A’s bench coach Ausmus still catching on occasion
“He was catching everything well, receiving it well. So I think he’s still got it.” Zach Logue, A’s starting pitcher, on bench coach Brad Ausmus
DETROIT — Taking the mound for his first inning Wednesday, Oakland Athletics starter Zach Logue looked up to a surprising sight.
Brad Ausmus, the A’s bench coach, crouching behind the plate to catch his warmup pitches.
“He’s a bench coach that does multiple things,” manager Mark Kotsay said.
Ausmus, who joined Oakland’s coaching staff this season under Kotsay, is — of course — a former catcher who played 18 seasons in the majors and won three Gold Glove awards. Circumstance put him back into the crouch Wednesday night. Sean Murphy had finished the top of the first on base and needed time to don his gear. Christian Bethancourt, the A’s backup catcher, was playing first base.
So Ausmus, 53, donned a mask, no pads, and warmed up Logue.
“He was down there, he was catching everything well, receiving it well,” Logue said after Oakland’s 9-0 win over the Tigers. “So I think he’s still got it.”
Turns out, those weren’t the first pitches Ausmus received Wednesday. He also caught starter Paul Blackburn’s pregame bullpen session.
“He walked out there when I was warming up and he was like, ‘Hey, can I catch your bullpen today?’ ” Blackburn said.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine, I’m working on 0-2 splitters in the dirt.’ And he was like, ‘It’s OK,’ and then cup-checks himself — actually has a cup on. I’m like, ‘Man, you’re ready for this.’ Yeah, it was cool.”
Ausmus, who played his last game in 2010, said he often caught pitchers’ side sessions while managing the Tigers (2014-17) and Angels (2019). Blackburn’s was the first he’d caught this season, he said.
“I used to do it so that I could get a look at the pitcher,” Ausmus said Thursday morning. “You can see some of the same stuff (standing) behind. But that was my frame of reference for 20-something years, so I can quickly recognize characteristics of pitches from that position.”
Blackburn said it was “cool” getting Ausmus’ feedback on his throwing session.
“He told me that he loved my cutter, just liked the way it came out and how it looked like my heater,” Blackburn said. “I’ve been trying to get my changeup basically to look like my fastball, like spin-wise, and I asked him about that and he gave me a little bit of feedback on that.
“Just having a different set of eyes out there is awesome.”
Ausmus said that for him, too, the occasional return to catching is more for sight than sentiment.
“I enjoy it a little bit,” Ausmus said, “but the bullpens are more so I can see the action on the baseball.”
Still, probably not all former catchers in their 50s who logged more than 1,900 games and 15,800 innings in the majors can drop easily back into the stance. (Kotsay noted Ausmus, who doesn’t look far removed fitness-wise from his playing days, is in excellent shape).
“I’ve been very fortunate,” Ausmus said. “No knee issues.”
Logue said “it kind of surprised me” to see Ausmus waiting to catch him Wednesday, but it didn’t throw him off — Logue went on to throw seven scoreless innings.
“He said, ‘You’re welcome for all the help I gave you in-between innings,’ ” Logue said. “So, yeah, that was fun.”