Archive for Detroit Tigers

As Detroit’s director of player development, Dave Owen is in charge of a farm system seemingly short on sure-thing talent. The team’s top prospect (according Baseball America), Devon Travis, was traded to Toronto for Anthony Gose. The No. 2 prospect, Steven Moya, struck out 161 times in Double-A. No. 3, Buck Farmer, had an 11.57 ERA in a four-game cameo after being promoted to the big leagues. No. 4, Derek Hill, is 18 years old and hit .208 in rookie ball.

It would be a mistake to dismiss the potential of the Tigers’ system. Moya had 35 home runs this year and has light-tower power. Farmer’s failure followed eye-opening performances in the minors. Hill was the 23rd-overall pick in this year’s draft.

The trio doesn’t represent the only talent in the pipeline. Jonathon Crawford, the Tigers’ first-round pick on 2013, had a 2.85 ERA in low-A West Michigan. Kevin Ziomek, last year’s second-round pick, had a 2.27 ERA and an 11.1 K/9 on the same club. A number of other players possess potentially promising futures as well.

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Owen on the organization’s approach with first-year players: “We let them play. We want to give the kids a chance to breathe. I don’t think it’s right to do much with them the first year. We don’t have all the answers. How can we start making adjustments the first time we see a kid play? That first year is such a whirlwind for them anyway, with the draft and everything going on. We want to see them and evaluate, and we”ll eventually work in a few tweaks here and there.”

On Derek Hill: “We got Derek this year in the draft, so I’ve just seen him a little bit. It’s a small sample size, but this guy is exciting. He’s fun to watch. He’s just a young kid – he’s just out of high school – but he can really run. He’s a glider who runs easy and can really cover some ground. He’s a true centerfielder. At the plate, it looks like he’s going to be able to use all fields. I can see him being a base stealer. This kid has the raw potential to be a really good major-league player.”

On Steven Moya: “He’s got a chance to be a special guy. He’s got great power and it’s not just pull. He’s got power all over the park. He can go out to left field and center field. It’s a nice package. He’s a big, young man – a big, strong kid. He’s got a great body.

“Sometimes he is (too aggressive). He’s still learning himself as far as strike-zone discipline and pitch recognition. Mo’s working on that. He’s learning how teams are going to attack him – how they’re pitching him — and he’s learning how to make adjustments to compensate for that.

“It’s important to be realistic and know you have weaknesses that you need to make better. Mo does. He has a tremendous idea of what he needs to do and he’s very diligent about working on them.”

On advancing players through the system: “Our role is to get these kids in spots to gain experience and have success. We want to give them an opportunity to grow as players. Movement, as far as promotions from one level to the next, is really… a lot of it depends on success. A lot of it depends on how they’re playing. You want to keep challenging these guys. Let’s say a player is in Grand Rapids, our (West Michigan) low-A ball club, and he’s tearing it up. If you don’t feel that league is challenging him anymore, you push him to the next level. You keep doing that and hopefully he ends up in Detroit.”

On aggressively promoting Buck Farmer: “Sometimes it just comes down to timing – specific needs our organization needs at a specific time – and at that time it was Buck Farmer. It very easily could have been Jonathon Crawford or Kevin Ziomek. There were quite a few guys on that Grand Rapids team that are good-looking prospects.

“As a group, we just felt like (Farmer) was a kid who had the weapons to compete. Not that the other guys don’t. This is definitely not any disrespect for any of of other players, it’s just that we felt it was the right time to give him a shot.”

On Jonathon Crawford: “Jonathon has tremendous ability. He’s a kid who was our top pick, so we expect really good things out of him. He’s kind of in the same mold of a lot of those guys – with Kevin (Ziomek), with Chad Green, with (Austin) Kubitza, with Buck. It’s about consistency with his pitches, consistency with his delivery, commanding his fastball and his secondary stuff. When he’s right, man, he can dominate. He has power stuff. It’s really exciting. And he’s a good athlete. He’ll find his place.”

On Kevin Ziomek: “Kevin has a great feel for pitching. I’m really looking forward to him continuing his growth. He’s got three average-to-plus pitches, and he’s got some deception in his delivery. He’s a good-looking kid. He’s got that first full season under his belt and he’s been through a spring training, so he knows what to expect next year. I know we expect a lot out of him.”

