Taking the first step
Kazmir’s solid in Giants debut as comeback attempt begins
Ariz. — Scott Kazmir’s first time in a game with big-league players in three years was an adventure, especially because he was not on the same page with his catcher.
Kazmir crossed up Buster Posey several times, including on a sneaky changeup that struck out Colorado’s Raimel Tapia.
“He’s probably not too happy with me right now, overall,” Kazmir said with a laugh. “I was so jacked up on what pitch I wanted to throw at that time that I didn’t even pay attention too much to the sequence and ended up getting it wrong quite a few times.
“There were a couple times I had to step off the mound and act like I was messing with my cleats, but I clearly had the wrong grip in my hand and realized that halfway through.”
The 37-year-old from Cy Falls is trying to make his second career comeback afna, ter a successful rebirth with the A’s in 2014 and Astros in 2015, and his results Friday in the Giants’ 9-8 win over the Rockies were encouraging. Kazmir allowed hits to the first two batters he faced — a line-drive single by Greg Bird and a grounder off the mound by Elias Diaz — then struck out Garrett Hampson and leadoff man Tapia before getting Ryan McMahon to tap to first to end his inning of work.
“The nerves were definitely there, to say the least,” Kazmir said. “I ended up getting into the stretch after the first two pitches, and that’s something I haven’t really worked on as much, so that got a little nerve wracking. Once I was able to slow things down and think pitch-to-pitch, I started getting a little bit more confident.”
Kazmir’s fastball was up to 92 mph, and he elevated it at times. He’s known for his superior sinker, a pitch that sometimes doesn’t fare well in the dry air in Arizona and while it didn’t behave quite as expected, it was still effective. Pitching coach Andrew Bailey and pitching coordinator Brian Bannister are working with Kazmir on a consistent release point for the pitch and data points toward increased usage.
“Even Buster was saying that those are two completely different pitches,” Kazmir said of his usual sinker and Friday’s. “That’s something I feel like I’m going to use a lot more.”
The velocity was good to see, especially because he wasn’t going all out. “I wasn’t trying to really just let it go. I didn’t want to embarrass myself out there first time out and just throw nothing but balls and overthrow, so this one was kind of controlled.
“I say control, but I was a nervous wreck out there. After the first two hitters, I feel like that kind of went away. I stopped thinking about what not to do and and just went out there and attacked.”
Kazmir is unlikely to open the season with the team after his long layoff from the game, which was prompted by a desire to spend time with his young children and his parents, who are both undergoing cancer treatment. He could provide depth at Triple-A Sacramento initially — but if he continues to perform well, he could be a consideration pretty quickly, given his experience. He was a two-time All-Star early in his career with Tampa Bay, and everyone is paying close attention.
“His résumé speaks for itself,” said Giants starter Kevin Gausman, who watched Kazmir’s outing on the TV in the training room. “He looks like he’s right back to where he’d been. You could tell the hitters were not really locked in on him. … I’ve always said the hitters will let you know, and he looked pretty good.”