Biagini trying the simple approach
Reliever-turned-starter learning to trust catcher, and himself most of all
The reason Joe Biagini says he took up pitching dates back to T-ball, where he initially believed the guy on the mound wouldn’t have much of anything to do.
“That was my main objective,” said Biagini, who was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to be the 26th man and Game 2 starter in the Blue Jays’ doubleheader with Cleveland on Thursday. “That kind of backfired because I realized you have to actually do something every time.”
As he became older, the 27year-old right-hander liked the idea of getting into the groove of a game, having it be his game, and trying to maximize what he can do on a single day or night. While he previously excelled as a big-league reliever, the challenge of pitching so many quality innings once every five days was one he knew he wanted.
It’s a challenge Biagini struggled with in his first year in the role in 2017, when injuries propelled him into the Jays rotation. He went 2-12 with a 5.73 ERA in 18 starts and 88 innings. He fared a little better in relief, with a 4.26 ERA over 31 2⁄ in3 nings. A year earlier, in his rookie season, he had a 3.06 ERA in 67 2⁄3relief innings. But last season was important, he says.
“I had some success, I had more failure than I would have liked,” Biagini said, “but that teaches you things that you wouldn’t be able to normally learn.
“I appreciate the Blue Jays being patient with me. Obviously, everybody wants it to happen really fast but the transition that I went through last year was definitely an opportunity to learn a lot on the fly and quickly, going back and forth and trying to find my rhythm and stuff.”
Initially, Biagini approached starting with a reliever’s mentality.
“You think, ‘Oh, yeah. I’ll just pitch. I’ll just pitch multiple innings and then I’ll have a few days off and that’s it,’ ” he said. “But your workouts change, your preparation changes, your routine, what pitches you use, how to work through the lineup. Your mentality changes in terms of, like, ‘OK, you can’t just blow it out for one inning.’ ”
Slowly, he said, he started to make those adjustments, with a few of those changes getting exposed along the way, perhaps a byproduct of not coming into the season with plans to start.
Preparing for this year as a starter allowed Biagini to arrive at spring training feeling good both physically and mechanically. Tempo remains a big fo- cus of his, which he believes is tied to the mental side of starting. There is a lot to keep track of, but Biagini is trying as much as possible to keep things simple.
“You have to put yourself in a place where it doesn’t require a lot of thought during the game,” he said.
Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker said maintaining focus is challenging for a lot of pitchers.
“It’s not always stuff, it’s about how they can handle pitching six, seven, eight innings over the course of a game against a good lineup,” Walker said. “That’s something that he has been working on. A big part of his game right now is picking up his pace, simplifying his thoughts. Sometimes the longer innings and the more time between pitches is very difficult for him.”
Biagini, Walker said, is a strong intellect. He’s always going to think, going to rationalize and going to try to find the best way to approach somebody.
“We’re just trying to make it quicker and speed up the process,” Walker said.
“Also, trying to trust the catchers and not, maybe, putting as much stock into controlling every pitch.”
Walker thinks Biagini’s mindset is better, though he has a 5.17 ERA through three starts in Buffalo. And as Biagini grows into the starter’s role, he’s learning to trust more than just the catchers.
“It is amazing what you can do when you actually trust yourself,” he said.