Once a Young Gun, Triston McKenzie Is Now a Top-Notch Starter

Triston McKenzie was 19 years old and pitching for High-A Lynchburg when he was first featured here at FanGraphs in May 2017. Five years later, he’s one of the top starters on a talented Cleveland Guardians staff. In 31 appearances this season, the lanky right-hander logged a 2.96 ERA and a 3.59 FIP with 190 strikeouts in 181.1 innings. Last week, he tossed six scoreless frames and allowed just two hits in Cleveland’s Wild Card Series-clinching win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

McKenzie, the scheduled starter for ALDS Game 3 versus the New York Yankees on Saturday, discussed his evolution as a pitcher and the mindset he takes with him to the mound during the Guardians’ final home stand of the regular season.

———

David Laurila: We first talked five years ago. What have you learned about pitching since that time?

Triston McKenzie: “The biggest difference is that I’m in the big leagues. Mindset-wise, how I attack hitters hasn’t changed much outside of adapting to this level and understanding that guys are more disciplined in what they do in their approach. I’ve figured out that you can’t always be the the young gun, the kid who is going to throw his best stuff over the heart of the plate. These guys can hit that. So I’d say it’s a mix of finding my identity as a pitcher, figuring out what my strengths are and where I can beat guys, but not getting so headstrong that it’s to my detriment.”

Laurila: How much better do you understand how, and why, your stuff works? You’re obviously working with smart coaches and seeing a lot of data.

McKenzie: “I think the data helps, but I feel like I’m more of a pitcher that goes out there based on feel, and day to day that can change. A lot of it is me trying to figure out, ‘What is the best I can get out of my body today?'”

Laurila: That said, have you always known that you get good ride on your four-seamer, or did you mostly just know that it was effective up in the zone?

McKenzie: “One of the things that my dad taught me when I was nine years old was to throw the ball at the top of the zone and try to get guys to swing at it. Their eyes will light up when they see that pitch, so it’s something I’ve always done. But honestly, it wasn’t until recently that the numbers became a super big thing.”

Laurila: What is your dad’s baseball background?

McKenzie: “He never played; he just loves the game and would watch MLB Network and listen to the guys that he really respected, like Pedro Martinez. He would listen to how they talk about the game and then regurgitate what he heard. He would put it in a way that made sense to me, where I could use it for myself. He didn’t give me information that was useless.”

Laurila: Can you elaborate on why he wanted you to work up in the zone? Until recently, it was more common for kids to be told to work down.

McKenzie: “I think it was mostly what he saw working in the big leagues at that time, especially with guys I used to like to watch, When Roger Clemens and other power pitchers wanted to get chases with their heaters, they would throw to the top of the zone. When I was younger, my dad also didn’t want me throwing a lot of breaking balls, so he taught me to move my heater around.”

Laurila: This started when you were nine years old.

McKenzie: “Right around nine or 10, when I first started pitching. But I’d say that it really sank in that my heater was good and could play almost anywhere in the zone around my senior year of high school.”

Laurila: How has your your velocity evolved over the years?

McKenzie: “I’ve done a good job of maintaining my velocity from start to finish this year. There were times in the minors where I would be slower earlier in the game, I’d be low 90s, and then I would jump up, only to go back down toward the end of the game. I’ve found a level of consistency over time. I think that has to do with being part of a big league team and learning a rhythm, kind of just figuring out a routine that works for me.”

Laurila: Is velocity important to your game, or is your effectiveness more about movement and sequencing?

McKenzie: “I think it’s a little bit of both. Like I said earlier, you need to know what you have out of your body. You’re not necessarily going to feel 96 to 100 [mph] every day. If I go out there and my arm feels kind of slow or my body feels kind of tired, and I know I only have 90–91 in the tank, I need to figure out a way to be effective with the 90–91. Maybe that’s at the bottom of the zone, or I might need to use my off-speed early to make my fastball seem a little bit harder. When my velo isn’t necessarily there, it’s about pitch usage and trying to establish lanes for my heater to be effective.”

Laurila: Any final thoughts?

McKenzie: “Different pitches work differently. If you were to ask me why my usage looks the way it does, why it is useful for me… I mean, look at different pitchers. For instance, [Andrés] Muñoz for Seattle. I’d be interested to see why he throws his slider as much as he does when he throws [his fastball] 102. Is there a reason? If he throws his slider 30 percent of the time, does that makes his fastball more effective than if he threw it more or less than 30 percent of the time?

“When I threw against the White Sox, I used more off-speed, because they are a more heater-happy lineup. I had more success against them, and I’d want to see if there are certain usages for other pitchers, even for myself, that work better against certain lineups, and vice versa.”

Laurila: Is that type of data not available to you?

McKenzie: “I mean, we have our daily write-ups, pre-game, for what the specific lineup is going to be, what those strengths are, and what my strengths are. From there, it’s mostly about trying to stay out of the hitters’ strengths and pitching to yours as well as you can.

“If our competition doesn’t hit curveballs… maybe in one guy’s at-bats, I throw more curveballs for strikes or I throw more curveballs in the middle of the count as opposed to trying to just finish him with curveballs. Conversely, his teammate is a guy that sees curveballs in the zone well, so I might go after him a little differently.”

Laurila: What’s is your next step in terms of development? Is there anything you’d like to add to your repertoire, or do any of your current pitches need fine-tuning?

McKenzie: “Right now, it would be developing my slider more, developing a more consistent shape and speed for it. I think my curveball is in a good spot in terms of consistency. As a starting pitcher, a majority of what I’m trying to do on the mound is be consistent with my fastball, moving it around and having the velocity be consistent, and being able to throw my curveball both for strikes and not for strikes. Right now, my slider is the one that I have the least control of in terms of consistency and shape. Making that pitch better is the next step for me.”