TORONTO — LaTroy Hawkins has been in this league for 21 years, pitching in more than 1,000 games for 10 different teams. He knows how this works. So when his name started coming up in trade rumours and speculation leading up to Friday’s non-waiver trade deadline, he told his agent he didn’t want to hear any of it.
“Every time you think you’re going to get traded, most of the time you don’t. And if you don’t think you’re getting traded, that’s usually when it happens,” Hawkins said Tuesday afternoon, wearing the 11th jersey of his major league career in the Toronto Blue Jays dugout. “My mindset was, ‘if it happens I’m down with it. If it doesn’t I’m fine.’”
At about ten minutes to midnight on Monday night Hawkins found out it happened.
He was the second piece of Alex Anthopoulos’ middle-of-the-night blockbuster deal to obtain Troy Tulowitzki, one that saw Jose Reyes and three highly-touted prospects shipped back to the Colorado Rockies.
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The trade surprised Hawkins, a 42-year-old right-handed journeyman with a baseball-reference page that will test your bandwidth capacity, but it didn’t disappoint him.
“It’s always good to be in a place where you’re in playoff contention. We weren’t that in Colorado. So, this is definitely an upgrade,” Hawkins said. “I’m excited to be playing some meaningful baseball in August, September, and hopefully into October.”
Anthopoulos acquired Hawkins to help the Blue Jays do just that, by shoring up a bullpen that has been mostly average over the body of the season, but has struggled mightily in high-leverage situations.
Hawkins throws hard in spite of his age, averaging 93 mph on his fastball, and has had sustained success against both right and left-handed batters. He mixes in a slider, changeup and occasional curveball, which has helped him post a healthy groundball rate throughout his career, including this year’s 56.9 per cent clip, a mark well above league average.
He’s also had extreme success limiting walks, with just 27 to his name over the 147.1 innings he’s thrown in his last three seasons. This year he’s even spiked his strikeouts, posting an 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings — his highest rate since 2010.
“He still has plus stuff. He can get up to 94, 95. He’s a strike-thrower,” said Anthopoulos. “On and off the field, his performance has been outstanding. He’s had experience in the ninth inning, the eighth inning. And he’s tremendous in the clubhouse as well.”
That’s the other part of the equation with Hawkins — the intangible mentorship role he’ll fill. Hawkins is an incredibly cerebral player and has a well-earned reputation around the game as a trusted source of wisdom and tutelage for young, developing players.
The Blue Jays have no shortage of those in their bullpen, with a 20-year-old closer in Roberto Osuna and a 23-year-old set-up man in Aaron Sanchez. As much as Hawkins has been brought in for how he’ll influence the Blue Jays when he takes the mound in late innings, he’s also been acquired for the effect he can have on the team in clubhouses, airplanes and bullpens around the league.
“You hear a guy like Pat Hentgen talk about guys that were around him when he came up and the influence they had on his career. We’ve got some young guys in the bullpen that we expect to be here for a while,” Anthopoulos said. “Even if it’s only for two months, you never know the impact that someone can have on you in a short period of time. There’s added value to that.”
It’s unlikely that Hawkins’ impact will last any longer than the next few months, as the Gary, Indiana native has made it well known he intends to retire after the season. Toronto will be his last stop, his last chance at winning a World Series and his last chance — as a player at least — to pass along the lessons he’s learned over a remarkably long major league career.
“I think the key to being a guy in a bullpen is you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You start to master that and then you start to see a lot more success,” Hawkins said. “You get out there and you have guys on base, but you don’t panic. Then you’re comfortable being in any situation.”
Hawkins will likely fill a sixth- and seventh-inning role for the Blue Jays on the field, bridging the gap between Toronto’s starters and set-up men Sanchez and Brett Cecil. As far as his influence off the field, Hawkins says his clubhouse stall will always be open if any Blue Jays youngsters want to pick his brain.
“I had Kirby Puckett to look up to, who was the ultimate professional. He’s one of those guys who, the first time you met him, he treated you like he’d known you his entire life. He always respected the game. That definitely helped lay my foundation. That taught me how to conduct myself and be a big leaguer,” Hawkins said. “Now, I just try to lead by example.”