‘Big Unit’ offers tips to Oakland left-handers
MESA, ARIZ. » Hall of Famer Randy Johnson made an appearance at Fitch Park on Sunday and planted his feet in the shadowed corner of the bullpen. He kept a close eye on the A’s lefthanders at work, in particular to offer tips on how to throw a good slider.
A.J. Puk, typically shy, made sure to park his 6-foot-7 frame right next to his 6-10 doppleganger to pick his brain.
“He’s eager to give,” manager Bob Melvin said of Johnson, who played for Melvin with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007 and ’08. “This is a guy that, his track record is more of, not really an open guy, more about doing his thing and preparing and working hard. Maybe not the most open guy in the world. He couldn’t be more open than he is right now.”
“He obviously sees the comparisons; he loves lefthanded pitchers. He understands how to work hard, because it wasn’t easy for him.”
BIG UNIT AND … SEAN MANAEA? » The two left-handers don’t have much in common other than profession and handedness. Granted, both tower over the general public, to varying degrees. Manaea is 6-5. Johnson, as stated, is a little taller.
Johnson’s tall frame could leverage a 100 mphplus fastball in a low, slingshot delivery with a slider equal parts graceful, tempting and devastatingly biting into the low corner. Manaea’s fastball hovers in the low 90s at best, and development of his slider — along with his stellar changeup — will be a key to his success.
The slider is Manaea’s third pitch. He throws it about 21% of the time. He has a good slider that works well with his fastball given his knack for deception.
But, he’s struggled to hit it consistently into Johnson’s sweet spot down and in. NEW LOOK » The A’s will use camp as a testing ground for MLB’s new three-batter rule that requires any starting or relief pitcher to pitch to a minimum of three batters until the batters reach base or the side is retired.
The general consensus is that the rule will be more of an adjustment for the coaches than the players, though this does hamper the market for a left-handed specialist. A few of the A’s relievers I talked to about it said they’re ready adjust.
“I saw a stat last year that said there’s less pitchers used for three or less batters,” right-handed reliever Lou Trivino said. “So, the game was already trending away from that. It is what it is. I understand why they’re doing it.”
The coaching staffs will have to keep a closer eye on relievers, starting in spring,
who can get righties and lefties out — which was always a plus, but now more so. It’s one of the reasons the A’s brought left-handed pitcher Jake Diekman back. It’s also a plus for new lefthanded pitching addition T.J. McFarland, a groundball pitcher with fairly even splits (a 4.11 ERA vs. lefties, a 5.68 ERA vs. righties). He has a 58.7% ground ball rate against righties and 63.3% ground ball rate against lefties with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019.
The new rule is intended to shave minutes off game times, but it adds another mental dynamic for coaches.
“You get a little nervous about a guy if he doesn’t have command and he’s throwing a lot of pitches,” Melvin said. “You’re worried about him throwing ‘X’ amount of pitches and he has to be out there. I’m more concerned about that than in the season.”