Pitch backward, move forward
New approach paying off for Samardzija
Jeff Samardzija has become a free thinker in his baseball dotage, unafraid to say what is on his mind.
During spring training, he suggested without a hint of a smile that major-league ballgames tied after nine innings should end that way. He not only ripped teams for using openers, he called out starting pitchers who accede to the idea.
To the Giants’ benefit, Samardzija also is thinking differently about the way he needs to go after hitters in modern baseball, when the norms are tossed out the window, especially when his body has told him he is not a kid anymore.
To the astonishment of fans, and even team leaders who had no idea what to expect when the season began, Samardzija ranks seventh in the National League in ERA at 2.53 and was the Giants’ best starter six turns through the rotation.
He has accomplished this one season after a shoulder injury ruined him. He is taking what his body gives him and adapting
to the newthink that devalues the fastball from starters because, heck, all those uppercutting young studs can hit those out.
“Even the guys with power arms are throwing 50 percent fastballs,” Giants pitching coach Curt Young said. “It’s kind of the way the game has gone. You’ve got to be able to pitch backward, and that’s become one of Shark’s strengths.”
Pitching backward means working hitters with sinkers, sliders, cutters, curveballs and changeups, then pulling that hard fastball out of the back pocket when you need it.
In other words, the opposite of how power pitchers had thrown for nearly a century and a half.
Samardzija still can bring it at age 34. He has thrown 34 pitches this season that registered 93 mph or higher, five of them hitting 94. But he is more judicious with his four-seamer, relying more on cutters and sliders to fool hitters.
He is allowing fewer hits per nine innings than he has since 2011 and his 1.063 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is a career best.
Hard throwers usually need to be dragged toward the world of finesse. Samardzija got there through necessity when he hurt his shoulder last year and could not throw hard in his 10 starts for the Giants or his rehab games in the minors.
Command became imperative.
“I just picked it up last year pitching with nothing,” Samardzija said. “When you’re up on the mound, whether it’s High-A or Low-A, Double-A, Triple-A, all these guys can hit. If you’re not locating, you’re going to be in trouble.
“When that velo was down last year and I didn’t feel good, I was still out there competing. I’m a competitor. No matter where I’m at, I’m going to try to do well. I just had to come up with some other things.”
Manager Bruce Bochy, his coaches and the front office have thrown another wrinkle at Samardzija. They have turned him into a five-inning pitcher.
When Bochy pinch-hit for Samardzija in the fifth inning of a scoreless game against the Dodgers on Monday night, Samardzija stood in the dugout looking perplexed. Two years ago, he led the National League in innings at 2072⁄3. Now, he was done after throwing 79 pitches and not allowing a run.
Part of it is protecting an arm that was rehabbed, not repaired through surgery. Part of it is the shift toward starters being yanked before they can face a lineup a third time.
That adjustment might be harder on the Shark than pitching backward.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “There’s just pride involved, too, as an athlete. You hope everybody has that same sense of pride and confidence to get that job done themselves. I still carry that approach.”
At the same time, Samardzija is trying to be less stubborn.
“I’m just more open right now to pitching to any form that it needs to be that day and going from there,” he said, “whereas before I was going to throw my game plan from Pitch 1 to Pitch 120.”
He might not see Pitch 120 for a long time. He has topped out at 90 this year, although he believes Bochy will loosen the leash as he continues to build arm strength.
All of the starters are being eased into higher pitch counts. Madison Bumgarner is the only Giants pitcher with multiple starts of more than 100 pitches. Bochy plans to be extra careful with Samardzija.
“We’re going to control his workload a little bit,” Bochy said.
Young is encouraged by how Samardzija’s arm has responded after he pitches.
“He’ll pitch a game and he’s able to do the things he needs to do to get ready for the next start,” Young said. “It’s not such a traumatic thing on his arm, where he takes two or three days to recover and then tries to get going.”
These are things other teams need to hear if the Giants plan to shop Samardzija this summer. They hoped to move him and his $19 million annual salary last summer, but the persistence of his shoulder injury killed the plan.
Samardzija showed he can help a contender down the stretch after a midyear trade. He did it with Oakland in 2014. With his five-year contract dwindling to a year and change, he could be easier to move than a year ago, too.
If he keeps throwing the way he has, who knows? Giants fans might not want to see him go.