SARASOTA, Fla. — Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joe Biagini put together a nice outing Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles, retiring six of the seven batters he faced. But that lone exception was a big learning experience for the continually improving right-hander.
It was a Seth Smith home run on a 1-0 two-seamer Biagini threw middle-in. Pitching to a hitter with a traditional left-handed swing like Smith’s, that’s a very dangerous pitch and location to go to. And that’s exactly what was running through Biagini’s head on the mound when Blue Jays catcher Juan Graterol called for it.
"I thought about shaking it off," Biagini said after the game. "I probably would have in a regular season game. But I thought to myself, I’m going to take the challenge of trying to get the pitch in there. I’m going to be confident and execute the pitch that’s called and just try to focus on that.
"I guess I realize now that was probably not a good decision."
Well, it was and it wasn’t. It was a bad decision because Smith tattooed the pitch for a no-doubter to deep centre field. But it was a good decision because Biagini learned an important lesson from it.
Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker has been trying to get Biagini to use his four-seam fastball inside to left-handed hitters rather than his two-seamer. The thinking is that Biagini’s two-seamer tends to run back over the plate while his four-seamer stays true, which allows him to better locate a heater inside to a lefty. Smith’s home run perfectly demonstrated the danger of throwing that middle-in two-seamer.
"We’ve talked about wanting to work on that and to have that covered going forward," Biagini said. "So that’s definitely something I’ll try to make an adjustment on. Right now, I’m trying to mix in all my pitches and throw them a good amount. I want to get them going and get them consistent and have a good idea of how to make those little adjustments to keep them in line."
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It’s a very small adjustment—one that demonstrates the tightrope walk that major league pitching can be. But it’s an important one for Biagini as he looks to build on his breakout 2016 season.
The 26-year-old also used his outing Wednesday to work on his delivery, specifically its timing, which he felt was off earlier in camp. Biagini didn’t work out of the wind-up much last season when he threw 67.2 innings out of Toronto’s bullpen. But he’s been reintroducing the motion this spring and trying to get a handle on his tempo as he delivers towards the plate.
"My windup is a little bit more complicated than when I’m pitching out of the stretch. And if you haven’t used that in games recently then you kind of have to find it again," Biagini said. "I think that the challenge is to find that every day and keep it close enough to the target so you can make a little adjustment and kind of get it right on. That’s the challenge of being in the bullpen and making a lot of appearances. You have to be ready with it every day."
Outside of Smith’s home run, the Blue Jays reliever got a strikeout, a pop out and four groundball outs, which is especially encouraging for a pitcher with a high arm angle like Biagini. When he’s getting outs on the ground that means he’s staying on top of his pitches and throwing downhill.
Biagini’s 52.2 per cent groundball rate led the Blue Jays bullpen last season and was among the top 20 qualified relievers in the American League. He’d like to build on that in 2017, a year when he’ll be asked to get big late-game outs from the get-go rather than easing into high leverage work like he did last season.
"Shoot, Joe, he’s throwing basically everything over," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "Joe’s ready to go."
Donaldson nearing return
Here’s the thing about Josh Donaldson: if it was June, he’d be playing baseball every day and no one would be talking about his strained right calf. At this point, the injury is nothing more than a typical knock many professional ballplayers compete with on a daily basis during the six-month grind that is the MLB season.
But since it’s March and the games don’t matter, the Blue Jays are taking every precaution they possibly can with Donaldson, advancing him through his rehab at an ultra-cautious pace as they seek to eradicate every last fibre of the injury.
"I feel like I could play tomorrow," Donaldson said Wednesday after taking batting practice. "They’ve been doing a pretty good job of trying to keep me down as long as possible before I tell them: ‘No more, I’ve got to be out there.’"
Really, the only thing Donaldson hasn’t done is run at full speed, a test he’ll likely complete sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, he’s been taking full-effort swings in the batting cages for nearly a week, he’s been doing everything in the weight room you can imagine that doesn’t put his calf under too much stress, and he’s been throwing regularly with his teammates before they play in Grapefruit League games.
And on Wednesday, the Blue Jays put Donaldson through a series of hopping and jumping exercises that focused on strong landings and using his calf to stabilize his lower half. The 31-year-old said he felt great and that it won’t be long before he starts pressing the issue with Blue Jays trainers and getting into games.
Which is all to say, there’s little to be concerned about when it comes to the Blue Jays third baseman, who will all but certainly be ready to play by opening day.
"I don’t need that many at-bats. I just need to see a few pitches and I’ll be ready to go for the season," Donaldson said. "I’m getting there. I feel like it’s time to take the reins off."
Happ wild but unconcerned
J.A. Happ learned something during his second appearance of camp Tuesday afternoon against Team Canada: that he has some work to do over the next few weeks.
Happ lasted just 1.1 innings, quickly brushing up against his 45-pitch limit as he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks. The left-hander clearly didn’t have his command on the afternoon and looked frustrated on the mound as he missed location after location.
"I wouldn’t be real happy if I was going into the season tomorrow feeling the way I felt out there," Happ said. "But that’s why we go through these steps. I’m looking forward to tinkering a little bit and getting to the point where I’m a little closer to my last outing than this one."
Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ throws against Canada in the first inning, Tuesday, March 7, 2017, in Dunedin, Fla. (John Raoux/AP)
Working with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who’s in line to be the Blue Jays backup catcher this season, Happ struggled to find the feel for both his four-seam and two-seam fastballs, which are crucial weapons for the 34-year-old.
Happ used those two pitches 73 per cent of the time in 2016, mixing and matching them in the strike zone as he put tougher his best season since he was a rookie. Happ’s 3.18 ERA ranked sixth in the American League and he set a new career high in innings pitched with 195.
But Happ simply couldn’t put his fastballs where he wanted to Tuesday. That’s not ideal, but it’s important to remember it was only one outing and that plenty of pitchers deal with command issues at this time of year.
"He wasn’t missing by much, but he was clearly off. He wasn’t as sharp as he normally is," Gibbons said. "But he was close. There were some borderline calls that could have gone the other way. He didn’t pitch as long as we wanted him to, but we have no concern for him."
Happ was encouraged by the soft contact he saw from hitters during the appearance. He just felt it took him too many pitches to get to it.
"It’s a work in progress," Happ said. "Spring training, you’ll have some ups and downs and weirdness happening. But I’m not overly concerned."