On Robbie Ray: It’s hard to go to the big leagues and stay. A lot of guys will go to the big leagues and then get send back down. They’ll use that to help them and Robbie is one of those guys. He understands now what it’s like, and that are adjustments to make. Baseball is a game of adjustments. You get there and see what it’s all about – you get in the mix – and find out ‘this wasn’t working as well as I thought it should be.’ You work on that and get it right. You make yourself better so you’re more prepared when you go back. Robbie has a tremendous arm. With him, I think it’s more location and repeating his delivery.”

On the Devon Travis deal: “Dave Dombrowski is very smart and he’s always going to ask for a lot of opinions, not only of me, but of other people in our organization. We all have our opinions of what a guy is going to do in the future, and how he fits. It’s ultimately Dave’s decision – he’s the boss – and he’s going to do his homework before he makes this kind of move.

“I talked to Devon after the trade was made and told him how much we appreciate what he did for the Tigers. He’s a young man who is very professional. We do everything we can to help all of our guys grow as players, and I wished Devon continued success.”

Two things stood out when I talked to Miami Marlins president Michael Hill in Phoenix this week. One was the importance of character when building a roster. The other was seemingly contradictory and had to do with the team’s home ballpark.

Hill brought up character after first citing track records, scouts evaluations, and statistical data.

“We look at if a player is a fit for what we are trying to do, and that’s a holistic statement,” Hill told me. “There’s more that goes into it than just the pitching, fielding and hitting. We’re bringing a personality into our clubhouse and put value in how a particular player may fit the context of our club.”

I wasn’t particularly surprised to hear Hill say that. When I visited the Marlins’ clubhouse this summer – technically, the visiting clubhouse in Atlanta – the vibe was positive. I spoke to several players and all were personable. But I did find it notable that Hill brought up character, so I asked just how much of a factor it is. Read the rest of this entry »

What is the best way to attack Adam Jones? The answer would seemingly be to avoid the strike zone. The Orioles outfielder walked just 19 times in 682 plate appearances – that’s a 2.8 walk-rate, folks – and his 56.5 Swing% was the highest in the American League. His 42.1 O-Swing% was topped only by Salvador Perez.

Unfortunately for the opposition, while Jones chases pitchers’ pitches, he also chases pitchers by getting hits on some of those pitches. His 63.0 O-Contact% isn’t particularly high, but that says more about his proclivity to sometimes chase pitches in a different area code. If it’s close enough to the zone, he has a knack for getting knocks.

In the words of David Price, “I don’t think there’s a pitch Adam Jones doesn’t think he can hit, and he might be right.” An American League pitching coach offered a similar perspective, saying “Adam Jones will swing at a ball that bounces in the dirt and he’ll also swing at a ball that’s neck high. The difference between him and other guys who do that is he’s like Vladimir Guerrero – he can hit those pitches. One time this year he lined a ball back through the middle on a pitch that was six feet high. It was ridiculous.” Read the rest of this entry »

The numbers – at least some of them – suggested the Tigers would win Game 2. Justin Verlander was on the mound with a record of 7-0 and a 2.84 ERA in eight starts at Camden Yards. His record in seven ALDS starts was 4-0 with a 1.79 ERA. Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen had a 4.91 ERA in two career starts against Detroit and had never pitched in the postseason.

There was also perception. While not without flaws, the Tigers are a superstar-laden club capable of turning it on at any time. The Orioles – you know the refrain by now – aren’t as good as their record and destined to fall to earth.

Of course, this is baseball. Verlander out-pitched Chen, but the story often goes well beyond the starting pitchers. And while Detroit’s all-too-predictable bullpen implosion is going to get the most ink, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that a resilient team was once again resilient. This game wasn’t only about the Tigers losing.

I wrote it last night and it bears repeating: The Orioles are good. This is not a statement based on a two-game sample, nor is it bandwagon jumping. I predicted a postseason berth for Buck Showalter’s team in March and they certainly held up their end of the bargain. The team no one seems to respect is now 98-66.

According to writers covering the ALDS, Orioles fans aren’t off base in complaining their team doesn’t get the credit they deserve. Everyone I queried was in accord with that belief. Lack of star power, particularly in the starting rotation, was a common theme. Also mentioned was market. Baltimore isn’t Boston or New York.

As for projections and how the Orioles got to this point – one win from the ALCS – allow me to say something atypical of a FanGraphs article: Read the rest of this entry »

At some point people are going to come around to the fact that the Baltimore Orioles are good. They finished the regular season 96-66 and I’m sorry, you don’t do that with smoke and mirrors.

Tonight, the Orioles smoked the Tigers 12-3 in Game One of the ALDS. They did so with power, an 8-run eighth, and four innings of exemplary bullpen usage. There’s no point in recapping what you watched on TV, but here are a few perspectives from post-game interviews, as well as relevant comments from Wednesday’s media session.

