Pagan faced the music in Nashville
A’s reliever makes most of demotion to minor leagues
OAKLAND >> There was a point where Emilio Pagan might have thought he was untouchable.
Getting traded from the Seattle Mariners to the A’s this offseason in exchange for slugger Ryon Healy, Pagan was coming off a solid rookie campaign that saw him post a 3.22 ERA in 34 appearances and establish himself as a reliable late-inning reliever for the Mariners. Landing on the bullpen-starved A’s, there’s no way a bad stretch of games could get him sent down, right? Think again.
Pagan’s first month with the A’s was rough. He was entrusted with the same late-inning role he had earned in Seattle, but struggled to find any type of rhythm. After a stretch of six games in which he allowed at least one run in each, adversity he had never encountered in his career, the decision was made. Pagan was sent down to Triple-A Nashville.
Already settled in the Bay Area since the start of the season with his wife and daughter, Pagan, 27, had to pack up his bags and head east to Tennessee. The move was an eye-opener for Pagain, who was expecting to find himself back in the minors after getting traded for such a valuable piece.
“When you have options left and you’re not pitching good, the organization is gonna make a decision on you,” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said. “You want to be that guy that’s up here pitching good enough
to force the issue enough that they don’t want to use the options.
“It’s hard to stay here. You look at turnover in the big leagues, especially pitchers, they come from other places where they started before. Getting here is hard, staying is tougher.”
Though Pagan was down about the news, he was never defeated. He knew he had the stuff to be a big leaguer. Last season was proof of that. For him, it was a matter of changing his approach against hitters.
Pagan was reliant on his stuff, so much so that he was falling behind in counts at times, thinking that his stuff would get him out of it.
“Looking back, I probably got into some not so favorable counts early on and even when I did, I wasn’t finishing at-bats very well,” Pagan said. “I knew it would come around eventually. I had to go down to Nashville and figure it out.”
Making five appearances with Nashville, Pagan was solid as he posted an ERA of 3.00. But it was more about the feeling Pagan had regained on the mound. He was throwing harder, with his fastball up from 92 mph to about 95. The increase in velocity also gave him more bite on his slider, which has always been his go-to pitch.
Although Pagan had allowed runs against the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros in his final two outings before getting sent down, that was really were Pagan felt he was starting to emerge from his rut.
“Those last two outings were just huge mentally and physically,” Pagan said. “I knew that I was starting to hit a stride.”
Now it was time to build on those final two outings.
Pagan began to get more swings and misses
on his slider down in the minors, giving him the confidence to throw it with more conviction again. The location of his pitches were also something he felt came back during his time in Nashville.
“I just think I wasn’t locating it very well. Then when I did locate it in the zone, it didn’t have the action that it did when I was throwing the put-away pitch,” Pagan said of his slider.
“The problem was I was throwing the putaway pitch in 0-0 counts and they were spitting on it and I was setting myself up for a tough at-bat. Going back to locating the fastball and showing I’m gonna be in the zone throughout the at-bat has helped me a lot.”
Called back up May 18, Pagan has been nearly flawless in his second stint with the A’s. He’s appeared in seven games, allowing no runs with 11 strikeouts and five walks in 8 1/3 innings.
Three of those outings have been for two innings or more, something he became accustomed to doing when he found success in Seattle.
“Sometimes you gain a little perspective when you go down,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He knew he probably had to work on his breaking ball a little bit.
“It looks like it’s a little harder breaking ball with a little bite to it and tougher to see. Has an idea now of where his fastball works best. He’s commanding it better. Just looks like he’s pitching with a lot more confidence.”