Baker’s search for a lefty continues
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Dusty Baker’s search for lefthanded relief is underway.
The Astros return every member of baseball’s best bullpen, but if Baker has his druthers, the club will add a lefthander before breaking camp. Lance McCullers Jr.’s early-season absence and Hunter Brown’s presumed move into the rotation ostensibly free a spot for a southpaw.
Houston’s group of righthanded relievers held lefthanded hitters to a .602 OPS last season. Héctor Neris, Ryne Stanek and Rafael Montero all have arsenals more than equipped to execute against elite lefthanded hitters, but Baker bemoaned his lack of a lefty throughout last season.
Blake Taylor and Parker Mushinski are the two internal candidates. Mushinski suffered lower back spasms earlier this spring and is not throwing — a diagnosis finally revealed Thursday after Baker hid behind “HIPAA laws” and refused to acknowledge it earlier this week.
Mushinski flew back to Houston for further evaluation earlier this week, but returned to camp Thursday with a relatively minor diagnosis. The team characterized Mushinski as day to day, and he should resume throwing within a couple of days.
Taylor is recovering from an injury-filled season of his own. Left elbow problems limited him to 16 major league innings last season, but the 27-year-old progressed to throwing live batting practice sessions during the postseason and reported to spring training fully healthy.
“Everything feels good. I didn’t have any problems after the initial injury,” Taylor said. “I felt fine. I felt ready. I was about the same velocity I’d been, 92-93 (mph).”
“Last year is last year and, right now, this is a new year. I know Dusty wants a lefty, and I’m going to fight for it. I don’t ever come in here (presuming) it’s my spot or my job or anything. I’m going to fight like everyone else is.”
Lefties Matt Gage and Austin Davis are also in major league camp as nonroster invitees, injecting more major league experience into the competition. Davis, who has thrown 1441⁄3 big league innings and
spent last season with the Red Sox and Twins, is scheduled to pitch in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against the New York Mets.
Rookie general manager Dana Brown gave Gage a signing bonus after the Toronto Blue Jays placed him on release waivers, which allowed him to turn down any team that claimed him. The signing bonus signaled how much Brown and the Astros
valued Gage’s potential.
Gage made his major league debut last season with the Blue Jays.
Stanek is working to cut down on walks
Spring training is a time to suggest improvement. Players report in the best shape of their lives after spending winters with personal trainers or tinkering
with their mechanics, all tailored toward the few deficiencies they found during previous seasons.
Numbers suggest Stanek is an outlier. He set records and spun a scoreless streak that stretched for four months and 271⁄3 innings. His 1.15 ERA is a record for any Astros reliever in a full season. No American League reliever posted a lower one.
How does one improve on something that seems so immaculate?
“It’s the stuff around the game itself that you can affect all the time that is kind of the focus,” Stanek said Thursday. “The results are just a byproduct of doing all the other things.
“Results are not always going to be in your control. The only thing that is in your control is the process you take to get to that point. Once the ball is out of your hand, there’s nothing you can control at that point unless the ball is hit back to you. A lot of it is staying in a consistent state of mind, getting your work in, taking care of your body, and doing all the little things around your craft that you can affect on a daily basis.”
Stanek’s spectacular season
cemented him as one of baseball's most undervalued relievers. That he hardly pitched in the postseason is a testament to the Astros’ incredible depth, but addressing the other reason why is his path to spring improvement.
The Astros shied away from Stanek in October partly because of control concerns. He walked 31 batters in 542⁄3 innings last season — 5.1 per nine innings. His WHIP rose to 1.23, and Houston did not want to risk unnecessary baserunners in a playoff setting.
Bryan Abreu also became borderline unhittable, putting him ahead of Stanek in the bullpen hierarchy. Stanek threw just three playoff innings as a result.
“I think that’s always a goal: Control the zone and limit the walks,” Stanek said. “Those are the keys. Get ahead, throw strikes, and put people away when you get in those counts, and that gets to a position where you can limit damage and limit a potential bad result. Besides that, you can’t really get too consumed with the results.”