New year brings a different spin for Lindblom
Veteran starter hoping new fastball fools more hitters
After pitching five seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization, Josh Lindblom’s return to major league baseball in 2020 was an eye-opening experience, and not merely because the shortened season was played during a pandemic.
In his first year with the Milwaukee Brewers, Lindblom had to see what did and didn’t work against big-league hitters, a more dangerous group in general than he faced in South Korea. It was anything but smooth sailing as the 33-year-old right-hander struggled to a 2-4 record and 5.16 earned run average in 12 games (10 starts).
Lindblom was allowed to re-set after seven starts with two relief outings to cleanse his pitching palate. And it worked briefly with two strong showings (101⁄3 innings, one run) before a final slip in St. Louis (21⁄3 innings, three runs).
“What Josh and I talked about, it’s in
teresting,” manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday before Lindblom started a Cactus League game against Oakland. “Really, the hard things to do in the game are the things that he did really well, and maybe some of the things that he has been good at in his career are the things that he struggled at a little.”
In particular, Lindblom had trouble throwing strikes at times, resulting in an uncharacteristic walk rate of 3.2 per nine innings. But he also threw the ball past hitters at a higher than expected rate, whiffing an average of 10.3 per nine.
“He struck out batters at a clip that is really good,” Counsell said. “But the misses at times, and the falling behind in counts, was an issue at times, also. He’s always been a real good strike thrower. He hasn’t really struggled falling behind (hitters). He got into bad counts, I think, when he struggled in games, and that really hasn’t been an issue for him (previously).
“But he showed us that he has the weapons to succeed. When you get swing and miss like he did, you have the weapons to succeed. That’s the encouraging part. He’s going to start a ton of games for us this year, so he’s going to get a chance to do it again at points during the season, without question.”
To his credit, Lindblom did not put the season in his rear-view mirror to be forgotten. He returned home to Lafayette, Indiana, to contemplate ways to be more efficient in the second year of his three-year deal with the Brewers.
In a recent interview with mlb.com, Lindblom revealed he focused on one analytical statistic in particular – the spin rate on his fastball. Spin rate has become one of the in-vogue metrics in modern baseball because it puts more action on the ball, or backspin, and therefore creates a rising effect that fools hitters at the last second.
Lindblom discovered the spin on his fastball was far down the list among pitchers who saw regular action, with 76.6% efficiency. In essence, he built his own pitching lab at home and went to work, understanding that neither Rome, nor desired spin rate, was built in a day.
Lindblom struggled with his command in his first outing of the spring against the Athletics, hitting two batters and uncorking a run-scoring wild pitch. But he pulled things together with the help of a strikeout to limit the damage to one run, a positive on which to build.
“You can’t hit two guys,” he said. “But, with that being said, I thought I was able to make a couple pitches when I needed to, to minimize the damage, and only allow one run.
“I think it’s good to see how (your stuff) plays, what type of results you’re getting. Every outing is different. I don’t really go out thinking about stuff I did this offseason. I just want to get a feel for the tempo of the game.
“You want to have a quick, clean inning every time out. But sometimes it’s good to get that one out of the way where the heart rate gets up a little bit with runners on base and you’ve got to make pitches. Then you can kind of scale things back and slow the game down.”
So, Lindblom continues to apply new brush strokes to his pitching canvas, stepping back to see how it looks and what might be added or subtracted. He remains a work in progress in terms of finding consistency, always looking for ways to get better.
“I think every year is a learning year,” he said. “That’s kind of the mindset that I take into it. Seeing how my stuff played last year, knowing what worked, knowing the things that didn’t work, seeing areas that I needed to focus on in the offseason, sitting down with some of the people in the front office, (pitching coach Chris Hook).
“Just trying to attack those areas to see where I’m successful and really being consistent in the game plan every time out and trying to get to those spots.”