Coello’s career gets a ‘fork’ lift

BOSTON — When pressed on all the of names given to Robert Coello’s signature pitch — some of which aren’t fit for print — the Angels reliever smiles and gives his description. “It’s a forkball.” Calling Coello’s pitch simply a “forkball” is like calling the Mona Lisa simply a “painting.”

Angels manager Mike Scioscia has been around the game long enough, and seen enough pitchers throw enough pitches, to know that there isn’t much unique in baseball. But this is.

“I have never seen a grip like his, with the results of what we see this pitch do,” Scioscia said.

Coello’s pitch is thrown like a forkball, with the ball jammed deep — almost painfully — between the index and middle finger. A normal forkball comes out with a tumbling action. But Coello uses his thumb to essentially remove the spin, so it floats out like a knuckleball. His pitch is much harder than a standard knuckleball, clocking in around 80 mph.

“He’s unique in today’s game,” pitching coach Mike Butcher said. “He kind of stands out throwing like he does. I don’t know anyone else that is throwing it like him.”

When Butcher first laid eyes on the pitch in spring training, when Coello didn’t even have it dialed in as much as he does now, he thought simply: “Wow. Nasty.”

Coello has used his forkball to become one of the most pleasant surprises in an otherwise dreary Angels season. In his first four weeks with the Angels, Coello has a 2.57 ERA, and three of the four runs he allowed came in one outing Wednesday. In 14 innings, Coello has allowed 10 hits and he has 21 strikeouts.

Coello’s forkball is only part of the reason the 28year-old is finally enjoying success in the big leagues after being let go by five organizations, including the Angels after the 2007 season.

“Robert is kind of a late bloomer,” Scioscia said. “Right now he’s throwing the ball better than he has in his life. It’s his first opportunity to set his footprint in the major leagues. I think he’s more consistent now than he’s ever been.”

Coello began his pro career as a catcher in the system of the Cincinnati Reds, who drafted the New Jersey native in 2004 out of Okaloosa-Walton College in Florida. He was released and signed by the Angels, who converted him to pitcher in 2007. When he started pitching, he showed off a pitch he’d been fooling around with ever since high school.

Baseball players at every level, from Little League to the majors, love messing around trying to throw a knuckleball. Coello could never quite get the hang of it. He kept trying different finger positions until he came up with this. It was just a toy for playing catch until the Angels put him on a mound for real, and he busted it out.

“What is that?” was the response he got from coaches and catchers.

As he moved through the minor leagues, from the Angels to the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs to the Toronto Blue Jays and back to the Angels this winter, coaches were split on what to do with the unorthodox pitch.

“It’s something different,” Coello said, “and people are sometimes scared of what’s different.”

Coello doesn’t feel like the forkball is his breadand-butter pitch. He throws only two or three an inning. It’s just his most interesting pitch.

“My most dominating pitch is my fastball,” said Coello, whose fastball averages 91.3 mph. “That’s been my pitch for getting people out. Of course, the forkball is something in their mind. It’s something different they aren’t used to seeing.”

No one else is either.