TORONTO – Over the past decade Mark Lowe’s learned to cope with diabetes, underwent major surgeries to his elbow and back, been traded twice, floated through eight organizations and pondered retirement.
This spring, a cutter he discovered with the help of former Seattle Mariners teammate Dominic Leone finally helped the 32-year-old find himself on the mound. Combined with the benefits of his switch from a weights-based off-season workout program to one focused on TRX training, and a predominantly paleo diet which has left him feeling stronger and healthier, he’s developed into a top-notch reliever.
Quietly, the least heralded of GM Alex Anthopoulos’ five trade deadline acquisitions is becoming an integral part of the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen, one now slated to share eighth-inning duties with Brett Cecil.
"I’ve always felt I could have better seasons than what I’ve had – exactly what I’m doing right now is how I always envisioned myself as a pitcher in the big-leagues," Lowe says in a recent interview. "Maybe that comes with age and understanding things, that pitch location is such a big part of this game and not velocity. Going in for one inning, you just do whatever you can to get three outs, simplifying things, doing what you’re capable of doing and not overdoing anything."
What he’s been capable of doing this year is more than good enough to suffice, 0-1 with a 1.00 ERA in 34 games with the Mariners before his July 31 trade to the Blue Jays, and 1-1 with a save and a 2.65 ERA in 19 games heading into Tuesday’s action afterwards.
Two weekends ago in New York, he pitched in both games of a doubleheader sweep, delivering a perfect inning in the first game and collecting the save with a clean ninth in the second. He’s thrown 3.1 more scoreless innings since.
Though he’s had other fine seasons, this one is clearly his best.
"There’s no doubt," says Lowe, who spent all but a month of the 2014 season in the minors. "I’ve had good parts of a lot of years, if you go back and look at ERA, it doesn’t tell you how some of my seasons have been because there have been a couple of games in between out of 60 games where you just didn’t have it. … It’s been a lot of different things pulling at me from all the different directions. I’m just trying to be consistent now."
That consistency may prove pivotal for the Blue Jays, given the recent struggles of Aaron Sanchez.
Manager John Gibbons revealed Tuesday that Lowe and Cecil will cover the eighth inning for the time being while Sanchez – who has allowed 13 baserunners over his past five appearances, surrendering runs in four of them – irons out some issues.
Lowe had been used in a number of different roles in recent weeks, and Gibbons had increasingly been using him in higher leverage situations, winning more and more trust along the way.
"He’s battle hardened," says Gibbons. "You know the longer these guys are in the game, especially bullpen guys, they figure something out. Some guys survive on just having good arms, teams give them a chance figuring maybe it will just happen. Some guys it just all comes together, even if they get knocked on their butt enough times. They understand that’s part of it.
"You can just tell by meeting the guy, and what he says and what he’s done for those other guys down there that he’s the real deal."
One thing that may serve the Blue Jays well down the road is Lowe’s previous big-game experience, as he’s pitched in both the 2010 and 2011 World Series for the Texas Rangers.
In ’11, he was activated off the disabled list from a hamstring strain just in time for the Series, and in his second game ended up surrendering David Freese’s famous walk-off homer in the 11th inning of a classic Game 6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
"I won’t watch that (game) until I retire from baseball, so hopefully in another 10 years," says Lowe. "That experience lit a fire inside of me. … I went on a couple of rehab things just in instructional league, but it’s not the same. Getting thrown into the fire in the World Series, as a competitor you feel ready, but in the big picture, everybody on that other team has been lights out for a long time, they’re in the World Series for a reason. It was a tough pill to swallow, it was such a great experience, it lights that fire for me because I know if I’m in that situation again, I know I’m going to win, I know I’m going to succeed because I think I’m more prepared."
But it’s not just that experience that’s toughened Lowe and prepared him for the potentially big moments to come.
In 2006, he underwent microfracture surgery to regenerate missing cartilage in his elbow, and according to a 2008 Seattle Times story, Dr. Lewis Yocum warned Lowe beforehand that he may never pitch again and told the Mariners the procedure had a 30 per cent chance of success.
Also in 2008, during a routine spring training blood test, he was told he had Type 2 adult onset diabetes. A year later, the diagnosis was adjusted to Type 1 diabetes meaning he required regular insulin injections to maintain his levels properly. Former Blue Jays right-hander Brandon Morrow, also a Type 1 diabetic, was with the Mariners at the time and helped Lowe learn how to adjust his doses.
Then in July 2010, Lowe underwent microdiscectomy surgery to relieve the pressure on nerves causing pain in his back, just as the Mariners included him in the trade that sent ace lefty Cliff Lee to Texas. He recovered to pitch in three games at the end of the season and made two more appearances in the World Series.
Lowe’s velocity inexplicably dropped in 2012, from 96.8 mph to 93.9, just as he entered free agency, and over the following two seasons, he bounced between the Dodgers, Angels, Nationals, Rays, Indians and back to the Mariners, still seeking to regain the lost zip on his heater, which was down to 92.2 last year.
"I couldn’t figure it out and so I started lifting more, I thought I’d lift heavy and get stronger and nothing changed," he says. "So I did this TRX training (last off-season), and it gave me lots of stability, flexibility, core strength and it just translated to the pitcher’s mound."
Along with the revamped workouts, Lowe also focused more on his diet.
His wife, Stephanie, is well versed in health and nutrition and she’s regularly made recommendations to Lowe. This past winter they shifted to a strict paleo diet, which limits intake to foods early humans would have eaten such as meat, fish, nuts, greens and local vegetables.
During the season Lowe isn’t quite as strict because he doesn’t have as much time to prepare his meals, but he’s adamant it’s made a difference for him.
"Everything she’s thrown my way has been nothing but a plus," Lowe says. "It helps me recover, I rarely get sore, I throw every day and feel the same, I’m able to long-toss every day and I wasn’t able to do that before."
This spring came the cutter.
One day in the bullpen he was asking Leone how he threw his, tried it out, and while the action on it was sharper like a slider, a light bulb went on. With the ability to add and subtract on it, he decided to can his changeup and focus on that and his four-seamer.
The results have followed.
"I’m able to locate it whenever I want to, wherever I want to," Lowe explains. "When I’m 0-0, I’m looking at the catcher on his forearm, and for whatever reason I don’t completely get out in front and throw that nasty one that has the bite. It’s kind of a cement mixer. I threw three of them to Alex Rodriguez (in New York two weeks ago) and they were all different. The early one was just kind of spinning, then I threw a good one and then I threw one that backed up. It’s all the same pitch but they’re all doing different things. It’s not on purpose, it’s just the way I’m throwing it and it might just be my visuals I’m using that change it."
The end result is that Lowe now has more movement in deception.
"One hundred per cent, because I throw some with the good depth on it, and you might get another one that’s coming like a changeup," says Lowe. "You might see the spin early, but you don’t know which way it’s going to go."
Hitters have been confounded so far, and the Blue Jays are going to give him the chance to keep them off-balance in bigger and bigger spots.