Care of young players key for Jays

The question focused on the care and feeding of young players. It took John Gibbons back to 1984, when he was a 21- year- old rookie playing on a Mets team that featured Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez. Davey Johnson was their rookie manager.

Gibbons was a tough kid from Texas, a former first- round draft pick with solid minor- league credentials. But his big- league career would cover just 18 games over two seasons. He batted .220. At 28, after an undistinguished season at Triple- A, he quit playing and accepted the Mets’ offer to become a minor- league catching instructor.

So Gibbons has a good idea about the pressures that players face when they hit the big- time at a young age — like six of the players his Toronto Blue Jays will likely take north for opening day at Yankee Stadium.

“You’ve got to make sure they don’t lose their confidence,” the manager said.

Here are six of the gambles the Jays will take. Relievers Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna are 20. Starter Daniel Norris is 21. Starter Aaron Sanchez and outfielder Dalton Pompey are 22. Second baseman Devon Travis, who last played at Double- A, is 24.

They come with impressive credentials and have performed with uncommon aplomb in spring training. But spring pressure is nothing compared to that of the regular season. It has driven many a prospect back to the minors, and sometimes to early retirement, as Gibbons found out.

Baseball has changed since then. Scouts still look for mental toughness as well as talent, but in general, managers and coaches are more sensitive to the needs of young players. Teams retain psycholo-

I think it would’ve helped if someone had said to me, ‘ Hey, things are going to be all right. Hang in there.’

gists and “employee assistance” consultants to help players cope.

But when Gibbons faltered as a young catcher, “not much was said to me,” he said. Twice in his first season, he was injured.

“I think it would’ve helped if someone had said to me, ‘ Hey, things are going to be all right. Hang in there’ — that kind of thing,” he said.

That was the message, more or less, that pitching coach Pete Walker delivered to Castro early Sunday morning. On Saturday, Castro had been hit hard in a game for the first time this spring. On Sunday, before the team came out for the morning stretch, he stood alone in right field, practising his delivery.

Walker arrived a few minutes later. He summoned third- base coach Luis Rivera to serve as interpreter; Castro does not speak English. The conversation lasted about five minutes, and it was indeed a two- way talk. It also included gestures that mimicked Castro’s delivery.

One day last week, Walker used tougher talk in the bullpen with Norris, whose perfection- oriented mentality sometimes distracts him when he makes a mistake with a pitch, a habit that can sabotage subsequent pitches. Let it go, Walker told him. Nobody’s perfect. Focus on making the next pitch better.

Two days later, Norris broke out a new change- up — which he worked on in that same bullpen session — and pitched six superb innings against Baltimore.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. But generally, Jays’ coaches seem dedicated to meeting players’ individual needs.

Gibbons says he believes the 2015 team has more pure talent than any of the previous six he had taken into a season.