Mickey Callaway focused on Halos’ pitchers after Mets tenure

TEMPE, ARIZ. (AP) » Mickey Callaway says his baseball knowledge expanded tremendously during his two seasons as the New York Mets’ manager, and the Los Angeles Angels will benefit from his Queens education as he returns to his familiar role as a pitching coach.

“I just think about the game more globally now than I did,” Callaway said Friday after another early-spring workout at the Angels’ spring complex.

“(As a pitching coach) I was so focused on, ‘OK, let’s get the out. This is how you pitch a guy.’ Now I understand why a manager gets upset when a guy steals a base. I always want our pitchers to be quick, but that was kind of the extent of it. Now I understand how impactful a stolen base is, like truly is. It makes you think more globally about the game, and hopefully that will translate into me being a better leader and

coach.”

Those two years in the New York pressure cooker also left Callaway with an excitement about taking a job that’s slightly less stressful. After the Mets fired him, Callaway admits he needed a little time to adjust.

“I had PTSD,” Callaway said with a wide grin that makes it clear he’s joking.

“No. I relaxed. I spent some time with my family, and once I got this job, I started grinding it out and trying to learn who these pitchers are, and what makes them tick.”

Callaway has plenty of work to do with the Angels, who finished 25th in the majors in ERA last season and ninth in walks. Los Angeles’ uniformly poor pitching was the biggest factor in its plummet to 72-90, the franchise’s worst record in the 21st century.

Callaway’s primary solution to the Angels’ problems is one of the simplest in baseball, but he intends to make it stick as he takes charge of new manager Joe Maddon’s staff. Callaway is already known as an exceptional communicator, and he says it’s even easier when the message is simple.