THOR READIES FOR FIRST PITCH:
Eiland asks Met pitchers to go inside
Dave Eiland stood in the Royals dugout for 135 games just waiting. As the Royals’ pitching coach then, he had watched their shortstop Alcides Escobar go up to the plate and swing away at every first pitch he was offered. It almost never failed that the pitcher, knowing the importance of ‘getting ahead,’ would throw a fastball for him to hack at.
“I kept thinking, tonight is going to be the night, this is going to be it,” Eiland remembered. “And night after night, for (130)some games, the pitchers just kept throwing stuff for him to hit.”
Escobar was a .279 hitter leading off games.
But on Oct. 30, 2015, Eiland finally saw what he was waiting for.
Stationed in the visitors dugout at Citi Field, ready for Game 3 of the World Series, he watched as Noah Syndergaard sent a message with a fastball inside and high over Escobar’s head.
Maybe the placement wasn’t perfect, Eiland admitted, but the statement was.
“All around me the dugout went crazy,” Eiland said of Royals players like Mike Moustakas and others screaming at Syndergaard from the dugout. “They were all upset and mad. I was smiling, because we were just getting a taste of our own medicine.
“And I knew right then and there we had lost that game,” Eiland said. “I knew Noah wasn’t going to let anyone get comfortable up there. I probably shouldn’t have smiled, but as a pitcher, I liked it.”
That was part of the story Eiland, now the Mets’ pitching coach, told his pitchers last month when he gathered them together for the first time. Eiland firmly believes there have been changes made to the baseball itself and that hitters are improving their approaches, so pitchers have to get back to pitching. That means Eiland wants Syndergaard and the rest of the Mets pitchers going inside, moving hitters off the plate and basically making them uncomfortable, since so many hitters have taken to leaning over the plate and cheating on pitches.
“It is something we are going to stress,” said manager Mickey Callaway, who believed in the same philosophy when he was Cleveland’s pitching coach.
So, with Syndergaard starting the season off Thursday against the Cardinals at Citi Field, expect the Mets to set a tone. Eiland has challenged every one of his pitchers to be aggressive and attack hitters with their entire arsenal.
“Now we are going to do it the right way,” Eiland said. “Nobody is trying to throw at anybody’s head. Nobody’s going out there to hurt anybody, nobody is trying to hit anyone. But, with the ball (being changed) and all these home runs, the way the pitcher has to attack that.”
That’s not easy to teach. Pitchers have tended to shy away from going inside in the big leagues as MLB has gone almost overboard cracking down on it. There were 14 pitchers ejected last season for
hitting batters, which is another topic Eiland is passionate about.
For now, however, Eiland spent this spring getting his pitchers comfortable going inside, standing guys up, brushing them back with a pitch just off the plate chest to thigh high.
“I did it a lot in the minors and it was effective,” left-hander Steven Matz said. “I just got away from it up here. I guess I wasn’t really that comfortable with it. I am getting it back.”
Matz saw the difference it can make firsthand this spring. After getting hit hard by the defending World Champion Astros in the first few innings of a spring training game, Matz threw a fastball inside, chest high that caused Marwin Gonzalez to step back quickly.
“That’s all we want to do. Nobody is trying to hurt anybody,” Eiland said. “It’s a simple step backwards or just a guy standing up out of his stance. A reminder the ball can go there is all that you need.” The difference was obvious. Matz struck out five of the next six batters.
“I have never seen Jose Altuve so uncomfortable in the box,” Eiland said with a chuckle. “He struck out nine that day. They were not leaning in over the plate after that fastball. Steven had control.
“And that is exactly what we want to do,” Eiland said.
Thursday, Syndergaard again will be setting the tone for 2018, so don’t get too comfortable.