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Victor Martinez struck out once every 15.26 plate appearances this year, the best mark in the league. He fanned just 42 times, making him the first player to hit at least 30 home runs with 45-or-fewer strikeouts since Barry Bonds turned the trick in 2004. V-Mart’s .409 OBP led the American League and was second to Andrew McCutchen’s .410 overall.

Finding a way to contain Martinez – and Miguel Cabrera – is a priority for the Orioles. Martinez struck out twice tonight – something he did just three times during the regular season – but he also went deep, as did Cabrera.

In the opinion of an American League pitching coach I spoke to earlier this week, there is no one way to get them out. Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Nathan and Glen Perkins agree that closers could earn more multiple-inning saves and throw more overall innings. But they don’t necessarily feel they should, and they certainly don’t see it happening.

Once upon a time, it wasn’t all that uncommon for a team’s top bullpen arm to log a lot of action. Notable examples are Mike Marshall, John Hiller and Goose Gossage.

In a six-year stretch from 1971-1976, Marshall averaged 73.5 appearances and 137 innings, and twice led the league in saves. Between 1973-1974, Hiller averaged 62 appearances and 137 innings, and had a 38-save season. Gossage averaged 56 appearances and 78 innings in the 10 seasons in which he saved at least 20.

Five closers have at least 40 saves so far this year, and all are averaging less than an inning per appearance. Of them, only Trevor Rosenthal – currently at 66 – is likely to finish with as many as 70 innings.

Nathan and Perkins are used in much the same manner. Over his career, Nathan has thrown 746 innings in 738 relief outings. In his three seasons as a closer, Perkins has pitched 192 innings in 191 appearances. Earlier this summer I asked both if a return to the Marshall-Hiller-Gossage days was possible. Read the rest of this entry »

The line jumped out at me when I read it in the Minnesota Twins press notes earlier this week; “Brian Dozier has hit 30 home runs in the last 365 days.” A look at the stat sheet showed something else of interest: The 27-year-old second baseman is on pace to draw 100 walks.

Thirteen months ago, Dozier had seven home runs and two dozen walks in a little over 400 big-league plate appearances. His batting average for the season was barely over the Mendoza Line. Then came a skull session with hitting coach Tom Brunansky, accompanied by some serious film work.

“On May 20 last year, in Detroit, Bruno and I broke down everything,” Dozier told me on Tuesday. “It was kind of sink-or-swim for me. I was on the verge of getting sent down, so I knew I had to make an adjustment. We got me more grounded – more in my legs – which made my pitch recognition better and my power go up.

“It was about getting my foot down. My foot was up in the air when I started my swing. I’d see a ball coming into the zone and start to swing, and if the ball started breaking away I’d already be committed. Now I’m able to see the ball longer.”

Not being familiar with his old mechanics, I asked Dozier to clarify. Did he get rid of a leg kick he’d been using as a timing mechanism?

“It wasn’t really a leg kick,” responded Dozier. “It’s basically that I was coming down on my toe instead of flat-footed. My foot could be down with my toe, but it still wasn’t down. My hip would start to fly open as I started my swing and I couldn’t stop it. Now I’m more grounded. We call that counting clicks. The more clicks you have once your foot is down, the longer you have to see the ball. Six to eight clicks is a really good thing and at the beginning of last year I only had three or four.”

Once again I needed some clarification. Could he better define “counting clicks”?

“It’s about being on time,” explained Dozier. “You can have a leg kick like Jose Bautista or you could be as quiet as Joe Mauer. It’s once your foot is down — click, click, click – to the point of contact. If I’m starting my swing and it’s one, two, three, bam!, that’s three clicks. That’s not good. What I’m referring to is the in-between from the time you get your foot down to the time you make contact. More clicks means your foot is down early and you can see the ball more.”

I asked Dozier how he views the relationship between power and walks. Is he drawing more free passes because he’s hitting home runs, or is he going deep because he’s seeing more pitches?

“I think it’s all about sticking with my plan,” responded Dozier after a long pause. “This is my third year and I’m learning which pitches, so to speak, I can hit out. I have a better idea of what I need to lay off of. When I get a pitch in my zone is when I try to crank it.”

The home run numbers stand out – especially for a middle infielder – as does the walk rate. Batting average is another story. Dozier’s slash line is .243/.355/.449. Is that a concern?

“Batting average is probably the most overrated stat in baseball,” said Dozier. “Your job is to get on base, so you want to keep your OBP up. You obviously want a good OPS as well. Scoring runs and driving them in are the most important things.”

