Black’s journey no stroll across park
When the Milwaukee Brewers traded infielder Mauricio Dubon to the San Francisco Giants for left-hander Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Ray Black on July 31, Dubon had the easiest travel imaginable.
He walked across the field from the San Antonio Missions clubhouse at Nelson Wolff Stadium to the visitors’ clubhouse to join the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ Class AAA affiliate who in a scheduling quirk just so happened to be playing the Brewers’ top minor-league club.
Black, in a perfect world, would have been able to do the same.
Instead, he’d been shipped all the way to Richmond, Virginia, to join the Giants’ Class AA affiliate in the event San Francisco – playing at Philadelphia – would need reinforcements with other relievers like Sam Dyson, Mark Melancon and Will Smith all trade candidates with the deadline approaching.
Dyson and Melancon were dealt. But then so were Pomeranz and Black. Pomeranz had to fly back across the country to join the Brewers in Oakland for the finale of an interleague series with the A’s, a game in which he didn’t pitch.
Black, meanwhile, had to make his way back to San Antonio, the city he’d just left a day earlier.
“I was on my way to the ballpark, actually, when I got the phone call in the Uber and I realized I was traded,” recalled Black on Wednesday. “I was racking up the frequent-flier miles that week.
“I wasn’t expecting a trade. Going to Richmond, the idea was we’re going to be closer to Philadelphia and you’ll be closer if a trade happens at the bigleague level. I’d flown in that morning, got there around noon, went to the hotel, checked in and I was driving to the field when the trade went through.
“I actually got to the field, walked in the locker room and all the guys in Double-A were like, ‘Hey man, hate to see you here but happy to have you, though.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I just got traded, so I’m leaving in another hour.’”
Thankfully, things calmed down for Black once he joined the Missions. He struck out five in four scoreless, hitless innings while registering a save.
With the Brewers needing a fresh arm following Tuesday’s late-inning loss to the Minnesota Twins, Black was recalled in exchange for fellow righthander Jake Faria. He pitched a scoreless sixth, erasing a one-out triple with an inning-ending double play.
“Ray’s inning fit good,” said manager Craig Counsell. “That’s why we had a fresh arm here, and he did a nice job.”
Black, 29, arrived in Milwaukee with 28 games of major-league experience under his belt, 26 in 2018 and two this season with San Francisco. He was 2-2 with a 6.04 earned run average and WHIP of 1.26.
Black’s calling card has been a fastball that’s averaged 98.8 mph this season, hits 100 regularly and has been clocked as high as 104. He topped out at 99 in Wednesday’s 6-5 victory.
Thanks in large part to his electric stuff, Black has racked up 289 strikeouts in 1561⁄ innings in six minor-league seasons,
3 an average of 16.6 per nine innings. But control has been an issue, as Black has walked 5.9 batters per nine as well.
“I’ve been able to throw pretty hard for most of my career and I used to throw harder when I was in Double-A,” said Black, a seventh-round pick of the Giants in 2011 out of the University of Pittsburgh. “I think what ends up happening is hitters see the upper-90s fastball a lot more often.
“I’ve learned that I can’t live with just that fastball. It’s my bread and butter, it’s my go-to pitch. If I get beat, I want to get beat with that.
“But I think the biggest thing is still, even being a velo guy, being able to mix pitches. As fun as it is sometimes to throw triple digits or sometimes you hear people in the crowd murmuring and you’re like, ‘Maybe I hit 100 there,’ it’s still pitching.
“This game has become such a finesse game. One bad pitch and damage gets done. Whether it’s the new balls, the hitters’ ability to adapt, launch angles, the new generation of baseball, just continue to mix and not get too fastball-happy.”
Black said he’s also gained a greater appreciation for the game considering the struggles he’s endured in making it to the major leagues.
Those include Tommy John surgery in high school; knee surgery and a broken hand in college (broken when he and a University of Pittsburgh teammate were accosted in an attempted robbery); surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder that cost him his first two professional seasons in 2012 and ‘13; and an arthroscopic elbow cleanout in 2017.
“When I’ve gone up and down it’s always one of those things in my mind that I’m just happy and fortunate that I’m not in rehab anymore and not in Arizona,” he said. “It’s a trade that happens – I’m flying all over the country, and I welcome it. Those things aren’t too hard.
“I did have that setback (with the Giants) early but the last couple years for me are the most that I’ve thrown and the best that I’ve thrown and I’m just looking to kind of continue that. The more innings you get, the more polished you’ll be.
“Baseball’s a craft sport; it’s a skill. It’s not necessarily a lineman versus a lineman where whoever can push or is the biggest (wins). It’s what kind of skill can you bring to the table?
“The more reps I’ve been able to get over the last few years, the better I’ve been able to be as a pitcher.”