It’s Hip To Be Sean Hjelle

Sean Hjelle has been turning heads this preseason and seems to have pitched his way into a major league job. Then again, Hjelle turns heads everywhere; the former Kentucky Wildcat is the tallest player in baseball, at 6-foot-11, leaving him tied with Jon Rauch as the tallest player in MLB history. Anytime a pitcher above 6-foot-6 or so gets extended major league run, there’s an assumption that with a big body comes big velocity. That might be entirely Randy Johnson’s fault; Rauch sat in the low 90s, and until the end of last season, Hjelle didn’t throw much harder.

But as as he told Alex Pavlovic of NBCSN Bay Area early in spring training, Hjelle had been able to tickle 96 or 97 for one adrenaline-fueled inning in his last appearance of the 2022 season. This winter, his goal was to hold that velocity deeper into games. How? Well, to quote legendary Giants fan Huey Lewis, by working out most every day and watching what he eats. And after almost two months of training camp, Hjelle can look back and see the fruits of his labor.

“I think it’s gone well so far,” he says. “I think the velo jump has been there. Now it’s a matter of sustaining it, staying on routine, and taking steps forward to hold the velo and, in a perfect world, hopefully gain some more.”

Part of the process for Hjelle has been putting on weight, which is something, to the envy of most of us normal people, he’s struggled to do. This is not the first time he has made that an offseason goal; he arrived in Lexington as a freshman at 6-foot-11, 200 pounds. Picture Yankees utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera, listed at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds. Now grab him at both ends and stretch him a foot, and you get the idea. But when an athlete puts on weight, it’s not just with the purpose of getting a higher score on the bathroom scale; it’s about adding strength. In Hjelle’s case, it’s adding strength in specific places.

“A lot of it is lower body,” he says. “A lot of people think that velocity and arm strength comes from just building up your arms and getting the biggest shoulders and biceps possible. But a majority of the power comes from your lower half. So [I was] really working on that lower half and posterior chain, from your hamstrings up to your glutes and hips and everything. Just getting those stronger and into a good, stable position and get as much power off the back side as possible.”

In other words, don’t skip leg day?

“Never skip leg day,” Hjelle says. “Ever.”

What Hjelle didn’t do was make any major changes to his mechanics. He worked on becoming more economical in his delivery but says that was a matter of refinement rather than overhauling the system.

“Being able to move down the mound more efficiently,” he says. “Especially with the long levers and big body I’ve got, I’ve really got to hammer than down a little more than most guys, just because I’ve got more moving parts.”

So far, so good. The Giants entered this season with no shortage of depth throughout their pitching staff, having signed free-agent starters Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling and reliever Taylor Rogers during the offseason. Far more experienced and accomplished starters, like Jakob Junis and Anthony DeSclafani, found themselves bound for the bullpen and into competition with Hjelle for work. That means he could find himself on call for literally any pitching job, from a spot start to multi-inning relief to a one-inning max-effort stint.

“Being able to be versatile and flexible with how many innings I can throw is something that’s going to be a big asset for me,” Hjelle says. “[I can] fit multiple roles, and whatever role the team needs is what I’m willing to do. My prep routine is still the same, the only change will be between outings, whether it’s getting extra treatment or adjusting my workouts here and there. It’s just a communication thing with the training staff of making sure my body’s right every time I step on the mound.”

What about the varying mental demands of a one-inning reliever or a long man?

“The mindset’s the same,” he says. “I mean, the mound’s still 60 feet, six inches away. It’s the same game. You still have to get hitters out the same way, it’s just a matter of, am I doing it for one inning, am I going through a lineup, or am I trying to turn the lineup over for the next guy?”

With so much starting depth in front of him on the Giants, the future does seem to be in the bullpen for Hjelle, at least for the time being. That will allow him to pitch using his two primary weapons: the fastball — a sinker, it bears mentioning, at up to 96 mph — and a breaking ball that comes in around 85–86. The curve doesn’t feature great movement, but Hjelle sees it as an effective pitch from a tunneling perspective.

“It’s just playing [the fastball and curveball] off of teach other,” he says. “Throw it off the same spot and they go in two different directions, trying to deceive the hitter. But for me, trying to go out there and dominate in extending innings, you’ve got to be able to mix in a third pitch.”

For Hjelle, that’s a changeup. It sits between the fastball and breaking ball in terms of velocity, obviously, with a similar movement profile to his sinker. But it’s looked fringy in the minor leagues, and he hasn’t thrown it much in the majors — just 31 total in 2022. This year, he’s trying to develop confidence in his the pitch.

“I feel like I’ve developed a good pitch in terms of the shape and the movement of it,” he says. “It’s just trusting the work I’ve put into it, going out and throwing it with confidence, and understanding that it is a pitch that can get outs.”

Spring training stats being what they are, take these for what they’re worth. But Hjelle’s numbers have been so good they warrant mention: six appearances, 17 innings, 22 strikeouts, three walks, just three earned runs allowed for an ERA of 1.59. If he can continue to hold his velocity and develop his secondary pitches, he could continue to find new roles to inhabit.