’t see Epstein swinging for the fences any time soon.

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The Indians lack depth, but there’s no disputing that Cleveland has a promising core group of young position players. The foursome of Asdrubal Cabrera, Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana range in age from 23 to 26, and each has the potential to become a perennial All-Star. Indians skipper Manny Acta shared his thoughts on each of them, as well as on 29-year-old Shin-Soo Choo.

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Acta on second baseman Jason Kipnis: “This guy is just a full package of energy. He’s a really competitive kid that can swing the bat and is not intimidated at all. Everybody knew that whenever he got up to the big leagues he was going to be able to compete offensively, and he showed that.

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The name and the face are different, but when it comes to the bigger picture, Ben Cherington looks, and sounds, a lot like Theo Epstein. The new Boston GM is his own man — make no mistake about that — but like his predecessor he is cool, calculated, and sabermetrically savvy. Befitting the Red Sox model, Cherington is all about information and assigning value.

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David Laurila: In a May 2009 interview, Andrew Friedman said of the Rays’ organization “We have guided ourselves by the principle that information is king.” Do the Red Sox have the same approach?

Ben Cherington: I think that every team is looking for the most precise information that applies to their particular situation. Every team’s situation is different, so the way that each team applies that information is different. The business of baseball in Boston is different than the business of baseball in other cities.

We may be looking for some of the same information that other teams are, but we may apply it differently. Ultimately, we’re trying to do the same thing that every other team is trying to do, which is to use our resources in the most efficient way possible within the context of our baseball and business models.

We’re looking for any information that can help us assign an appropriate value to a player, regardless of the segment of the market that player is coming from. It could be a teenager in the Dominican, it could be an amateur player in the States that we’re evaluating for the draft, it could be a minor league player with another organization, or it could be major league player. It’s also our own players, both in the minor leagues and at the major league level.

With every player that is a potential target for us, or is someone that we need to assign a value to, we’re looking to acquire as much information as we can about that player. We try to be as precise as we possibly can.

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Editor’s note: This previously unpublished interview was conducted in 2008.

Juan Samuel wasn’t the best second baseman of the 1980s, but he was definitely among the most exciting. The former Phillie was erratic in the field and he put up some scarily-bad BB/K rates, but he logged a healthy number of extra-base hits and he ran the bases with abandon. He also had some notable teammates and nearly found himself part of a Schmidt-Samuel-Franco-Sandberg infield.

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The third installment of this series — short unpublished interviews from three years ago, focusing on the 1980s — features Dave Duncan. A big-league catcher for 11 seasons, Duncan went on to become the pitching coach for the Oakland A’s from 1986 to 1995. He currently serves in that role for the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Duncan, on what made the A’s pitching staffs of the late ‘80s so good: “Balance. It was a well-balanced staff with good starting pitching. We had Rick Honeycutt, a good left-handed reliever, and we had a great closer in Dennis Eckersely. In middle relief we had guys like Gene Nelson. It was just a really well-balanced pitching staff.

“At times it has been said about the Yankees that they play a six-inning game. There have been periods where their bullpen was strong enough that if they were leading after six, they were pretty much going to win the game. The pitching staff we had in ’88 and ’89 was a lot like that. We had depth and balance to where if we had the lead we had a good chance of winning.”

On Dave Stewart: “Stewart was good because he had good stuff, including a unique pitch in his split-finger. He was a fierce competitor. He never had a game where he wasn’t up for it — either mentally or physically. I think that all of your good pitchers are that way. Sometimes that separates really good pitchers from guys who could be really good, but never get there because they’re not able to do the things — mentally or physically — that allow them to not let starts get away from them.”

On catching Catfish Hunter and Jim Palmer: “What can you say about them? They were great pitchers. They personified exactly what I’m talking about when I say great physical ability and the right mental makeup, and mental approach, to pitching. And they were competitors — really good competitors.”

On Terry Steinbach and Carlton Fisk: “They were both very conscientious about taking each pitcher and knowing how to use what that pitcher was capable of doing effectively. They also didn’t have off days mentally. They were into the game when they played.”

On pitching in the 1980s: “I don’t see a lot of difference in how pitchers were used, although I think pitching changes. I think the 1980s was a period of time where a lot of guys were starting to throw split-fingers again. That was a very effective pitch and it was coming back — the split-finger, or forkball.”

On Billy Martin and pitcher abuse: “He was an exception. In the 1970s, it was common for guys to throw a lot more pitches, and pitch a lot more innings. But by the 1980s I think that everyone had become really aware of pitch counts and usage. They were pretty protective of pitchers. For your top-of-the-rotation guys, 230 or 240 innings was pretty common.”

On being a pitching coach: “I think that you never stop learning. I’ve learned a lot from pitchers. I’ve learned a lot from other pitching coaches. I’ve learned from bullpen coaches. And a lot of what you do is have a common-sense approach to solving problems. Not every pitcher has a different style, but most every pitcher has something that’s unique to him. A big part of being a pitching coach is recognizing what a pitcher does well, and honing it.”

Bud Black would have enjoyed pitching in Petco Park. Alas, the lefty didn’t get the opportunity: his playing career ended a decade before the Padres’ home ballpark opened. But as San Diego’s skipper, Black does relish the opportunity to manage there.  Still, that doesn’t mean his job is easy. The 54-year-old isn’t just nurturing a young pitching staff, he’s helping an equally inexperienced lineup navigate one of the game’s most-challenging hitting environments.

Black discussed Petco’s park factors, and several of his players — including the recently departed Heath Bell and Mat Latos — during last month’s Winter Meetings.

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David Laurila: How much does Petco Park impact a pitching staff?

Bud Black: Besides the hard numbers, it really gives confidence to a pitcher, and not just our own pitchers. Like with a lot of parks in the game, there are certain pitches to be thrown that will make it extremely difficult to hit the ball out of the park. Percentage-wise, if the ball is hit to a certain part of the ballpark, the pitcher isn‘t going to get hurt as much.

In our place, that’s to right field and to right-center, as well as to left-center. To straightaway left field is very doable for a home run — but the majority of our park, as you move from the right field corner to left center — is big. Pitch selection is important in Petco.

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Since joining FanGraphs eight months ago, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a number of people within baseball. Many of them had interesting things to say. So continuing a tradition that began when I was at Baseball Prospectus, I’m ending the year with some of the highlights. Without further ado, I give you The Best Quotes from FanGraphs Q&A 2011:

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“I don’t try to strike out people, but sometimes they swing and miss.” — Felix Hernandez, May 2011

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