Estrada’s secret: Don’t fret the home runs
Pitcher’s breakthrough season came when he stopped worrying about what others were saying
For Marco Estrada, one of the keys to his breakout season with the Blue Jays was simply letting go.
The 32-year-old right-hander arrived in Toronto a year ago with the dubious distinction of having surrendered the majors’ most home runs as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. Now he was coming to the Rogers Centre, traditionally an inhospitable place for a fly-ball pitcher. But Estrada decided to just be Zen about it.
“Not that I stopped caring, but I just stopped worrying about giving up home runs,” he said Tuesday at a news conference to announce his two-year, $26-million contract to remain a Blue Jay.
“It’s all people ever talked about. I never cared until it was put into my head — ‘God, you give up a lot of home runs.’ I just kept telling myself, ‘Listen, if you give up a home run and it’s a one-run homer, who cares? Keep ’em off the base. If that’s all you do in the game, it’s a pretty good game.’
“You saw the last game I pitched in, I gave up a home run. It was a one-run homer, but it wasn’t a big deal.”
The last game Estrada pitched was the pivotal Game 5 of the Jays’ American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, in which the finesse changeup artist took a one-hitter into the eighth inning before allowing that single solo shot. But, like Estrada said, the lone long ball didn’t matter. The Jays were up 6-0 and ended up winning 7-1.
Estrada, who put up career-best numbers in 2015 and quietly emerged as a key cog in the Jays’ rotation, was the main reason Toronto lived to see a Game 6 against the Royals, just as he played the primary role in their season-salvaging Game 3 in the division series against the Texas Rangers.
While neither overpowering nor flashy, Estrada was a major reason the Jays put together the finest second half in franchise history and won their first division title in 22 years. In addition to not sweating the homers, he admitted that adding a cutter to his repertoire — which gave him another firm offering besides his fourseam fastball to keep hitters off the scent of his premium changeup — was also key to his success.
It’s unlikely he’ll be as good in 2016 — his historically low .216 batting average against on balls in play suggests that in addition to inducing a lot of weak contact, he also benefitted from some good luck — but given how the Jays are expected to lose both David Price and Mark Buehrle, Estrada’s steady hand will be a boon.
“We feel this is a big step for us in our challenge to defend the AL East title,” said interim general manager Tony LaCava. “. . . He exemplifies everything we’re looking for in a Blue Jays player.”
Estrada, for his part, said his priori- ty was always to return to the Jays and once negotiations moved towards a two-year deal — following the one-year qualifying offer of $15.8 million — he barely considered testing the open market.
“One of the reasons I wanted to come back was because I knew we had most of the team coming back and I feel it’s a pretty strong team to begin with,” he said. “I think even if they left it alone we’re going to do pretty well this next year. But I’m sure they’re working on stuff.”
While the Jays’ league-leading offence is expected to return largely unchanged, adding another starting pitcher remains LaCava’s top offseason priority.
The bullpen is a “secondary” concern, he said. Whether the Jays add another starter will impact what they do with Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna, who both pitched well in relief this season but are viewed long term as starters. “We may let the bullpen come to us a little bit.”
Among the considerations for LaCava and new team president Mark Shapiro is determining how comfortable they are forfeiting a firstround draft pick — a requirement to sign any free agent who turned down a qualifying offer — particularly after the organization depleted much of its prospect depth at last year’s trade deadline.
“Ideally you don’t give the draft pick up,” LaCava said, “but sometimes it’s worth doing.”