OC Register: New Angels pitching coach Barry Enright sees pitching as art, not science

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. — When Barry Enright came to Angel Stadium last year as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ assistant pitching coach, he was surprised to see the scoreboard showed not only pitch velocity, but vertical and horizontal movement.

Enright put that on the list of changes he planned after he was hired as the Angels’ pitching coach.

“You’re not going to see those metrics on the board any more,” Enright said, referring to the movement numbers. “If you’re looking up there and all of the sudden you say, ‘Oh, my curveball doesn’t have the same depth today,’ you’re chasing a metric instead of chasing outs.”

The Angels have been trying to find the answers to their pitching woes for much of the last decade, and they’ve now hired Enright as their fifth pitching coach in eight seasons.

So far the pitchers have fully endorsed both Enright and new bullpen coach Steve Karsay.

And much of what they like is the way the organizational philosophy has changed under Enright.

“They’ve been awesome so far,” right-hander Griffin Canning said. “Just a different approach to things. They don’t really let us get super off track with trying to chase those numbers on our pitches.”

Veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson said the emphasis is no longer slanted so heavily toward the Trackman.

“He seems to be less about chasing stuff,” Anderson said, “which I felt was the M.O. last year, as opposed to pitching, which is what I like.”

Make no mistake, Enright likes the Trackman and all of the associated data that has become ubiquitous around major league teams. He said he’s excited for the pitching lab the Angels are planning to build at their spring training complex.

“That’s a great asset, a great tool,” Enright said. “But when you’re out there, you’re trying to win a baseball game, trying to get outs. … I’ve seen too many times where two people have the same exact slider on the Trackman and one gets whacked around the yard and one is really good. … Eventually, the hitter is going to tell you if it’s a good pitch or not.”

Enright, 37, learned to have one foot in each camp – the old and new schools – during a nomadic pitching career.

The Diamondbacks selected him out of Pepperdine in the second round of the 2007 draft. He reached the majors with Arizona in 2010, and pitched briefly for the Angels in 2012 and 2013.

After that, Enright went between four organizations and Mexico, never returning to the majors. He was in Mexico when he got an urgent text from his wife: “Get your (butt) home.” She and their young children needed him, so Enright called the Diamondbacks to essentially beg for a job that would bring him back to the U.S. Enright said the Diamondbacks obliged, but it was really just because they wanted to get him in the organization to put him on a coaching track.

After coaching for a few years in the Arizona system, he saw something that needed to change.

“We were chasing movement,” he said. “I felt like in my soul that it was wrong. We had some combative arguments at times, going back and forth.”

In 2022, the Diamondbacks hired Brent Strom to be the major league pitching coach. Strom is a veteran of nearly three decades as a pitching coach, including the previous eight years with the tech-savvy Houston Astros. If anyone could blend the new and old schools, it was Strom.

Enright, who joined Strom’s staff as assistant pitching coach, found it to be a perfect mix.

“I still view pitching as an art,” Enright said. “I don’t see it as a science. The science aspect helped us go in different directions with guys, but if you just chase the science, we’re dealing with human beings. We don’t have robots yet. You have to understand the heartbeat of that kid, what they can handle and can’t handle that day. Where their two feet are. That’s what I take pride in.”

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Enright was good at balancing the art and science.

“He’s right down the middle,” Lovullo said. “He knows what it’s like to toe the rubber and compete and a high level. There’s a time where you just go out and compete and not worry about pitch shaping and spin rate. But he can. He’s been educated in that area because all young pitchers are expected to get that information. He knows how to deliver that. I think he’s the perfect blend of understanding the new wave of analytics in combination with being able to go out and compete. He’s a great one.”

Enright has been spending the spring drilling Angels pitchers on strategies that are focused on the big picture. He wants his starters to know how to navigate a lineup multiple times.

That begins with throwing strikes and getting quick outs.

Beyond that, Enright wants his pitchers to think about using their arsenals in a way that will make them effective deep into the game.

“If you get two outs in the first inning on six pitches and the No. 3 hitter is up, and you strike him out by throwing seven sliders, when you walk off you should not be happy,” Enright said. “You showed him your best pitch seven times. Now what are you going to do when it’s the seventh inning, two out and the bases loaded and it’s the same guy?

“If you’re in lower-leverage situations and you have four or five pitches, don’t give him your No. 1 pitch more than once in an at-bat. Let’s try to get through that with our second or third option. If we give up a solo homer, that shouldn’t beat us.

“It sounds simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.”

Enright also said he’s been given the latitude to direct the pitching staff as he sees fit, even if it counters the ideas from the front office.

