Bucking a Trend

BY KEVIN KERNAN

The first word today goes to excellent Blue Jays color analyst Buck Martinez, who played 17 years in the majors. Buck also managed in the majors and in the World Baseball Classic. His broadcasting career began in 1987. His first game as a player in the majors was June 18, 1969.

Yes, Buck has been around the baseball block and back again.

In the second inning of Monday’s spring training game against the Yankees in Dunedin, right after Bo Bichette homered, a two-run shot, off a second-straight hanging breaking ball, Buck was about to let off some steam.

Let me add, I have known Buck Martinez for decades. He is one of my favorite people to talk baseball with because he is so even keeled and so knowledgeable about the game.

Former catchers have a tendency to be that way. It’s always good to have Buck pull up a chair before the game in the media dining room to talk baseball.

So here was Buck on the air with Ben Shulman with the temperature rising on this St. Patrick’s Day. And by the way, Yankee pitchers Brent Headrick and Cole Ayers had managed to go 3-2 on each of the five Blue Jays batters in the second inning. There also was a wild pitch mixed in, and, again – this was only the second inning, not the spring training wasteland of the eighth or ninth inning.

After Ayers bounced a first pitch curve ball to Vlad Guerrero Jr. that was nowhere near the plate, the ball bounced high and back into the screen, Martinez had seen enough.

“I tell you what,’’ Buck began, getting my immediate attention, and remember, at one point, Buck was also a play-by-play announcer, so he carefully watches every pitch. He is not one of those color analysts that tends to drift off into space.

“This spring I have seen more bad pitching than I’ve seen in a number of years because everybody is concerned about spin rate and velocity, and they all forget about command,’’ Martinez said sternly. “We have had players hit by pitches, (Andrew) Benintendi in Chicago had a broken hand, the catcher (Sean) Murphy in Atlanta, had broken ribs. Guys are hitting batters all too frequently because they can’t command the strike zone.’’

Shulman then chipped in with key information. “The Yankees have thrown 64 pitches today, about to get four outs.’’

“64, that’s just ridiculous,’’ Buck added. “It’s just unheard of. They are promoting guys because they throw hard, they can’t command the strike zone, and they can’t be effective in the Big Leagues. You look at all the Big-League pitchers that have the most success. Yeah, they might throw hard, but they also command their pitches. And I think it is something that hasn’t been emphasized in the minors enough.’’

Hallelujah!

Here at BallNine we have been saying that for a long, long time. And bravo to Buck for having the courage to tell the truth on the air. The pitching this spring has been abysmal and those pitchers who can command the baseball – like AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal – stand out from the crowd. A scout I spoke to on Wednesday marveled at Skubal’s well-balanced, old-school windup compared to today’s side straddle grip it and rip it velocity/spin heavers.

What the heck is going on?

Injuries have gone north. Command has gone south. And it is only getting worse.

And just wait until the ABS system arrives for real in MLB. Framing is out. Command will be even more important.

Player development, and certainly pitching development, is nothing like it once was because of the indoctrination of metric-based velocity/spin alleged pitching coaches and the banishment of experienced pitching coaches who have been shown the door.

Injuries have gone north.

Command has gone south.

And it is only getting worse.

Buck Martinez, who, by the way, has a killer mustache in his profile picture on his Baseball-Reference page is 76 years old. So, like me, the ever so thoughtful TikTok Generation immediately says he is just an old man yelling at clouds. Baseball men are simply dismissed.

Keep yelling, Buck. Just like others in the game.

About six years ago a longtime talent evaluator told me and a number of my writing colleagues in a conversation how much worse it was going to get. He nailed it.

“You immediately understood what I was saying,’’ the evaluator told me on Wednesday, recalling the fascinating conversation. “The others didn’t believe that (baseball) could screw it up so badly.’’

They believe it now.

At its core, what has happened is that those in charge have looked the other way at bad behavior and a lack of work ethic creating a base where the game is played poorly across the board.