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Dozier isn’t the only one counting clicks and putting up numbers. Detroit Tigers outfielder JD Martinez is hitting .312/.342/.596. He’s also red hot. The erstwhile Astro is 14 for his last 31 and has left the yard four times in his last six games.

Martinez’s emergence isn’t dissimilar to Dozier’s. Their backstories differ, but each has turned a corner thanks to mechanical tweaking. Not satisfied with the arc of his young career, the 26-year-old Martinez decided to rework his swing over the offseason.

“A guy I was working with showed me all these commonalities of great hitters,” Martinez told me last month. “I saw that there were good things about my swing, but also some bad things. My swing was too in-and-out-of-the-zone. When we slowed it down on film, I could see my bat was in the zone for one or two clicks. Good hitters are in the zone for six to eight clicks.

“It was a matter of bat path. I’ve changed my swing so it’s more of a slight uppercut to be level with the angle of the pitch. My swing used to be more east to west. The bat was in the zone from here to here, then it was out. Now I’m in the zone longer, which allows my margin of error to be greater.”

Martinez was a .332 hitter in the minor leagues and showed plenty of potential in parts of three seasons in Houston. But while he displayed occasional power, he was all too susceptible to slumps. Opposing pitchers were doing a good job of exploiting his cold zones. Changes were in order.

“At this level, if you have a glitch in your swing, pitchers are going to find it,” said Martinez. “The big leagues are the big leagues. Here, it’s not about talent. It’s not about whether you can hit a 95-mph fastball or whether you can hit a slider. It’s a chess game and about making adjustments. If a pitcher sees you can’t hit a fastball in, he’s going to keep pitching you in. He’s going to find that hole and exploit it. Basically, I needed to change my swing to adjust to how I was being pitched.”

Martinez brought his new mechanics to the Venezuelan Winter League and found he was able to handle the pitches he used to struggle with. He continued to fine-tune his swing when he returned stateside, and reported to spring training anxious to finally establish himself in the Astros lineup. He was never given the chance. Houston released him in mid-March and Detroit picked him up a few days later.

“There’s not much I can say about that other than they wanted to go in another direction,” said Martinez. “I wish I’d have been given more time to show what I can do, but that’s what they decided. I’m not a negative person, so I’m not going to say anything bad about the Astros. I’m just happy the Tigers picked me up and are giving me an opportunity. It’s been hard to keep my timing down, not playing every day, but I’ve been able to prove to myself that the changes I made will work.”

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Kevin Plawecki is proving himself in Double-A. The 23-year-old New York Mets catching prospect is hitting .329/.373/.493 in Binghamton. Just as importantly, he’s displaying improved defensive skills.

Drafted 35th overall in 2012 out of Purdue, Plawecki projects to hit for average at the big-league level. The former Big 10 Player of the Year uses the entire field and has excellent bat-to-ball skills. But he does need to improve his plate discipline. In 1,013 professional plate appearances he’s fanned 104 times and has drawn 81 walks. He’s not exactly backing down from his approach.

“If you’re not striking out, you’re obviously swinging the bat,” said Plawecki. “You have to swing to make contact. I understand I don’t have a lot of walks, but I’m a hitter, not a walker. I’ll take walks, but I don’t think anybody gets in the box looking for one. If the pitch is in the zone, I see no reason not to swing at it. Ultimately you’re trying to get a hit every time you’re up to bat.”

Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez acknowledges the former Boilermaker is a free-swinger, but also sees a lot to like. One thing he expects to improve is Plawecki’s power production, which has been surprisingly sparse for a player with a linebacker’s build. Plawecki has six home runs this year and 21 since entering pro ball.

“He uses the whole field and is good at making adjustments,” said Lopez. “I think the home runs are going to come in time. We all know power is the last thing to develop, and Kevin has good size. He has a good understanding of how to control the barrel, so it’s mostly a matter of learning the strike zone better. Once he starts doing a better job of laying off the marginal pitches and focusing on his hot zone, the power numbers will go up.”

He’s already upping his caught-stealing percentage, which is a respectable 33 percent this season. A good receiver, Plawecki made great strides with his throwing in spring training. Working with big league bench coach Bob Geren, and minor league catching coordinator Bobby Natal, he turned a question mark into a positive.

“It was about cleaning up my arm action,” explained Plawecki. “I was a little too long and kind of getting caught on my front side a little bit. In a sense, my arm was having to catch up to my body. We eliminated that and got everything working together.”

