Ol’ Buehrle still pitching in
Lefty willing to deliver homespun mound advice — just not as often
If Mark Buehrle were to get star-struck by one big-league pitcher, it would likely be former St. Louis Cardinal Todd Worrell.
The former Blue Jay — a native of St. Charles, Mo., half an hour from St. Louis — can’t explain the connection. Worrell was a righty who threw upwards of 90 miles per hour. Buehrle, a lefty, racked up an impressive 16 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins and Jays despite a fastball that averaged 86.1 m.p.h., according to FanGraphs.
The No. 38 Buehrle wore in high school was an ode to Worrell.
“I don’t know if it was just all the games that I went to — it seemed like he pitched all the time,” he said of Worrell, who made 617 big-league appearances, all in relief.
Blue Jay Ryan Borucki tells a similar tale about the pitcher he idolized growing up.
“It seemed like every time I went to a White Sox game he was always pitching,” said the 24-year-old Borucki, who got the start against the Mariners in Seattle on Friday night.
He was, of course, talking about Buehrle, who wore No. 56 in the majors — just like Borucki does.
“He was the No. 1 starter for the White Sox for a long time,” Borucki, born and raised in suburban Chicago, said recently. “I grew up a White Sox fan. Lefty pitcher and a lot of stuff … I could picture myself being him. I started working fast just like him.” Buehrle gets it, too. “I can see me being his (favourite) — just being lefties, kind of being similar,” he said.
The two have never met, despite their mutual ties to the Jays. Centre fielder Kevin Pillar recently texted Buehrle, his old teammate, in an attempt to put the pair in touch before Borucki made his first hometown start against the White Sox last weekend, but it has yet to happen, Buehrle said.
“I was like, ‘What are you doing, trying to make me feel old?’ That’s how it makes me feel whenever somebody says, ‘Oh, I’m a big fan, I grew up watching you.’ And I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not that old, am I?’ ” the 39-yearold Buehrle joked.
He said he hasn’t seen Borucki pitch. In fact, Buehrle admits he doesn’t pay attention to baseball like he thought he would, after throwing his last pitch in 2015. He sometimes checks scores at night and looks in on how his buddies are doing, though, and went to two Cardinals games this year —against the White Sox and Atlanta Braves, to meet up with former Jays head trainer George Poulis — but said he never sits down and watches a game on television.
Buehrle, now 39, was renowned in the Jays clubhouse for mentoring pitchers including Marcus Stroman and Marco Estrada, and was happy to share some advice for Borucki about navigating the big leagues.
“I just tell guys: You can’t hold on to a certain pitch. If you make a pitch and a guy hits a home run off of you, you see guys out there that are, like, ticked off and still pissed almost the next pitch or two,” Buehrle said. “I tell guys: You can’t do that, because nothing good is going to come out of it.
During his playing days, Buehrle said, he would have four of five good games in a row and tell his wife: “I got a bad game coming. I know it. It’s going to happen.”
The key is to avoid getting too high or two low.
“You might’ve thrown a complete-game shutout the start before, (but) you’re going to work out in between starts just like you would if you went two innings and gave up seven runs,” Buehrle said. “You’ve going to go in there and you’re going to act the same.”
Borucki has developed something of a reputation for quizzing teammates about the game. On game telecasts, he’s been caught in deep conversation with former Jays pitcher J.A. Happ and veteran outfielder Curtis Granderson. Buerhle is a big fan of that. “Heck, yeah,” he said. “Talk to everybody you can. Pick the brains of pitchers, guys on defence, anybody. You can learn from not just starting pitchers on the bench.”
And while he’s no longer involved in baseball, Buehrle would be happy to pick up a call from Borucki: “If he has questions, I’d be glad to answer it the best I can.”