Art of pitching: Samardzija fine-tuning, Osich retooling
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> There’s seemingly a million different ways to throw a baseball, but most Major League pitchers stick to four or five.
Jeff Samardzija uses seven or eight in each game. The Giants’ right-hander sinks and cuts his fastball, changes speeds with two different changeups and spins off a handful of breaking pitches.
Ask anyone at spring training what they’re up to and they’ll tell you they’re working on something. Anything. For Samardzija, it’s his curveball.
“The curveball is really about maximizing the spin and getting the most out of that rotation and making it look more like other pitches,” Samardzija said. “The way it was kind of coming out with the other grip, it looked like a twoseamer and we just wanted to get more bite out of it.”
The 11-year veteran is also busy with his changeup. Not the split-fingered offering you’ve seen him throw in the past. He still likes that pitch, but Samardzija wants an offering he’ll have an easier time commanding.
“I’m throwing a straight change, a two-seam change and then the split we’ll save more for an out pitch,” Samardzija said. “It’s more of an aggressive pitch, but location isn’t necessarily that type of pitch’s specialty. We want something we can work with something behind in the count.”
Samardzija has the luxury of arriving at spring training with six weeks to test out anything his heart desires. The Giants’ No. 3 starter has a roster spot locked up. That’s not the case for left-handed reliever Josh Osich.
After posting a 6.23 ERA in 54 appearances last season, Osich showed up to camp needing to pitch his way onto the 25-man roster. His first bullpen was sharp, and then the team signed Tony Watson.
Osich said his 2016 and 2017 seasons didn’t go as planned, so his spring project involved retooling his mechanics. He’s now throwing the same way he did in 2015, when his ERA was a tidy 2.20. The results speak for themselves, as he’s logged seven scoreless innings this spring.
“I honestly believe I already have good stuff, so the results will come when I do what I’m supposed to do,” Osich said. “Good mechanics, my timing is all on, it’s not really about my pitches. I just have to figure out how to throw strikes.”
Osich ditched his curveball and has thrown his fastball and changeup almost exclusively this spring. With fellow lefty Will Smith sidelined until
around May 1 as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, Osich has positioned himself to make the opening-day roster.
While Osich found success when he stopped throwing a pitch, set-up man Hunter Strickland is prospering thanks to a new weapon in his arsenal. Strickland has always used a slider as his main secondary offering, but this offseason, he talked to Atlanta Braves’ legend John Smoltz about refining the offering. First-year bullpen coach Matt Herges said he loves the movement on Strickland’s slider, but he’s more impressed with the confidence the longest-tenured member of the Giants’ bullpen now has in throwing it.
“The mindset of the pitch, that’s what I love,” Herges said. “When I heard he worked with Smoltzie, I’m like, ‘Yes! That’s it.’ Because you’re going to listen to John Smoltz. You’re going to listen to that guy and you’re going to absorb everything he’s got to say.”
Though Herges approved of Strickland’s decision to seek outside tutelage for his breaking ball, the success of the Giants’ bullpen could depend on how receptive relievers are to his coaching points. Herges spent the past two seasons as the Triple-A pitching coach in the Dodgers’ organization, dealing with a revolving door of arms who shuttled back and forth between Oklahoma City and Los Angeles. The Dodgers stockpiled major league talent in their system, and Herges’ job was to help pitchers make the jump from good to great.
He’s trying that again this spring with reliever Cory Gearrin, who’s coming off the best season of
his career.
“I don’t want to give up any secrets, but he’s doing things now that he’s never done,” Herges said. “What I love about Cory Gearrin is he said, ‘Hey I had a good year but I need to get better in this area and this area.’ He’s here to do it.”
The warm, thin Arizona air isn’t exactly a pitcher’s heaven. In fact, it makes breaking pitches harder to handle, and prevents players from replicating the conditions they’ll play in during most regular season games.
It doesn’t, however, stop players from experimenting. Starter Ty Blach is attempting to differentiate his curveball from his slider, and he’s taken velocity off the curve to challenge hitters’ timing. Johnny Cueto is also concerned about timing, but he’s not adjusting his repertoire. Instead, Cueto devoted four innings of a start at the Giants’ minor league complex to finetuning his quick pitch.
Then, of course, there’s the curious case of sinkerballers. Watson and Sam Dyson will pitch in high-leverage situations as closer Mark Melancon’s primary set-up men.
Thanks to a launch angle revolution and a leaguewide emphasis for hitters to lift the ball in the air, mistakes on pitches with sink were hit harder and further than ever before.
“The first thing you have to do is look at execution,” Watson said. “Hitting a round ball with a round bat is one of the most difficult things to do in sports. I have a sinker, but I’ll also throw a four-seamer and I’m not afraid to throw up in the zone.”
In the coming days, the trial runs will die down and the adjustments pitchers made will either travel with them on the road or stay behind in Scottsdale, perhaps to remain in storage until next February.
But come next February, those pitchers will be back. And as long as Bruce Bochy returns, they’ll need something to work on. Anything.
Giants drop a pair
After starting the day with a 4-0 record in splitsquad contests, the Giants lost both of their games on Saturday afternoon. Righthander Chris Stratton allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Reds in Goodyear, Arizona, while lefty Ty Blach surrendered seven runs in a fiveinning stint in the Giants’ 8-3 loss to the A’s in Scottsdale.