DUNEDIN, Fla. – Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been busy this spring, racing around the state of Florida, scouting draft eligible high schoolers as he prepares for the 2014 MLB Draft. He’s seen an awful lot of players. But none of them are quite like the top prospect he already has—22-year-old Marcus Stroman.
“I haven’t seen anybody chew gum on the mound in the middle of throwing a pitch,” Anthopoulos says. “And I don’t think that’s him being arrogant or cocky. I think he’s just that composed.”
It’s true, Stroman will often blow bubbles as he delivers his pitches—pushing little pink balloons out of his mouth as he unleashes another mid-90s fastball or sweeping slider. It’s just another idiosyncrasy in the ever-growing fascination surrounding the Duke University product, a slight-statured, electric-armed right-hander who may just be forcing his way onto the major league roster.
Anthopoulos hinted to reporters this week that Stroman has a better chance of making the Blue Jays out of camp than most people assume. The Blue Jays GM thinks Stroman’s stuff is so good that it’s ready for the major leagues today, despite the fact he’s never played above double-A.
“There’s a reason he was a consensus first round talent,” Anthopoulos says.” “He’s had success everywhere he’s been. As much as people doubt him because of his size—the stuff that comes out of his arm is great.”
Stroman’s fastball has always been dynamic and his slider has terrific movement, but his third pitch, a changeup, remains a work in progress. Stroman has been working to refine it since 2013 and so far this spring the results of that effort have been mixed.
When Stroman can locate his changeup down in the zone, it’s an effective pitch. But he left it up more times than he would have liked to in his first spring start against Baltimore and continued to struggle with the command in his second start Friday afternoon against the Rays, despite only getting the opportunity to throw it a handful of times. In the fifth inning he threw one to Tampa left fielder Matt Joyce, who crushed it for a double.
“It wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be. None of my stuff is where I want it to be at this point,” Stroman said. “I definitely have to be better with two outs. There’s a lot of things I’ve got to work on.”
You may have noticed from his quotes that Stroman is a bit of a perfectionist. Throughout his career he’s never been satisfied with being good enough. He takes the mound with undeniable confidence and carries himself with a swagger that belies his 5-foot-9 frame. But when talking to reporters after outings he’ll often point out the areas he faltered and what he wants to improve on before his next start.
“I’m very critical—I expect nothing but the best from myself,” Stroman says. “That’s how I’ve always been and that’s how I always will be.”
Stroman’s been spending his bullpen sessions in Dunedin working almost exclusively on that changeup. Throughout his career he’s mostly thrown a circle change but this spring he’s trying to alter his grip to what’s called a split change. Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow has been teaching him the pitch and Stroman has been pleased with the results he’s seen from it in his bullpen sessions thus far.
The difference isn’t dramatic; a split change will dive down at a sharper angle as it reaches the plate, while the circle change moves with more of a fading action. But the split change could help Stroman keep the pitch down in the zone and induce more swinging strikes. “I’m still working on it. It’s definitely a huge point of emphasis,” Stroman says. “It’s not exactly where I want it. But I think it’s getting there.”
This will sound mind-numbingly cliché, but Stroman is still learning how to pitch at this level. On occasion he has gotten so excited on the mound that he starts speeding up his delivery, which hurts his command. He’s also stubborn about the pitches he wants to throw, even as his catchers try to lead him in a better direction.
Friday afternoon Stroman was one strike away from getting out of his first inning unscathed when he had a full count against Rays second baseman Jayson Nix. Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro—who’s played 715 major league games versus Stroman’s none—called for a fastball, wanting to challenge Nix and force him to swing, hoping for a ground ball.
But Stroman shook Navarro off, insisting he go with his slider because he thought he could get Nix to swing over it. Nix didn’t; he took a walk to extend the inning and Stroman’s next pitch, a high fastball to Kevin Kiermaier, ended up over the right field fence for a home run.
“I would’ve preferred to go after [Nix] and if he hits it, he hits it,” Navarro says. “But [Stroman’s] just a kid, man. I just have to let him be. Sometimes they’ve got to figure it out by themselves, you know?”
Stroman admitted after the game that his execution was lazy on the fastball and that he didn’t focus enough on locating it. This is part of the process. Pitching is unbelievably difficult at any level, but Stroman has never faced hitters like these. Here we go again with the clichés. You can get away with mistakes like that mis-located fastball in college and the minors—not so much at this level.
Anthopoulos likes to compare Stroman to Sonny Gray, an Oakland Athletics prospect who also mixes a low-to-mid 90s fastball with a nasty breaking ball. Gray is two years older and went through much of the same growing pains as Stroman is now before making his major league debut last season, striking out more than a batter an inning and pitching to a 2.67 ERA in 12 appearances. If Stroman is able to do anything even close to that over a full season for the Blue Jays it would put to rest much of the public consternation over the team’s washout in its pursuit of a starting pitcher this off-season. And it would give the Blue Jays their first legitimate major league talent to come out of the first round of the draft since J.P. Arencibia in 2007.
Stroman says he hasn’t had any one-on-one discussions with Anthopoulos this spring about his future role on the team. But he does read his general manager’s comments in the press.
“It’s awesome that he has that faith in me,” Stroman says. “I just need to be better each time out to prove that he’s right.”