Mets coach helped groom Martin
CANADIANS: Former catcher Langill aided fellow Quebecer’s transition behind plate
Few people were watching that morning as the transformation began at Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
New York Mets manager Terry Collins was there. So, too, was Eric Langill, the Mets bullpen coach.
Like Russell Martin, Langill is from Quebec.
Unlike Martin, an infielder at Chipola College in his first year in the Los Angeles Dodgers system, Langill was a catcher.
“First pitch ever thrown to him as a catcher, Russell never got a glove on it,” Langill was saying Wednesday. “Mike Keirstead, a Canadian kid (from Saint John, N.B.) threw the pitch … right in the cup. He didn’t catch for three days. “Look at him now.” Collins was asked if he recalled how Martin received the first pitch. He nodded yes and said one word: “Clank!”
After the Jays beat the New York Mets Wednesday, Martin was asked about his first day catching as the conversion from infielder began.
“Dodgertown, minor-league side, inside a batting cage, Jose Diaz was throwing about 100 m.p.h., he pitched for Cincinnati last year as Jumbo Diaz,” Martin said with instant recall.
What about the Keirstead bullpen session?
“That was Day 3,” Martin said. “He gave me a sign what he was going to throw, I asked, ‘What’s that mean guys?’ They told me it meant fastball. I was hit right square on the cup, never laid a glove on it.
“He threw a sinker and crossed me up. I’d caught a little, but I’d never caught anyone who threw a 94 m.p.h. sinker. “That day I thought, ‘I’m retiring.’” Like Langill, Collins has been impressed with Martin’s rapid rise.
“I saw him one night in Ogden, Utah. … Russell must have been at the backstop 18 times,” Collins said. “Less than three years later, he was starting at Dodger Stadium. You don’t see him back at the screen much now anymore.”
At Ogden 13 years ago, Martin remembers thinking, “Why is catching so tough?”
“We had guys without command throwing fastballs in the dirt — I envy guys who can block fastballs, I just try to pick ’em. Each time I moved up a level, pitchers had more control,” Martin said. “It became easier.”
Langill, from Kirkland, Que., was drafted from the Des Moines Area Community College Bears in 1999. He spent two years in the Expos system, the first in 2000 for the class-A Vermont Expos, with Jason Bay, playing for manager Tim Leiper, the Jays first-base coach. The next year he played for the class-A Clinton Lumber Kings. After that season, he headed to the Dodgers.
“We needed catching help, so we purchased his contract,” said Collins, who ran the Dodgers farm system in 2001.
Langill made nine stops in five years.
“We moved him everywhere,” Collins said. “Someone would get hurt, he’d go here, we’d put him on the phantom disabled list … and he never once said a word.”
Six years ago, Langill was home working for the city when his phone rang. It was Collins, now the Mets manager. He needed a bullpen catcher. Langill was on his way back to spring training.
He now warms up the hardest throwing staff in baseball.
Langill, now 36, asked about Larry Walker, who has been helping as a guest coach with Walt Weiss’ Colorado Rockies, and Stubby Clapp, who threw batting practice for the Blue Jays. Langill says he keeps track of all the Canadians in the majors.
“I see Claude has one guy in our system,” he says referring to Mets scout Claude Pelletier, who drafted Kurtis Horne of Sooke.
When he worked for the Dodgers, Pelletier signed Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne.
When the Blue Jays visited Montreal to play the Mets in 2014, the classy Collins asked hometown lad Langill to take the lineup card to home plate while Pelletier sat in the dugout.
“You know when I think back it’s amazing how far Russell has come,” Langill said.
Langill, who received a full share of US$300,757.78 after the Mets advanced to the World Series last year, hasn’t done badly either.