“There is no feel for the game,’’ the evaluator said of the downslide.

In a strange way I can’t blame this generation of players, because they have been sold a bill of goods by those in charge who really don’t know the game, both pitchers and hitters.

Not all teams have gone over the cliff.

Some teams are doing it right and their pitching numbers will show that at the end of the season, the importance of building a staff of pitchers who know how to pitch and not just heave the baseball – or spin the baseball. The Phillies rotation should be one of the top rotations in the game. And the Dodgers certainly have the arms; last year they needed 17 different starters to make it to the World Series and then took advantage of all the poor play by the Yankees to win the World Series.

The Yankees are hurting now with Gerrit Cole out for the season with Tommy John and Luis Gil on the shelf for months with a lat injury. Max Fried can pitch, though. He grew up in the Braves system like so many good Braves pitchers through the years. The Yankees may have enough talent to keep their heads above water. Same for the Mets as long as Sean Manaea is not out of action an extended period of time. I do like the move of Clay Holmes to the starting rotation to clear his head and clear the mechanism, as Billy Chapel said in the 1999 film For Love of the Game.

Since we mentioned the movie, wasn’t that Vin Scully line terrific: “The cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel.’’

Prayers needed today for many teams’ pitchers.

Yes, there are some days when it comes together, “If a guy throws well, he was effective today with his fastball,’’ reports might say. “He was able to execute his command.’’

Noted one scout, “Every other guy I write up, though, this spring, it’s usually eight of the 10 guys you write up every day, ‘Was unable to execute command, did not show any feel for his secondary pitches, sprays his fastball with no feel for the strike zone.’

“Those are all things that bleepin’ matter, that’s what bleepin’ pitching is.’’

Exactly. As for those in charge of teams and the teaching methods of today, the scout added, “They have no sense of the damage they are doing day in and day out, especially to these kids because they are not teaching them how to play the game right. The shit they are doing with the pitching is making second Tommy Johns commonplace now. Years ago, it was gosh, you already had a Tommy John, we’ve got to keep them healthy. And guys would stay healthy.’’

And then there is this from one former longtime successful pitching coach.

“Remember years ago, when there was a push to not let Little Leaguers throw breaking pitches because their elbows were not developed enough or strong enough to repeat proper arm action necessary? Fast forward to today and Major Leaguers that are strong enough to repeat but don’t understand workload or know the correct arm or hand actions to stay healthy. It’s so crazy.’’

Add to that seemingly not many are qualified to teach them.

“It’s all about being on time,’’ another super successful pitching coach who was driven out of the game, told me this past week. “These guys aren’t on time. That is why they are getting hurt.’’

I also spoke to another scout who was perplexed by the number of pitchers who were in A-Ball last year getting innings in Big League spring games. “I’m talking guys who nobody thinks are prospects,’’ he said.

Curious, he asked around and was told by those in the know that due to further restrictions with how many total players who can be carried in the minor leagues, they can’t risk having AAA pitchers sit in the bullpen during games and not get into games so those more qualified minor league pitchers are getting their innings in backfield games to ensure they are ready for the minor league season which begins a week before the other levels. Yes, the AAA season begins about March 28 while the rest of the minors go April 4.

Yep, another unintended consequence.

This is the same bizarre baseball world where the 0-2 Cubs and 2-0 Dodgers have already played two major league games over in Japan while the rest of baseball is still in the middle of spring training in Florida and Arizona. And now it is back to spring training for the Cubs and Dodgers.

Make it make sense.

“I’ve watched so many Low A guys try to finish an inning, and it is a disaster,’’ the scout said. “They don’t belong in these games, and they even know they don’t belong.’’

Add to all that they are not being developed properly, and, again, that is why you have even-keeled Buck Martinez letting off steam, “This spring I have seen more bad pitching than I’ve seen in a number of years because everybody is concerned about spin rate and velocity, and they all forget about command.’’

Remember this: in the end, you sure can’t teach what you don’t know.