BRADENTON, Fla. – The old axiom says baseball is a game of adjustments, and the sport’s failure rate shows that to be true.
Sometimes, however, it’s also a game of stay right there, which is exactly what the Toronto Blue Jays want Marcus Stroman to do this season after his impressive rookie season last year.
“Why would you try anything else? If it’s working, leave it alone,” manager John Gibbons said before Stroman allowed an unearned run on two hits with a strikeout over 1.1 innings in a 4-1 Grapefruit League victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. “Especially in this day and age, when you can try to get too smart in this game, too, you know?
“Everything is analyzed, and sometimes, keep the game simple. It’s really a competition between the hitter and the pitcher. You know what your strengths are, live and die with your strengths, and if you’re good enough you’re going to be successful.”
So far the little guy with the big stuff and bigger personality has certainly been that, going 10-6 with a 3.29 earned-run average and 1.147 WHIP over 20 big-league starts. Those gaudy numbers came after the 23-year-old had a rough stint as a reliever (nine earned runs in 10.1 innings) when he was first called up to the majors, a period of acclimation during which he wasn’t himself.
A key progression came when Stroman introduced a sinker into his mix in the middle of July, an equalizer that took him from a high-strikeout, low-inning starter to a more efficient pitcher who works deeper into games.
Double digit Ks in five frames “looks cool but it doesn’t help the team,” he said. “I threw a 93-pitch complete game. I would never have been able to do that with my repertoire before the sinker.”
The sinker is a pitch Stroman had long wanted, but it wasn’t until he found a new grip for it while fiddling with a ball on his couch that it happened for him. After trying it out in the bullpen, he used it during a game and, boom, it was a dagger.
“If you can have a sinker, all hitters say that’s one of the hardest pitches to hit when it’s located,” said Stroman. “It was not that I needed another pitch to make an adjustment, it was more so that I saw it as a weapon I never had that I wanted to add to my arsenal. … It definitely can’t hurt, because my four-seam doesn’t get much depth on it. So anytime I can have a fastball that has pretty good depth and can get in on righties, it’s a good pitch.”
Inconsistent with the pitch during the first inning against the Pirates, Stroman ripped off a front-door beauty to catch Neil Walker looking in the second. He would have gotten through two innings clean if not for a Munenori Kawasaki throwing error that led to a run that scored on a Rob Rasmussen wild pitch.
Otherwise the day was all positive for Stroman, who used his four-seamer, slider, curveball and changeup as well.
Just like last year.
“What sticks out in my mind is he was a dominating pitcher the majority of times he went out there, against some good lineups,” said Gibbons. “That tells you everything you need to know. …
“When you’re around the league longer there are no more secrets and teams will start game-planning you a little bit different because they pick up patterns, but the stuff is good. If it’s marginal stuff, that’s a little different, you can survive for a period of time but it won’t last.”
Stroman’s stuff is anything but marginal, but even with the big velocity and sharp breaking pitches, he became very hittable when tipping his pitches last year.
The Chicago White Sox exposed that in a big way last Aug. 15 at U.S. Cellular Field when they clubbed him for five runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning. Afterwards, the Blue Jays realized he was tipping his pitches from the stretch, coming set with hands higher for the fastball and lower for breaking balls.
He began working on tweaks, eventually settling on a twist of his body with his hands at his waist that he could repeat consistently. That twist was on display Wednesday, exposing his new No. 6 jersey to batters, and looked just like it should.
“I do a little rock, a little momentum, just something to add a little rhythm, nothing serious,” said Stroman. “Just something to get me into my set.”
As for getting set for the season, the Blue Jays simply want Stroman to keep doing what he does. Adjustments are a pivotal part of the game for any baseball player, but there’s no need to make any until your opponents prove that you need to.