Sunday Notes: Venditte, Scheppers, Perkins, Gerber, more

Health concerns haunted Tanner Scheppers early in his career. Teams feared the Fresno State product couldn’t shoulder the load, which caused him to fall in consecutive drafts, with an indie-ball stint sandwiched in between. The Rangers ultimately inked him to a contract in 2009, and while there have been maladies here and there, he’s yet to go under the knife for an arm woe. An out-of-the-box-for-most-professional-athletes approach is a reason why.

“I really believe in integrative medicine — the combination of what doctors prescribe, and a holistic approach,” explained Scheppers. “I’ve limited the surgeries and have been able to overcome things with alternative medicine. That’s a testament to the training staff here, and to the other people I work with. The combination of both worlds has helped me overcome a lot.”

Scheppers has the teams’ blessing for his holistic help, which comes primarily from Dr. Sandra Tulanian, of the Active Healing Center, in Tustin, California.

“We work with energies and releasing a lot of stress that’s put on certain injuries,” said Scheppers. “When I hurt my shoulder, in college, I got a lot of opinions on whether or not I should do surgery. You never really want to get cut into – there are a lot of complications that go along with that – so I searched for some other options.”

Tulanian helped Scheppers with “a little (lower) back deal in 2011,” while last year’s inflammation received “treatment and rehab with my therapist in Dallas, on top of the work I do with Sandy. Overall, I’ve been able to avoid surgery and heal very well.”

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A few days ago, I asked Glen Perkins about the Twins’ wholly unexpected perch at the top of the AL Central. One reason he gave was improved infield defense, which he feels has been better – particularly Trevor Plouffe – than the metrics show.

“We have balls-in-play guys on our staff and they’re having success,” Perkins told me. “Gibby and Pelfry are ground ball guys and we’ve fielded ground balls better than we have in the past. Both of them are outperforming their FIPs, obviously. We’re turning the weak contact they’re getting into outs.”

Twins pitchers have the lowest K rate (5.72) in baseball. Can they continue to keep hard contact at a sufficiently-low level, or will their inability to miss bats invariably catch up to them? The clubs’ closer knows pitchers have limited control over BABiP. That doesn’t mean he believes they’re entirely at the mercy of BABiP.

“Saying that inducing weak contact isn’t a skill would be the same as saying that inducing strikeouts isn’t a skill,” opined Perkins. “With strikeouts, you’re relying on the batter to swing and miss. If you’re relying on hitting the end of a bat, or the inside of a bat, isn’t that as much of a skill as missing the bat?

“Being able to limit walks is a skill, because you can throw the ball in the strike zone. Pitching to both sides, with movement, is a similar skill.”

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Prior to Friday’s game at Fenway Park, I asked Oakland manager Bob Melvin if he considers inducing weak contact a skill. He told me does, adding that “As a starting pitcher, you try to be as economical as you can, and if you don’t throw 95 mph, you’re probably trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. Typically, it’s late movement off the barrel of the bat.”

Yesterday, I caught up with Melvin again, this time to ask about Pat Venditte’s MLB debut the night before. Specifically, I inquired as to whether he’d viewed TrackMan data from the switch-pitcher’s performance.

“I’m not as up-to-speed on that as I am on other things,” responded Melvin. “But there is some curiosity, and I did look, based on the fact that it’s one pitcher, yet two different pitchers. What I saw was that he creates a little more spin rate on the left, and he extends a little bit more, and throws harder, on the right.”

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past two days, you’re aware of what Pat Venditte did. In all likelihood, you were also captivated. He wasn’t the first to pitch with both arms in the same game – Greg A. Harris did so on September 28, 1995 – but this time it was legit. Harris did it because he could; Venditte did it because it’s what he does.

Sitting in the visitor’s dugout at Fenway Park yesterday afternoon, I asked the personable pitcher about all the attention he’s getting. He told me “It’s a nice problem to have,” and that while he’ll “be fighting (the sideshow dynamic) for awhile,” what’s most important is that he earned an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues. “My goal was to get to this point, and it took both arms for me to get here,” said Venditte. “I wasn’t going to get here just as a lefty, or as a righty.”

According to Oakland pitching coach Curt Young, Venditte is legit.

“It’s unique,” said Young. “Very, very unique. You don’t see this every day, a guy out there changing gloves and throwing with different hands. (But) it’s not a sideshow. It’s him here helping us win games. Last night he proved himself pretty effective.”

Effective, indeed. And very entertaining.

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For Joe Smith, pitching isn’t as simple as “just going out there and throwing the baseball,” even though the Angels sidewinder “likes to say that it is.”

However he does it, it works. Smith has been one of the best bullpen arms in the American League over the past five-plus seasons. His down-low delivery has been especially challenging for right-handed hitters, who have a .573 OPS against him in 540 career relief outings.

He doesn’t often alter his approach based on the batter – “It’s a mental game out there, but in the end, your stuff is your stuff” – but batters often alter theirs when he’s on the mound.

