Houser looks to bounce back this season
When Major League Baseball shut down for more than three months near the end of spring training as the COVID-19 pandemic spread like wildfire in 2020, it affected many players adversely. Some had trouble adjusting to the stops and starts, and it showed during the shortened 60-game season.
Milwaukee Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook believes right-hander Adrian Houser perhaps lost his edge during that protracted time off.
“I thought he came into last year's first spring training in a really good spot, and then just didn't come in as good a spot for Summer Camp 2.0, or however we're referring to it,” Hook said Saturday as the Brewers continued workouts at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
“I think Adrian just had an off year, especially in a crazy year like last year, the nature of getting ready and shutting down.”
Whatever the case, Houser was unable to match his production from 2019, when he went 6-7 with a 3.72 ERA while splitting time between the starting rotation and bullpen duty. Houser was particularly sharp pitching in relief (4-0, 1.47 in 17 outings) but the plan all along was for him to pitch out of the starting rotation and hopefully join Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes as a dependable workhorse.
Houser, 28, certainly looked the part when he pitched seven shutout innings in Chicago against an improved White Sox lineup in his second start. After that, whatever could go wrong did as he went 0-6 with a 6.70 ERA over his final nine starts to finish at 1-6, 5.30 in 12 outings (one in relief) for the season.
In all fairness, Houser didn't always pitch in the greatest of luck. He is at his best when inducing groundballs (58.5% groundball rate) but sometimes they went through for hits (opponents had a .325 batting average on balls in play). Other times, errors played a role in innings getting out of hand.
But the big Oklahoman didn't help himself a lot, either, making bad pitches when one or two good ones would have changed the outcome. There was far too much traffic on the bases (63 hits and 21 walks in 56 innings for a 1.500 WHIP) as Houser's strikeout rate dipped from the previous season (from 25.3% to 17.95).
Houser just wasn't as sharp in consistently locating his pitches and often paid for it. By season's end, he needed a reboot to clear his head and get back to his previous form (3.61 ERA in his first 44 outings/18 starts in the big leagues).
“Moving on to this spring, I think he looks fantastic,” Hook said. “You look at the numbers (from last year) and you're like, ‘Oh gosh.' But there were a lot of good things that Adrian did.
“He still was very successful in a lot of the things that he does well, and I think that kind of stands out to us. He's still the same guy. He just had some unlucky moments as well.”
Jankins, Torres-Costa stick with it
There were a fortunate few Brewers minor-leaguers – those on the cusp of the major leagues as well as top prospects – who were able to make something out of an otherwise dark 2020 by being invited to the Brewers' alternate training site in Appleton.
But there was a much larger group of players who didn't fit that bill and were mostly idle with no minor-league games.
The Brewers' brass did its best to keep in contact and monitor their progress remotely. But whatever those players accomplished with no organized baseball to complement their development was more a testament to their motivation and, at times, ingenuity.
A couple pitchers who wound up in that group, starter Thomas Jankins and reliever Quintin Torres-Costa, emerged on the other side with invitations to major-league camp this spring.
“Some guys didn't even pitch at all at the alternate site, now they're here -- I'll tell you what, that's tough. It's tough. Like, hey, man, I had to spend the whole year (on my own),” Hook said. “But if you look at this in a positive way, there are a lot of guys who took it upon themselves to take the next step. Our player development group is with them along the way, (saying), 'Hey, let's work on this.'
“The guys that weren't at the alternate site, they still had to get better. So, (farm director) Tom Flanagan and his group did a tremendous job getting guys like Thomas Jankins ready to go for 2021. It's a credit to the organization for making sure this wasn't a washed year.”
Jankins, a 13th-round draft pick out of Quinnipiac in 2016, logged 77 starts in the minor leagues from 2016-19. The right-hander topped out at Class AAA San Antonio in 2019, where he went 10-5 with a 4.38 ERA in 23 appearances (21 starts) – solid numbers considering the Pacific Coast League was heavily skewed toward hitters.
At 6 feet 3 inches and 220 pounds, Jankins has the frame of a power pitcher but relies more on his command of the strike zone to record outs. He allowed less than one home run per nine innings and walked just over two batters per nine innings in four minor-league seasons.
“Thomas worked his butt off to be ready to come into camp. He's making some big changes,” said Hook. “I think he's gotten stronger. His velocity looks good. I think there are a lot of pitch qualities that have gotten better.
“He's worked his tail off to do these things.”
Torres-Costa, a left-hander, was on the cusp of breaking into the major leagues at Class AAA Colorado Springs in the final month of 2018 when he blew out his elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. He spent all but the end of 2019 rehabbing, then endured the frustration of losing another season to the pandemic in 2020.
Now 26, the 35th-round draft pick out of Hawaii in 2015 is trying to make up for lost time and hoping to finally make his Brewers debut in 2021. His funky delivery from the left side works to his advantage both in keeping hitters off-balance as well as potentially giving Milwaukee another unique arm in its diverse bullpen.
“He went through the rehab, ready to go, COVID hits. I can't imagine how difficult it was for a guy like that,” said Hook. “Everyone has seen his growth. He's unique. He's been in our system. Far first-base side. Hitters are not comfortable.
“His velocity has been really, really good. It's 90-93, in that range. He's got the up shoot that hitters don't want to see and from that far first-base side. Again, it's an incredible testament to him to kind of get through all of this.
“It's been a long time for him, and I'm really proud of him.”