How close to big-league ready is Plawecki?

“He’s close, but I don’t want to put a time frame on him,” said Lopez. “That wouldn’t be fair. We have to remember this kid was in the South Atlantic League at the beginning of last year. I will say that he’s making good progress.”

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Matt Wisler didn’t look like the top pitching prospect in the San Diego system in his first four Triple-A starts. The 21-year-old righthander was promoted to El Paso in May and proceeded to allow 21 runs in 13-and-a-third innings. It was a rude awakening for a hurler who’d breezed through the California League and dominated Double-A.

This year’s Baseball America Prospect Handbook lauds Wisler’s mental toughness and poise, and both were evident in the way he bounced back. In five appearances since, the Bryan, Ohio native has allowed 10 earned runs in 31-and-a-third innings.

“It was definitely tough,” Wisler said of his four-game debacle. “I was kind of playing head games with myself, over-thinking everything and wondering what I was doing wrong. I was in my head too much.

“I had one big inning every game and that killed me. You have to be able to stop the bleeding once you get guys on base, and I was allowing four or five runs before I knew it. I was letting the game speed up on me rather than settling down and making my pitches.”

Wisler had a 2.03 ERA last year in the hitter-friendly California League. What made his transition to the Pacific Coast League so tumultuous?

“The Cal League is a hitter’s league, but the PCL is a hitter’s league with better hitters,” explained Wisler. “Here, your mistakes get punished a lot more, and I was leaving balls up to get punished. I was giving up doubles and triples with guys on. I gave up a lot of home runs as well.

“I couldn’t command my fastball down in the zone. It was up, flat, and easy to hit. I was maybe overthrowing a little bit, especially in the first couple of games. When things started to unravel, I’d try to do too much instead of taking a step back and just making a good pitch. I was trying to blow it by hitters, and that’s not going to happen at this level.”

El Paso pitching coach Mike Cather knows Wisler well, having previously served as the Padres minor-league pitching coordinator. He agrees the youngster learned a lot in the lambastings.

“He found out making pitches is a lot more important than trying to out-stuff somebody,” said Cather. “He took some damage, but his learning curve is extremely steep. He figured things out pretty quickly.”

According to Cather, Wisler’s changeup usage is improving and his slider is average-plus with more depth than run. His two-seam fastball has good late action and his four-seam fastball has “another three or four mph under the hood for when he wants to go for a punch out.” Cather likes Wisler’s increased abilty to add and subtract, varying his fastball velocity between 89 and 95.

Wisler’s two- and four-seam usage is determined partly by feel, partly by handedness.

“It kind of depends on the day and the hitters,” explained Wisler. “If there are a ton of lefties I’m probably going to throw 55-60 percent two-seams. If there are a lot of righties I’m probably going to be 70 percent four-seams. How many arm-side pitches I’m throwing depends a lot on the lineup.”

Will Wisler get an opportunity to face a big league lineup this summer as a fresh-faced 21-year-old?

“I think there’s a significant chance he could pitch in San Diego this year,” said Cather. “It could be a spot start, or a two-start stint, just to get his feet wet. It could also be out of the bullpen. There are different ways to break a guy into a major league environment.”

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Karsten Whitson signed with the Red Sox yesterday. An 11th-round pick this year out of the University of Florida, the 22-year-old righthander reportedly received a $100,000 bonus. In 2010 he turned down a reported $2.1 million after being taken ninth-overall by the Padres out of high school.

If Whitson regrets his earlier decision, he’s not letting on. When I spoke to him last week, he professed to being proud of what he’s accomplished over the past four years. Any looking back is done with positives in mind.

“My time at Florida was great,” said Whitson. “I went to the College World Series, won two SEC championships, and graduated [with a degree in psychology]. It was a very tough decision, but after doing some self reflection I though it was the right choice. I’d always been a huge Gators fan and it was a dream of mine to play there. I was able to do that, and now I’m following my dream to play professional baseball.”

I asked Whitson if bonus parameters were discussed prior to the 2010 draft.

“No,” replied Whitson. “ I got picked and they just kind of threw a number at me – what they valued me at – and talking with my family it seemed like pursuing an education and a degree was more important at that time in my life.”

Whitson went 8-1, 2.40 in his freshman season at Florida. Then came the injury that threw his future earnings further in doubt.

“My sophomore year, I felt some discomfort in my forearm,” explained Whitson. “I had a little tendonitis, and being the young player I was, I came back from that a little too fast, which led to some shoulder issues. There’s always been a lot of torque in my delivery, and pitching around the forearm soreness led to the internal impingement in my shoulder. There was some build-up on the joint — a callus building up on the nerve – so I decided to go ahead and get it cleaned up by Dr. Andrews.”

