Closer Estévez changed workout routine after bad finish in 2023
Carlos Estévez went into the winter with a very specific plan for improving on what went wrong last season.
Although Estévez made the All-Star team and finished with 31 saves in his first season as the Angels closer, the taste that was left in his mouth was the rough finish.
Estévez had a 1.88 ERA and he had converted all 23 of his save opportunities through July, but he blew four save chances and had an 8.38 ERA over the final two months. He said last September that he thought he was fatigued because the physical demands of pitching the ninth proved to be more than he was accustomed to in pitching earlier in the game.
So this winter, Estévez changed his workout routine.
“I started a little bit earlier and I started doing more interval exercises, explosive with less rest, just to get used to the intensity of the ninth inning,” he said. “At the beginning, I was beat up. But I got used to it and I feel really good about it. Hopefully, it’s going to pay off. It will pay off. That’s the way I see it.”
Estévez, 31, didn’t expect that he’d need to do anything differently after pitching six seasons in the majors. In fact, he’d figured it might be easier getting out of the high altitude of Colorado, where he’d been for his entire career up until last year.
“People think that once you’re a bigleaguer, you’ve got everything figured out, but you’ve still got to make adjustments,”
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Estévez said. “That’s why you’re in the big leagues, because you can make adjustments the fastest. That’s what I believe.”
Estévez said now that his “arm feels in better shape” than it normally would at this time of year. He cautioned, however, that the results may not show up in Arizona.
“I’m a really bad starter in spring training,” said Estévez, who gave up nine runs and issued 10 walks in 7-2/3 innings last spring.
Angels manager Ron Washington said they currently have Estévez penciled in as their closer. This year, however, they have at least one viable alternative if Estévez gets in a slump. Robert Stephenson, who signed a three-year, $33 million deal last month, was arguably the best reliever in baseball over the second half of last season. He finished with a 3.10 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays.
It’s unclear how Bauer ended up getting permission to use the field, but Angels management did not invite him.
For what it’s worth, Stefanic said that Bauer looked good.
“He’s nasty,” Stefanic said. “He’s always been nasty. I don’t think there’s any doubt about the pitcher that he is.”
Bauer, the 2020 Cy Young winner, remains unsigned, after pitching last year in Japan. Bauer was suspended from major league baseball because of allegations of sexual assault, but he was never found guilty in a criminal court. Bauer was originally suspended for 324 games, but an arbitrator reduced the suspension to 194 and cleared him to pitch again.