OC Register: It’s Baseball 101 for Angels pitchers: Throw strikes

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. — Some philosophies of pitching are so obvious that it’s easy to take them for granted.

The Angels are trying to change that.

One of the major points of emphasis for Angels pitchers this spring has been the most fundamental skill, something that every kid is told the first time he steps on a mound.

Throw the ball over the plate.

“It sounds like Baseball 101,” Angels first-year pitching coach Barry Enright said. “Even in our messaging early on, I said this is Little League baseball, something we were taught throughout our entire lives. It’s just kind of more of a reminder. We want to make it a staple.”

Veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson concedes that there’s nothing revolutionary about pitchers throwing strikes. The difference?

“Now we’re talking about it,” Anderson said.

Adds left-hander Patrick Sandoval: “I think it’s just something that gets forgotten. It’s so obvious: you want to throw strikes. Sometimes you forget to talk about it. You talk about your delivery or pitch sequencing or whatever it may be. I think it’s just having the constant reminder, kind of a mantra: Let’s get strike one.”

The idea was borne out of Enright’s preparation for his interview for this job. He was studying the data from the 2023 Angels pitching staff to figure out what went wrong.

He saw that the Angels were fifth in the majors in whiff percentage, which indicated the pitchers had plenty of raw stuff to get the job done.

The problems were too many of those whiffs were coming when the pitchers were behind in the count, so they still weren’t finishing off hitters. They still had more pitches to throw, and eventually they would give up a hit.

Even worse, they’d issue a walk.

Angels pitchers were 28th in the majors in walks per nine innings. They were 22nd in first-pitch strikes. They were 20th in pitches per plate appearance.

All of that leads to bad outcomes. The more pitches a pitcher throws, the sooner he has to come out of the game. More relievers have to pitch more often, which ultimately makes them less effective.

Manager Ron Washington, who also trusts himself to make his players better defensively, is all about getting the ball in play as quickly as possible.

“I want to get to two strikes quick and then make something happen, and not getting into 3-2 counts,” Washington said.

The way the Angels are going about all of this is by discussing it every day. They also post a chart on the clubhouse wall showing the percentage of strikes each pitcher throws on the first pitch and on a 1-1 count.

“Your average hitter, if it’s 2-1, is an All-Star,” Anderson said. “And he’s probably not in the league with his average on 1-2.”

Last year, major league hitters had a .619 OPS after 0-1, and an .826 OPS after 1-0. It was .503 after 1-2, and .793 after 2-1.

“Your thoughts tend to be what you listen to and what you read, so what we’re trying to do is just have our thoughts be a little bit more on those fundamentals of pitching,” left-hander Matt Moore said. “It’s early, just a couple weeks we’ve been working on it, but we’re trying to keep it at the forefront of our minds so that’s who we are.”

Through the first 18 games, the Angels rank 11th in the majors with a 4.22 ERA, and fourth among the 15 teams that train in the more hitter-friendly Cactus League. They are fifth in the majors in walks per nine innings.

“There’s definitely a big emphasis on it,” left-hander Reid Detmers said. “First day camp we had a meeting about throwing strikes. Not walking guys. And being around the zone. So every bullpen you are working on filling up the zone. And I think it’s translating for most for the most part. A lot of guys are pitching really well. Not a whole lot of walks.”

Detmers said in particular the focus has shifted away from the actual characteristics of the pitch — the velocity or the break — and more on getting it in the strike zone.

“It’s just throwing what you have over the plate, and not trying to throw the nastiest pitch every time,” Detmers said. “That’s really it.”

Enright said Angels pitchers are not going to expand the zone so much with two strikes, in an effort to get the strikeout, that they end up throwing non-competitive pitches and working the count full.

On Sunday, right-hander Chase Silseth had only two strikeouts in four innings and he was “pouting,” Enright said, calling himself “just a contact pitcher now.”

Enright pointed out that he’d instead been efficiently getting outs. He did it so well that he had to go down to the bullpen after his four innings because he hadn’t reached his scheduled pitch count in getting those 12 outs.

“Your strikeouts will come,” Enright told him. “You’ve got plenty of stuff. You’re getting weak contact. You get four innings on 46 pitches, and all of the sudden you’re getting into the seventh and eighth inning. Five and dive is out of here.”

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NOTES

Although right-handers José Soriano and Andrew Wantz are still being stretched out as starters, and doing so in big league exhibition games, Washington said they aren’t currently candidates to open the season in the big league rotation, unless there is an injury among the top five. The starters will be Sandoval, Detmers, Anderson, Silseth and right-hander Griffin Canning. The order is still to be determined, including who will start on opening day, Washington said. …

The Angels sent down outfielders Jordyn Adams and Jason Martin, infielder Kyren Paris and right-handers Caden Dana and Victor Mederos. …

Right-hander Robert Stephenson (shoulder) said he is feeling “pretty good” and “moving in the right direction.” Stephenson said he’s expecting to throw another bullpen session later this week. He isn’t sure how soon he’ll be able to pitch in an exhibition game, but it’s “definitely possible” that he’ll get enough innings in the spring to be ready for opening day. “I’m not exactly sure of the timetable at the moment, but that’s the plan, to be ready for opening day,” Stephenson said. …

Outfielder Aaron Hicks was a late scratch from Monday’s lineup because of what the Angels called “body soreness.” Willie Calhoun instead started in right field.

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[tdawg87]

Did someone tell Sandoval? 

[jsnpritchett]

"Adds left-hander Patrick Sandoval: “I think it’s just something that gets forgotten. It’s so obvious: you want to throw strikes. Sometimes you forget to talk about it. You talk about your delivery or pitch sequencing or whatever it may be. I think it’s just having the constant reminder, kind of a mantra: Let’s get strike one.”

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

2 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

"Adds left-hander Patrick Sandoval: “I think it’s just something that gets forgotten. It’s so obvious: you want to throw strikes. Sometimes you forget to talk about it. You talk about your delivery or pitch sequencing or whatever it may be. I think it’s just having the constant reminder, kind of a mantra: Let’s get strike one.”

It's actually, his #1 Job.... How do you forget to talk about that?

[fan_since79]

I've always liked Mark Langston's Three Rules for Pitchers:

Work fast, throw strikes, and keep the ball down.

It's not rocket science.