The 6-foot-4 righty threw in the mid-90s before the injury. That dropped to the high 80s before he went under the knife and missed the 2013 season. I asked Whitson where his velocity is now.

“My last college start was against LSU in the SEC tournament and my velo was great,” said Whitson. “I was 93 to 97 and my slider was up to 88. It’s all starting to come together for me, not just my shoulder, but also my feel. I missed some time over the past few years, but I’m heading in the right direction. I’m with a great organization that’s going to develop me the right way.”

As for the money he passed up four years ago, that will matter even less if he reaches the big leagues and goes on to earn a multi-year contract. His response when I suggested as much?

“Absolutely,” said Whitson. “Absolutely.”

The Detroit Tigers have a defensive coordinator this season. The role is being manned by Matt Martin, who joined the coaching staff shortly after Brad Ausmus was hired in November. Martin came to Motown with nearly two decades of experience as a minor league manager, coach and infield coordinator.

His job isn’t to reinvent the wheel. The 44-year-old was brought in to help make the Detroit defense more efficient. Metrics are part of his process, as is fine-tuning fundamentals. Much like his manager, Martin is a combination of old-school and new-school.

According to Baseball Info Solutions, the Tigers have 66 shifts on balls in play [as of Tuesday] – the seventh fewest in baseball – and two Shift Runs Saved. Nuanced positioning is far more prevalent. Even when it’s only a step or two, it’s by design – and it’s effective. Ian Kinsler has seven Defensive Runs Saved, which trails only Kolten Wong among second baseman. Miguel Cabrera, who was -18 as a third baseman last season, has two Defensive Runs Saved at first base.

Martin discussed defensive alignments – including The Big Papi shift and the importance of instincts – when the Tigers visited Boston earlier this month. Read the rest of this entry »

On July 2, 1963, the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in 16 innings. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn both pitched complete games. Marichal threw 227 pitches, Spahn, who was 41 years old at the time, threw 201.

What do R.A. Dickey and Max Scherzer think about the historic duel?

“I’m speechless, really,” said Dickey. “In this day and age we’re not used to seeing totals that come anywhere close to that. It’s quite remarkable. That being said, I’ve always been a guy who likes to throw a lot of pitches.”

“It’s amazing what they did,” said Scherzer. “Many guys in the past were able to consistently throw150-160, and they did it in four-man rotations. That seems preposterous in today’s game.”

By modern-day standards, Scherzer is a workhorse. The Detroit Tigers righthander has thrown at least 100 pitches in 37 of his last 42 regular season starts. On 18 of those occasions he’s thrown 110 or more. His high-water mark is 123. Could he imagine doing what Marichal and Spahn did 51 years ago?

“Could I get conditioned for 200 pitches? Yes, I think I could,” said Scherzer. “But my per-pitch intensity would have to be less than where I’m at right now. I don’t think there’s any way [Marichal and Spahn] were throwing 95 [mph] and their effort level had to have been lower. So yes, some pitchers today could do it, but with less intensity.”

Dickey believes much the same. The 39-year-old Toronto Blue Jays righty regularly logs over 100 pitches per outing, and he feels he could throw many more.

“As a knuckleballer, I could throw 200 pitches fairly easily,” said Dickey. “I’m not exerting nearly the force Max would be. He would have to temper it back, but I’m already operating at about 70 percent capacity. It wouldn’t be that much for me to throw that many pitches. But it comes down to effectiveness. If a pitcher is throwing 150 and getting his brains beat in, then he’s throwing 150 just to throw 150.”

Dickey was a conventional pitcher early in this career. Could he have approached Marichal-Spahn territory in his pre-knuckleball days?

“I could have,” said Dickey. “I threw 183 once [at the University of Tennessee]. I did that in a regional. I started a game and went seven innings, had two days off, then threw 183 to get us to the College World Series. A few other times I threw around 160.”

Scherzer hasn’t thrown nearly that many, but he does see value in stretching the limits. He feels it’s especially beneficial as a learning tool.

“In college, I think I threw as many as 133,” said Scherzer. “The whole pitch count thing… yeah, it’s right, but the biggest thing is how many days off you get after you make one of those types of starts. I think it’s fine to pitch that deep. You learn a lot about yourself on the pitches after 100. I’ve always been a big believer in that. That’s why I think going to college is better than signing out of high school.

