Despite poor numbers, Jays prospect Kyle Drabek appears to be making progress in triple-A.
There are several pivotal questions for the Toronto Blue Jays to wrestle with as the 2011 season's finish line draws near, and key among them is assessing exactly what kind of progress Kyle Drabek has made this year.
The promising 23-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make his 10th start for triple-A Las Vegas on Monday night and the numbers to this point from his tune-up in the desert aren't pretty.
In nine starts he carries a 2-2 record and a 6.90 earned-run average, allowing 62 hits and 24 walks in 43.2 innings, with 29 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .344 against him.
Yet the Blue Jays believe gains are being made, subtle ones that don't show up in stat sheets, ones that may ultimately provide the biggest dividends. Pitching at Las Vegas, specifically, and in the Pacific Coast League generally, presents challenges that routinely test a hurler's mettle.
For someone like Drabek, who at times struggles to maintain his composure on the mound, being a force-fed steady diet of adversity may be exactly what he needs.
"That's one thing Brad Mills spoke of at length when he came up prior to his first start, is that the adversities that you're faced with there have a tangible benefit," says Blue Jays manager John Farrell. "That comes from having to find a way to fight through to get into the middle and later part of the game.
"While we can't replicate the major-league setting, that offensive environment that pitchers pitch in may be the closest thing we could ever replicate to the major-league level. … The ability to keep it together and make a pitch when things aren't going well, there a lot of benefits that can come out of it from a mental standpoint for a young pitcher."
Drabek started the season with the Blue Jays and held his own early on, but by the time of his mid-June demotion, he was barely treading water in the deep end. In 14 big-league starts, he was 4-5 with a 5.70 ERA and at the time led the majors with both 52 walks and 10 wild pitches. His WHIP was an abysmal 1.79.
So down he went, ordered to pitch without his cutter to help him improve his fastball command, and also further develop his curveball and changeup.
All the factors combined have pulled Drabek from his comfort zone and forced him to make adjustments. That's why the Blue Jays can look at his last start against Oklahoma City, when he allowed five runs, three earned, on 10 hits and two walks in six innings, and see progress.
"He gave up some early runs, but found a way to stay composed, stay in control relatively and get through six innings," said Farrell. "Even though it was an ugly line, he came away feeling like, 'OK, I got something accomplished within this game.'"
Still, learning to carry an unsightly ERA must be a shock to the system for Drabek, who has experienced very little prior failure in his young career. That is why, much in the same way they did with Brett Cecil, Travis Snider and Brett Lawrie, the Blue Jays are preaching process over end results.
"The conversations between starts really have to be objective between (Vegas manager) Marty Brown and (pitching coach) Tom Signore and Kyle," says Farrell. "If Kyle attaches himself to an ERA, he's going to ride the elevator up and down and his self-worth is going to be attached to what the number of the ERA is. So this has an opportunity to be a tremendous learning experience for Kyle in that regardless of what the numbers state, here is where you are as a pitcher.
"That's where the teaching has to go beyond what the paper says."
The same holds true for the overall assessment.
The Blue Jays have some instability in the rotation behind Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Brett Cecil and gauging what Drabek may have to offer in 2012 is no simple task. That's one reason why another stint in the big-leagues this season makes some sense, but not the only reason in Farrell's mind.
"Personally I think it would be important for him to pitch more innings here in September," he says. "I may be getting ahead of myself here by saying this, but in response to the question, not only for us to get another read on him going to the off-season, but I think for Kyle's continued development as it will take place over the course of the off-season, as he looks back and reflects on the things that happened this year, it would be good to have him finish the year with some positivity and some positive work here at the major-league level."
