Osuna a cool customer on and off mound
After great success as a rookie closer, Jays fireballer prepares for sophomore season
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Blue Jays reliever Roberto Osuna spent the off-season resting his elbow and shoulder, working on pitches, spending time with his family and, oh yeah, listening to one of the biggest police busts in history go down.
In the early hours of Jan. 8 in the city of Los Mochis, units from the Mexican Navy’s Special Forces raided a house where Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Joaquin Guzman, a.k.a. El Chapo, was hiding. Guzman actually got away through a secret tunnel but was captured soon after.
“I was three-and-a-half blocks away,” Osuna said Tuesday. “I started hearing the shooting around 4 a.m., 4:30, but I didn’t know it was El Chapo. I mean (gunfire) is pretty normal in Mexico.”
Despite the violence associated with the Mexican cartels, El Chapo has sort of a Robin Hood reputation with many people in his home state of Sinaloa. Osuna understands why.
“He sends (poor people) some food, money, he takes care of the sick people, he had some hospital (built) for the people, so I respect (that),” said Osuna, making the point that if people didn’t buy illegal drugs from poor countries, there wouldn’t be drug lords in places like Mexico.
Perhaps because he’s so young, Osuna, 21, is refreshingly candid. After a morning workout, he chatted on a number of issues, baseball-related and otherwise; including prospective wall builder and Mexico basher Donald Trump, how he still feels uncomfortable sometimes being in the U.S. and how he would prefer to remain a relief pitcher in the future.
Osuna certainly looked comfortable in 2015 — his first year in the majors. He made the Jays as a non-roster invitee at spring training and then established himself as the club’s closer. The hard-throwing right-hander finished the season with 20 saves and an ERA of 2.58. He was fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting.
Osuna was praised for being a cool customer on the mound.
“It’s easy when you’ve got guys like Russell Martin and Dioner (Navarro, now with the White Sox). It’s easy to go out there and do your job because they’ve been there before,” he said. “The only thing I had to do was follow them.”
Despite his year, the Jays traded for veteran reliever Drew Storen in the off-season and now there’s a competition between the two for the closer’s job.
“Gibby’s (manager John Gibbons) going to make the decision and we’ll see what happens,” said Osuna, who was not surprised the club picked up a closer with Storen’s experience.
“I understand that,” he said. “I’m 21 years old, not experienced. They want to feel probably safe with somebody else pitching the ninth. So I understand. Obviously, yeah, I want it. But I can’t control it. I’m just doing my job, we’ll see what happens.
“If I’m the closer or not, I will go out there and do my best,” he continued. “No matter. I don’t care if I get the 9,8, 7, 6 (inning) ... I just want to help the team win, that’s it. So if they’re going to find a better way for me to help them, then I’ll take it.”
There has been talk the Jays eventually plan to turn Osuna into a starter. But Osuna would prefer to remain in the bullpen the rest of his career.
“I like to be a reliever because I like to pitch very often,” he said. “I will get bored if I pitch every few days. I’m the guy who wants to be out there every day and help the team the most ways that I can.”