“In college you’re on a seven-day rotation and constantly exposed to 120 pitches. That’s not the same as 120 pitches every five days. I think it’s good for a pitcher – and good for his arm – to learn how to pitch that deep into a game. When you’re fatigued, you have to pitch. You have to execute and use your off-speed. You also have to conserve so you can still throw your best thunderbolt on pitch 125.

“I’ve been told that some of the all-time greats, like Sandy Koufax, would smell the win when they got into the ninth inning. That’s when they got nasty. They were cruising with less of an an intensity level, and at the end they really picked it up.”

Dickey doesn’t practice conservation, but he does agree on the educational value of extended outings.

“The more you’re pushed, the more you see what you’re capable of doing with deeper pitch counts,” said Dickey. “You learn 130-140 is something you can handle. There doesn’t have be that psychological barrier. You can be conditioned for it just like you can be conditioned to run a marathon.

“As for [saving thunderbolts], that’s not really something I do. Some other guys may do that within the framework of nine innings. I remember watching Bartolo Colon pitch in his prime. He would be 91-92 and then in the eighth and ninth innings he’d be 98. I’ve seen Verlander do that too. I’m different in that respect, but again, I’m not exerting the same kind of force.

“Do I tip my hat to Marichal and Spahn? Oh, man, are you kidding? Absolutely. But the dynamic of a pitching staff has changed so much. There are specialized relievers. Teams are paying much more attention to the metrics of righty-versus-righty, and this guy versus that guy, and managers are making decisions based on those metrics. It’s a big reason we’re seeing lesser and lesser pitch counts for starters.”

——

Pitch counts weren’t a big deal for the Brewers in the late 1970s. Their starters threw a lot of innings, but not necessarily a lot of pitches. From 1978-1980, the Milwaukee staff allowed the fewest walks and logged the fewest strikeouts in the American League.

Buck Martinez, now a broadcaster for the Blue Jays, was one of the Brewers’ catchers in those seasons. He says the low strikeout and walk totals were by design.

“When I got to Milwaukee in 1978, George Bamberger was the manager,” said Martinez. “The first thing he said to the pitching staff was, ‘Boys, we’re going to cut the walks in half. We can’t have 800 walks in a season.’ He wanted our pitchers to limit the number of pitches batters saw. That helped turn things around in Milwaukee.”

The results speak for themselves. After winning just 67 games in 1977, the Brewers won 93 and 95 in Bamberger’s first two seasons at the helm. Offense was a big reason – Bamberger’s teams were the precursor to “Harvey’s Wallbangers” – but the pitch-to-contact approach clearly paid dividends.

“It was about pitching late into the game,” said Martinez. “Who are your best pitchers? They’re your starters, so you want them pitching most of your innings. You do that by reducing your pitch counts – not that we had pitch counts back then; the hitters told you when you were tired. We simply didn’t consider strikeouts important. It was about outs. We had a good offensive club and our pitchers realized the longer they stayed in the game, the more chances we had to score runs and give them a win.”

Mike Caldwell and Lary Sorensen were among the beneficiaries. In 1978, the duo combined to win 40 games and pitch 574 innings. Caldwell’s K/9 was 4.0. Sorenson’s was 2.5.

The 1979 season featured one of the most unique pitcher-usage games in baseball annals. On August 29, Bamberger used position players for the final five innings of an 18-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Third baseman Sal Bando went three innings. Second baseman Jim Gantner and Martinez each went one inning.

“We were down by a ton and didn’t want to use any more pitchers,” explained Martinez. “Bamberger handed Bando the ball and said ‘you’re pitching,’ Gantner was in the dugout lobbying to pitch. I called down from the bullpen and told [pitching coach] Cal McLish, ‘I want to pitch in this game.’ The game was in Kansas City and I had come to the Brewers from the Royals. I warmed up for about five innings, so by the time I got to the mound I was dead tired. I’d still have been out of the inning without giving up a run had Bando been able to turn a double play. He was playing second base by then. I threw fastballs, curveballs and a palm ball. I got Amos Otis to pop up on a palm ball.”

According to Martinez, Bando had a go-to pitch of his own.

“Sal came out for the second inning looking like a McDonald’s french fry pack,” said Martinez. “ He was greasy all over the place. He had Vaseline everywhere. He got all doctored up to pitch the next two innings.”

——

Rob Rasmussen has faced one batter. The Blue Jays southpaw made his big-league debut on Tuesday at Fenway Park. He retired David Ortiz on a ground ball to first base.

