DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays’ Grapefruit League opener Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates pits Russell Martin against the team he led to a pair of post-season berths before departing as a free agent in the off-season.
Any special feelings?
“It’ll just be fun to see the guys,” says Martin. “No matter who I’m facing, I kind of have the same attitude. Whichever uniform I’m wearing, that’s the team I’m going to battle with and for, no matter who the other team. I’m not really concerned about the other team too much. I feel like if you focus on what you need to do and on what your teammates need to do, we’ll be in a good spot. But it’ll be good to see the old teammates.”
Martin became a cult hero during his two seasons in Pittsburgh, helping end a run of losing seasons that started in 1993. Typically, players bolting smaller markets for big deals get scorn, but not Martin.
“It was fun being a part of that team and going from a team that was under .500 for 20-plus seasons or whatnot,” he says. “That’s not the same guys obviously, that core was doing good things and even the previous year they just fell short towards the end a little bit, and I guess I helped to solidify that team a little bit. But making it to the post-season is fun. I remember (Derek) Jeter said, you’ve 162 games of practice before the real games start and hopefully we get that opportunity to play in October this year.”
Here are some short hops from around camp:
The Blue Jays are in the midst of a post-season drought dating back to 1993. Does Martin see any similarities? “There’s not one player that’s in this room who has been on this team for 20 years and was a part of that, you know what I mean?” he says. “It’s a new team, it’s a new beginning. You can’t control what’s happened in the past but you can control how you prepare and the effort you put out in the game. I feel like if you focus on those two things, we’re going to be in good shape. At the end of the day, you go out there and compete, you try your best and you live with the results that happen and you just prepare day to day. For me, it’s the only way to go about it otherwise you can just go crazy thinking about other stuff.”
Vernon Wells is slated to work with the Blue Jays as a guest instructor Tuesday-Thursday. Another former player possibly returning to do some work is Scott Rolen. “I think he’s coming through this week, just work on some infield stuff,” says third base prospect Mitch Nay. “Maybe get to pick his brain on hitting. Scott Rolen’s a guy that I grew up as a young kid, 10 to 12, watching him in the prime of his career. He’s a great third baseman. He’s probably a wealth of knowledge that I can try and tap into. It’ll be awesome to have him here.”
Props from Down Under came for Blue Jays right-hander Liam Hendriks, named Male Player of the Year by Baseball Australia over the weekend. The native of Perth posted a 5.23 ERA in nine games for the Blue Jays and Royals last season, but went 12-2 with a 2.45 ERA in 23 games, 21 starts, for triple-A Buffalo and Omaha.
There’s a theory that for pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery, it takes two years before they fully regain their touch and feel, even though the velocity tends to come back sooner. If true, that may be a boost for Drew Hutchison. “I got to the two-year mark in August last year and everyone you talk to, it takes time,” he says. “You can wait it out in terms of months, but if your throwing program is different from somebody else’s throwing program, for me it’s more about mound time, how much mound time you have on the mound in competitive situations, just to get that feel and that fine-tuning back, and all the intricacies of pitching. That’s what takes the longest.”
The building process continues for Martin and R.A. Dickey, who spent an inning together in Monday’s intrasquad game, when they planned a unique approach to the pairing. “For the beginning process, I’m going to call pitches and he’s going to throw,” explains Martin. “I called a knuckleball and he threw a fastball first pitch and I was able to catch it.” The possibility of intentional cross-ups is planned. “If I give a knuckleball, he has the option to throw fastball if he wants to,” says Martin. “If I call fastball, however, then he’s not going to throw a knuckleball in that situation. We talked about stuff like that.”
Martin’s goal is to get Dickey “into the comfort level of being able to throw any pitch at any time and have the confidence that I’m going to be able to catch it. I think he has that comfort level with Josh (Thole) out there, so I don’t want that to be different.”
Another thing that’s been helping Martin is approaching catching the knuckler by tracking pitches as if he’s a batter. “It’s that type of focus I need to have,” he says. “Unlike having the comfort of just sitting back there and feeling comfortable, it’s going to be work. But I feel like I can do it and as long as Dickey is comfortable out there on the mound, that’s what is most important. Hopefully he’s OK with the way I’m handling him right now.”
