While some of his teammates took optional Thursday afternoon batting practice under the roof at Rogers Centre, and others killed time shooting baskets on a miniature hoop in the Blue Jays clubhouse, J.A. Happ sat by himself at his locker, poring over his Cleveland Indians scouting report batter by batter.
It was two hours until game time and Happ had just wrapped up a long meeting with his catcher for the evening, Erik Kratz. They’d gone over the Indians lineup and talked about how they wanted to attack each hitter. Happ told Kratz he wanted to be more methodical with his pitches; he wanted to get ahead of more hitters.
Kratz told him that would be simple—he just had to stay aggressive and pitch to his strengths, not to the weaknesses of the batters. He had to get ahead with his fastball and keep his slider down and in. He had to use his curveball in the strike zone and locate his sinker down and away.
He had to focus on hitting the plate, executing his pitches with precision and letting the rest take care of itself. And when Happ and Kratz took the field at 7:07 pm for the first pitch, it all came together.
“I felt good. Definitely nice to get out there and have a strong outing,” Happ said after tossing six innings of one-run ball in a 4-2 Blue Jays win. “We went over some stuff before the game about how we wanted to attack them more deliberately—and for the most part we were able to do it.”
Happ wasn’t dominant but he wasn’t erratic either, working meticulously and quickly to pound the zone while utilizing all four of his offerings. He leaned heavily on his fastball, using it for more than half his pitches and pitching to contact with it, getting a strike 75 percent of the time. The Indians made ball-in-play contact on his primary pitch 10 times but just two of those knocks went for hits.
He was able to locate his curveball for strikes as well and threw a first pitch strike to 15 of the 25 batters he faced.
“That’s what he has to do. He’s not going to be a nibbler. He’s got to be an aggressive pitcher and that’s what we talked about doing,” Kratz said. “I told him to pitch his game, to hit his spots and not care about where they’re hitting the ball. And to really finish hitters when he got ahead.”
Kratz caught Happ’s last outing against the Angels, a 60-pitch disaster when he gave up seven hits and four earned runs before being lifted in the third inning. The veteran catcher thought Happ’s pitches were much crisper Thursday night against the Indians, and that the 31-year-old was able to mix his offerings more efficiently after relying heavily on his changeup against the Angels.
He also thought Happ could have gone another inning, despite throwing 100 pitches through his first six frames.
“He definitely had enough left for one more. He was getting stronger in that sixth inning,” Kratz said. “He had the fastball and curveball going; his slider was good, his sinker was strong away. He was really crisp.”
It was an important night for Happ who may have been pitching to keep his spot in the Blue Jays rotation. He originally lost his starting job during spring training and began the year on the disabled list before returning to pitch out of the bullpen, an assignment that clearly displeased him.
Happ was given his first start of the year on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies after Brandon Morrow hit the DL. He was strong if not particularly economical, exiting with a shutout after walking four while striking out just two and needing 80 pitches to get through five innings. Then came the Angels start, which left Blue Jays manager John Gibbons so upset that he refused to speak to the media after the game.
With Marcus Stroman, Todd Redmond and Esmil Rogers all in the Blue Jays bullpen awaiting an opportunity to start, many thought Thursday night’s outing could be a decisive one for Happ. Gibbons has already shown a willingness to make changes to his rotation, as he removed Dustin McGowan from a starting role Thursday afternoon.
But with his quality start against the Indians—the third by a Blue Jays pitcher in the club’s last four games—it appears Happ bought himself some breathing room.
“Tonight he pitched like he had something to prove,” Kratz said. “It was like he was saying ‘I want this spot.’ He really looked like he wanted it.”
Happ has seemed less than pleased with his treatment by the Blue Jays so far this season and has sometimes worn a cold, distant guard in post-game interviews. That was no different Thursday night after his best start of the year. He was asked if he was indeed pitching with something to prove, but refused to open up about how he’s feeling.
“I don’t want to get into that. I think you’re always [trying to prove something] to somebody,” Happ said. “That person may change or those people may change. But, yeah.”
That’s where Happ trailed off and stared blankly ahead, awaiting another question. It’s fair play. He has little to gain by disparaging his team publicly or coming across as bitter in interviews. Happ clearly thinks he’s a better pitcher than he’s shown and believes the team should give him ample rope to prove his worth.
But one of the most tired adages in the game is that baseball is a production business. No player’s spot is guaranteed. With the Blue Jays firmly in the middle of a four-team logjam atop the American League East, these early season games could be more important than they seem.
Which is a fact you can be sure is not lost on Gibbons, who sent one of his starters to the bullpen before the game and must have been relieved to not have to face questions about the possibility of further changes.
“Happ stepped up,” a visibly tired Gibbons said after the game, rubbing his eyes. “That was big for him, it really was.”
“And big for us.”
