THE SLOW-DOWN STRATEGY
Girardi: Tanaka mph about tactics
MASAHIRO TANAKA plans to pitch differently this season, but according to his manager, that’s more of a tactical decision than anything else.
Although Tanaka told reporters last weekend that he didn’t anticipate throwing as hard as he did during the impressive first half of his rookie season, some Yankee insiders told the Daily News’ John Harper on Tuesday that something might have been lost in translation, making a Wednesday meeting with the pitcher a likelihood.
That meeting apparently happened.
Joe Girardi declined to go into specifics, although he did confirm that a conversation took place. He then tried to downplay the velocity issue on Wednesday, 48 hours after the ace’s shaky first start.
“We asked about it; the question was asked about the velocity and everything,” Girardi said. “He said, ‘Well, I’m going to pitch different.’ What he was trying to say is, ‘I’m not a guy that throws 96, 97, 98. I use my off-speed a lot. I did last year. I’m a guy that throws sliders and splits and throws some fastballs. It’s about one-third of each one of them, in a sense.’
“I think he got tired of answering the question. He was asked a lot about it, and sometimes you’re going to be asked questions a lot.
“I think what he was meaning to say is, ‘I’m not a flamethrower. That’s not how I pitch. I am going to pitch different than some of the other guys that throw hard.’”
Tanaka was not available for comment before Wednesday’s ga me.
The righthander revealed during spring training that he was mostly staying away from his four-seam fastball, opting for the two-seamer — also known as the sinker — instead. The cause for the change, Tanaka said, was the overall ineffectiveness of the fourseamer, which opponents hit for a .337 average and a .633 slugging percentage last season according to brooksbaseball.net, which keeps detailed pitch tracking information.
“From my conversations with him, it’s a strategic thing,” Girardi said. “He knows that his fourseamer got hit some last year, and that really comes down to location. I think the important thing for him is that, whichever one he’s locating better, it’s the one he uses that day for the most part. He is a guy that gets 90% of his outs on sliders and splits. The fastball is to kind of set up the slider and the split. He needs to locate.
“The bottom line is, he made mistakes. Last year he did not make a ton of them. There were some starts that he made some mistakes last year, and it’s just ironing those few things out.”
Following Monday’s game, pitching coach Larry Rothschild reiterated his belief that Tanaka’s elbow is not troubling him despite the slight tear in his ulnar collateral ligament.
Girardi echoed that sentiment Wednesday, expressing no concern about his ace’s health despite the rocky outing on Opening Day.
“I think I’m probably going to be asked that question every time he probably has a bad start,” Girardi said. “Let’s not forget this is his second year in the league. Teams are going to adjust to him, and he’s going to have to make some adjustments as teams adjust. But he’s been really good at making adjustments so far. I would put my money on him making adjustments as teams adjust to him. That’s kind of the way it works. When you’re struggling, people are going to question if you’re hurt.
“I see the way he’s throwing his split. I see him playing long toss. I just don’t think, if he was hurt, he could do the things that he’s doing. But I think that’s always going to be in the back of everyone’s mind just because that’s the way it is.”