John Gibbons hinted the match-up might happen during his pregame media session. Asked about the 25-year-old UCLA product, the Toronto skipper said, ‘Who knows, maybe he’ll come in face Ortiz tonight.’ Word got to Rasmussen as the team prepared to take batting practice.

“People were asking, ‘What are you going to do if you have to face Ortiz?’ Rasmussen told me the following day. “That was kind of out of the blue a little bit. I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know Gibby had said that.”

Rumor became truth in the seventh inning.

“While we were hitting, they said ‘Hey, you’ve got Ortiz.’ They told me Dustin [McGowan] was going to face Pedroia to start the inning, then I was going to get Ortiz. After that, Delabar was coming in to get Napoli. It was my first time getting hot in a big-league pen, and to be honest, it was kind of a surreal moment.”

What did Gibbons say to the rookie when he reached the mound?

“Gibby said, ”Hey, have fun and join us in this party.’ That made me smile. It made me realize this is fun. There’s tons of money and a lot on the line in terms of wins, but at the end of the day it’s about enjoying the moment. We had a three-run lead, so I also knew the worst I could do was give up a solo home run and we’d still be up two.”

It took five pitches for him to retire Big Papi. I asked Rasmussen to describe the at bat.

“I fell behind with two fastballs, which wasn’t ideal,” said Rasmussen. “The first one I yanked down and away. The second one was a little up and off the plate. On the first one I was just trying to get that first strike in there, but there was such an adrenaline rush that I missed. I had to step back and take a deep breath. The second pitch wasn’t a strike, but it was more of a quality pitch. It was, ‘OK, that was better. Here we go.’ Then I got a fastball in that he took to make it 2-1. Then I threw a slider that kind of cement mixed – it backed up – but fortunately he fouled it off. On 2-2, I threw a curveball and he rolled it over to Edwin [Encarnacion].”

Adrenaline aside, Rasmussen claims to have been calm and focused on the mound. Once it was over, he reflected on the experience.

“When I came out of the game is when it really hit me,” said Rasmussen. “It was like, ‘Oh, man.’ It was then that I kind of realized the magnitude of what I did. I had just realized a dream.”

——

Everyone loves a good quote, and Steve Delabar is no exception. The Toronto reliever gladly accepted my invitation to participate in “the quote game,” an offbeat interview approach I’ve had fun with over the years. In short, I recited half a dozen notable baseball quotes, and Delabar gave me his interpretation of them.

Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice versa. – Casey Stengel

“That’s true in a sense. The way I see it is good pitches beat good hitters. Good pitchers can make bad pitches.”

I exploit the greed of all hitters. – Lew Burdette

“He was exploiting the gray. I’m a power guy so that doesn’t really apply to me. I’m just trying to throw it around the strike zone and let it eat.”

A baseball game is a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. – Earl Wilson

“Every inning, something crazy can happen. If you sat in a dugout during a game, you’d understand why. There are so many ebbs and flows. You can be as high as the moon in one inning and then the other team starts chipping away and you hit the panic button and freak out. You’re up and down the whole game, so you just try to chill.”

Baseball is like a church. Many attend but few understand. – Leo Durocher

“The further you get away from the field, the easier the game is. Even the guys in the dugout will say ‘Why did he do that?’ On the field, decisions have to be made at the speed of the game. When you’re questioning what somebody did, well, go out there on the field and make that decision.”

A ballplayer has two reputations, one with the other players and one with the fans. The first is based on ability and the second the newspapers give him. – Johnny Evers

“Now, with the social media, you can kind of show everybody what kind of person you are. Still, you could be the greatest guy and the best teammate, but if you’re not getting the job done, the media might blow you up.”

You have to be a man to play baseball, but you have to a lot of little boy in you – Roy Campanella

“You need to have fun. You can’t let it become too serious. You work hard on the side to play the game, but they don’t say ‘We’re going to work baseball.’ They say, ‘We’re going to play baseball.’ It’s a job, but we play our job. You don’t tell a kid, ‘Go to your room and work with your toys.’”

Seth Rosin is a Texas Ranger. At least for now. The 25-year-old right-hander learned yesterday he’ll be on the opening-day roster, but as a Rule 5 pick he will have to be offered back to the Phillies if he doesn’t remain with the big-league team all season.

Rosin‘s suitcase has been kept busy. Originally drafted by the Giants in 2010, he was traded to the Phiilies two years later. The Mets took him in last December’s Rule 5 and proceeded to sell him to the Dodgers. Rosin pitched well in spring training, but with no room in a loaded LA bullpen, they cut him loose. The Rangers picked him up on Wednesday.

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