MONTREAL — Roberto Osuna is aware people are talking about him. Throughout an up-and-down spring that’s included a nightmare outing with Mexico at the World Baseball Classic, a bout of neck and back stiffness due to a soft mattress, and an impossible to ignore dip in velocity, Osuna’s welfare has become a topic of conversation, with more than a little bit of concern, as the Toronto Blue Jays creep towards Monday’s season opener in Baltimore.
But as he sipped a coffee in front of his locker early Saturday morning at Olympic Stadium, the Blue Jays closer said he isn’t sure what the fuss is all about.
"I mean, I didn’t give up a run during spring training. So, I think everything is fine," Osuna said. "I’m good. I’m ready for the season. And I think I’ve proven it in spring training. I’ve felt good and I feel like I’ve looked good in spring training, too."
Of course, Osuna has actually allowed two runs this spring—both in an outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday—but they went unearned after Josh Donaldson booted what should have been the third groundball out of the inning. Osuna’s next batter was Tommy Joseph, who hammered a pitch over the left field wall.
So, that’s not ideal. But it’s also tough to fault Osuna for that. He should not have still been on the mound. What’s more legitimately worrying is Osuna’s fastball velocity, which has hovered around 92-93 mph this spring after the 22-year-old averaged 96-mph with the pitch over the past two seasons. Last September and October, Osuna was regularly ramping it up to 97-98.
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During his final outing with the Blue Jays in Dunedin on Wednesday, the radar gun at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium mysteriously malfunctioned after working faultlessly for every pitcher up until Osuna’s inning, and for every pitcher after. A scout in the crowd that day told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi that Osuna’s fastball topped out at 93 mph. His next outing came Friday night at Olympic Stadium, which hasn’t been providing public velocity readings all weekend.
The results in those two outings were very good. Osuna worked a dominant, eight-pitch inning on Wednesday, and allowed only a broken-bat single on Friday before retiring his next three batters, this time needing just 11 pitches. He’s looked great. But the velocity will be worth monitoring going forward. For his part, Osuna says he’s unconcerned.
"Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay. It’s obviously spring training. I did a lot of workouts and work in the off-season and spring training. I’m trying to get ready for the season," he said. "I don’t really worry about spring training. I want to get my velocity back up for the season. So, we’re going to have a couple days off. Hopefully I can recover during that time and get ready for opening day."
It could be that Osuna is merely taking things easy this spring after a pair of demanding seasons. Including playoffs, he’s thrown 161 innings over the last two years, almost always in high-leverage situations. The Blue Jays rode him especially hard late last season as the club fought tooth and nail for a playoff spot. From Sept. 3 through the end of the regular season, Osuna never received more than two consecutive days of rest. In the final 17 days of the regular season, he pitched on back-to-back days four times.
That has to take a toll, and it appeared it did when he exited an appearance in last year’s wild-card game due to shoulder discomfort. Osuna has also battled back and neck stiffness this March, and admits he was feeling worn down from his gruelling workload as the Blue Jays played into October.
"Yeah, yeah—I was. I was a little bit. I was kind of tired in the off-season," he said. "Your mind is still strong. But, physically, sometimes you just can’t go anymore. But I’m ready to get back to work and have another great season.
"You learn how to recover better from games. You take care of yourself better. You sleep better; you do everything you need in the weight room and with the trainers. Sometimes you can’t fully recover from the night before. But you do the best that you can."
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Another part of the velocity dip could be due to Osuna’s experimentation this spring with a two-seam fastball, a pitch he hopes will help him get more groundballs. Pitchers who throw both four-seamers and two-seamers sometimes have a slight velocity discrepancy between the two pitches, although a difference of three-to-four miles per hour would be unusually high.
Osuna says he’s been focusing primarily on the movement of the pitch, which indicates he hasn’t been throwing as hard as he could this spring. Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin said Osuna has been especially working on back-dooring the pitch to right-handers, which requires close focus on command.
The sinker could be a useful weapon for Osuna, especially with runners on. He had a 47.1 per cent fly ball rate last season, which was among the top 10 relievers in baseball. Pitching half his games in a hitter-friendly environment like Rogers Centre, that’s a dangerous game to play. Especially when you consider Osuna’s 10.2 per cent HR/FB rate in 2016 was below the league average for relievers, suggesting he got a bit lucky with allowing contact in the air.
"I gave up a lot of home runs and base hits last year, so I felt like I needed to find something to get more groundballs," he said. "It seems that it’s working pretty good. Hopefully I can still work on it in the season. And we’ll see what happens."
Osuna’s gotten six groundball outs this spring versus four in the air, which is an encouraging sign that the pitch is working. Of course, he was also rocked by Italy at the World Baseball Classic, allowing five runs (four earned) on three hits and a walk in a nightmare outing when he didn’t record an out.
"That was nothing. It happens in the season. It was just a bad day," Osuna said. "I don’t feel any different. I always come to the stadium with the same mentality to work hard and to get ready for the season. I haven’t changed anything in my mind. I’m still working hard. I want to do my best."
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That mentality is why Martin says he isn’t worried at all about Osuna’s mixed bag of results this spring. He’s gotten to know the closer well over the last two years, and says that once the regular season lights come on, he expects Osuna to pick up right where he left off in 2016.
"He’s got a great attitude, and he remains confident throughout the highs and lows of the season. I have tremendous confidence in him," Martin said. "He wants the ball and he believes in himself. He’s human—but he definitely has that warrior-type mentality. He’s the kind of guy who I don’t really concern myself with too much when things aren’t going his way.
"I think now that he’s a little bit established, he took the time this spring to work on certain things and kind of just tested a few things out. Now that we’re getting back to the serious stuff, I think we’re going to see the Osuna that we’re all used to seeing."