Related Articles

• Los Angeles Angels |
  Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter fired by Dodgers after allegations of illegal gambling, theft
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels lose to Giants despite strong outing from Tyler Anderson, tie Royals
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Ron Washington considering Anthony Rendon for Angels’ leadoff spot
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Aaron Hicks, Zach Neto continue sizzling spring performances in Angels’ victory
• Los Angeles Angels |
  Angels pick Patrick Sandoval to start Opening Day in Baltimore

“In my interview I was told ‘We’re going to come down with stuff. Some of our mistakes were that we force fed (the coaches and pitchers) in the last few years. You have the ability to say no,’” Enright said. “That was a big selling point for me. They were able to kind of admit some of the faults from the past. They basically said before I even had the job, ‘If we give you this job, we need you to say no at times.’”

Finding a different strategy will be a key for the Angels, who are bringing back the same starters – minus Shohei Ohtani – from a unit that produced a 4.47 ERA.

The Angels are hoping that a different type of coaching can lead to better results.

Lovullo watched it happen with the Diamondbacks, all the way into the 2023 World Series.

“He was on an unbelievable trajectory with us,” Lovullo said. “He’ll offer the Angels and (manager) Ron Washington everything he possibly can, with a great effort, great intensity and great willingness to learn. … He’s going to help those pitchers get better every single day in Anaheim. I can say that wholeheartedly.”

View the full article

[Halo in Chicago]

1 hour ago, AngelsWin.com said:

Enright said. “You showed him your best pitch seven times. Now what are you going to do when it’s the seventh inning, two out and the bases loaded and it’s the same guy?

I like that he thinks we have starters that will still be on the game after 6 and 2/3 innings. 

[tdawg87]

It's both. 

[T.G.]

It all sound good and promising... the last group sounded good and promising too.  We'll see. 

[BTH]

42 minutes ago, T.G. said:

It all sound good and promising... the last group sounded good and promising too.  We'll see. 

Matt Wise-- the guy who was promoted to the job because the pitching coach got fired for being a creep-- sounded good and promising?

I disagree.

[T.G.]

9 minutes ago, BTH said:

Matt Wise-- the guy who was promoted to the job because the pitching coach got fired for being a creep-- sounded good and promising?

I disagree.

The last "group" that brought in new technology, etc.

[ShotimeDynasty]

Was listening to a pitcherlist podcast with Nick Pollack yesterday and Detmers was the topic. Despite Reid using his slider effectively to pile up 7 Ks in his last start, Nick is out because the Angels “fired all their good coaches” and of course I found that sentiment to be hilarious. Barry Enright and Steve Karsay are going to be opening some eyes this season.

For the record Nick is a really smart guy and diligently studies the science of pitching. But like Enright says, pitching is an art. Some of these analysts are just too smart for their own good sometimes 

[Jeff Fletcher]

By the way, all of the stuff that people are saying was wrong with the pitching strategy last year… I don’t think it was coming from Matt Wise. 

[tdawg87]

4 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

By the way, all of the stuff that people are saying was wrong with the pitching strategy last year… I don’t think it was coming from Matt Wise. 

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

By the way, all of the stuff that people are saying was wrong with the pitching strategy last year… I don’t think it was coming from Matt Wise. 

[tdawg87]

20 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

[Jeff Fletcher]

28 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Not him either 

[Jeff Fletcher]

11 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

In my interview I was told ‘We’re going to come down with stuff. Some of our mistakes were that we force fed (the coaches and pitchers) in the last few years. You have the ability to say no,’” Enright said. “That was a big selling point for me. They were able to kind of admit some of the faults from the past. They basically said before I even had the job, ‘If we give you this job, we need you to say no at times.’”

 

[tdawg87]

[BTH]

1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

By the way, all of the stuff that people are saying was wrong with the pitching strategy last year… I don’t think it was coming from Matt Wise. 

Tamin or Hezel, me thinks

Probably Tamin, since he’s not here anymore

Edited March 22 by BTH

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

Finally, someone with some Nad that will tell these guys to challenge somebody! 

They should be pissed off getting pulled at 2 and 2/3rds because they couldn't throw strike #1. But threw 10-12 pitches to every hitter that they faced!

It's basically shit or get off the pot time!

[Stradling]

20 hours ago, BTH said:

Matt Wise-- the guy who was promoted to the job because the pitching coach got fired for being a creep-- sounded good and promising?

I disagree.

Then 2022 happened and they finished top ten in ERA. Then 2023 happened where they sucked but it was all Wise’s fault because fans want simple answers when there isn’t one. 

[Angel Oracle]

Just seems that it was too much analytics?

It is weird that the team ERA was significantly better in 2022 than in 2023.

The pitching staff was as healthy as it’s been in years in 2023.

[BTH]

4 hours ago, Stradling said:

Then 2022 happened and they finished top ten in ERA. Then 2023 happened where they sucked but it was all Wise’s fault because fans want simple answers when there isn’t one. 

It’s not all Wise’s fault.

And their moves tell you they don’t think that either.

Tamin, Wise, Rowen, and Hinchcliffe are gone +  they reassigned Hezel.

That philosophy that Anderson and others hated probably came from Tamin.

[jeskola]