“Some guys will get up on the plate,” said Smith. “Other guys will get way off the plate. Some guys will stay normal. Some will bail open more. Some lefties will get up on the plate, looking for fastballs away.”

Because he’s “different,” Smith doesn’t rely much on scouting reports. As he puts it, “Most guys throw overhand and that’s what the reports are based toward. It’s kind of on me to do my own homework, so I watch guys on my Bloomberg app and try to gather all the information I can.

“I watch Darren O’Day a lot. I watch Steve Cishek and Pat Neshek. I look at Brad Ziegler. A lot of hitters have a similar approach against all of us who throw from down here. Even so, it’s really all about execution. I’m not tricking anybody. I’ve got two pitches, and if I execute the way I want to execute, more often than not I’m going to be successful. This is a pitcher’s game. It’s not that much of an offensive game.”

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According to a source, Jackie Bradley, Jr. isn’t in the proverbial doghouse, and the Red Sox aren’t looking to trade him. Paradoxically, they aren’t planning to call him up from Pawtucket any time soon. This despite the fact that Bradley is hitting .338 in Triple-A and is one of the best defensive outfielders on the planet. Meanwhile, Boston has recently employed the likes of Carlos Peguero and Alejandro De Aza, as well as Rusney Castillo, who is taking bad routes to balls and has a .461 OPS. Despite what I was told, something doesn’t seem right.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not all scouts are sold on Mike Gerber. The 22-year-old outfielder lasted until the 15th round of last year’s draft, and despite a strong showing in his pro debut – an .859 OPS between two lower levels — he’s not highly ranked in a so-so Tigers system. Baseball America has him at 19, and neither Kiley McDaniel nor MLB Pipeline has him in their Top 20.

Don’t tell that to Midwest League pitchers. Playing for the West Michigan Whitecaps, Gerber is hitting .363/.428/.510 and leads the circuit in total bases. He has five home runs and has been successful on 13 of 14 stolen base attempts.

A graduate of Creighton University – his degree is in Graphic Design – Gerber was an unspectacular amateur. He had his appendix removed midway through his junior year, and returned for his senior season after being bypassed in the draft. He went deep 11 times, but while his left-handed swing was pretty, his plate discipline was plain Jane. His OBP was a paltry .329.

Gerber’s emergence as a productive hitter at the professional level (yes, it’s a limited sample size) isn’t easy to explain. He has ideas as to why, but they’re not definitive.

“In college, I had better summer seasons,” Gerber told me. “For some reason, I just feel more comfortable with a wood bat. That said, I don’t think it’s one particular thing. I’ve matured more, mentally and physically, and my approach has improved. But as far as mechanics, my swing has mostly stayed the same.”

Defense has been an issue. Gerber was a centerfielder at Creighton, but has primarily played right since signing. He’s also seeing time as a DH, and when I asked him about his defensive development, his answer was an ambiguous “You can always get better, and if I want to get to where I want to be, I need to a good all-around player.”

Gerber’s fiancee, Caroline Scott, is trying to get somewhere as well.

“She’s Miss Wyoming and is doing the whole Miss USA in July,” explained Gerber. “She’s getting all prepped for that, and it’s exciting for her, as it’s something most girls don’t get to experience. It’s exciting for me too.”

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Sam Fuld isn’t unique because he practices visualization. A lot of players use the technique. The way the left-handed-hitting Oakland outfielder goes about it is another story. What he sometimes pictures in the box is almost assuredly uncommon.

“Sometimes, when I’m struggling against a righty, I’ll picture a left-hander on the mound,” Fuld told me on Friday. “Historically, I feel more comfortable against lefties, so I try to replicate everything I do against them, as close to their release point as I can. I don’t do it often enough to know how often it actually works, but I do it.”

Fuld is a career .243/.323/.338 hitter against same-sided pitchers, and .225/.305/.324 against righties. He can’t explain the atypical comfort level, but he surmises his left-on-left success is related to swing mechanics.

“Anecdotally, guys who have really drastic splits tend to be flatter through the zone,” surmised Fuld. “Left-handed batters who hit left-handed pitchers better tend to have a bat angle that is a little steeper.”

RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

The Dodgers have 13 stolen bases so far this season. The fewest steals in franchise history was 34, in 1924.

Minnesota prospect Trey Vavra, son of Twins bench coach Joe Vavra, is hitting .346/.406/.538 for low-A Cedar Rapids.

Javier Lopez has made 27 appearances out of the Giants bullpen this year and allowed five hits.

On this date in 1936, Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing threw a 16-inning complete game in a 5-4 win over Cleveland. Ruffing recorded 48 outs without striking out a single Indian.

According to NationalPastime.com, the following happened on this date in 1921: “Due to the body of a slain girl found at the ballpark in Kingsport, Tennessee, the game is called to prevent the bloodhounds from becoming confused.”

A reminder that he 45th annual SABR convention, which is open to all baseball fans, will be held in Chicago from June 24-28.