Drayer: M’s finding pitchers are better off during shutdown than hitters

It was a bit of a surprise last week to hear Mariners hitting coach Tim Laker say that the hitters were facing perhaps bigger challenges than expected during the coronavirus shutdown and stay at home orders.

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“What we found out was there were only a couple of guys who actually have access to a place to hit,” said Laker. “A lot of guys, as much as they would like to hit and kind of stay in baseball shape, it’s kind of impossible just because the facilities are not available. We are asking them just to do everything they can. Buy a net, a tee, keep moving.”

The conventional wisdom had been that the pause in baseball would be tougher on the pitchers, who had ramped up to being close to regular-season ready, throwing regular bullpens and making regular appearances in spring games. That thinking may not have been accurate, according to Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth.

“They are actually doing a lot more than I think a lot of people gave them credit for,” Woodworth said from his home in Florida. “Most of our guys have a safe place to go. They have equipment, a facility or an environment where they can throw. A handful of our guys have at-home bullpens, they have a mound, someone to catch, they have throwing partners. Really, all of our guys had plenty of resources to kind of maintain what they had built up over the offseason and into spring training.”

The pitchers are maintaining what Woodworth called their “early December mode.” They are building arm strength but keeping the intensity level low. It’s the holding pattern they will maintain until they are given a start date for whatever form of season may remain.

“It’s different for every individual. Without a date it’s definitely tough,” said Woodworth. “It’s just keeping them moving and keeping them treading water so when that date comes hopefully we have a couple of weeks to get them ramped up.”

After leaving his first spring as M’s pitching coach, Woodworth at least has peace of mind regarding what he saw the previous 30 days. From the big offseason changes Yusei Kikuchi made to the leadership shown by Marco Gonzales and Kendall Graveman, to Justus Sheffield and Taijuan Walker’s final starts before the shutdown, he saw improvement across the board with the starters.

As for the relievers, both Matt Magill and Erik Swanson, who were slowed in March with minor arm troubles, are healthy. Nestor Cortes opened eyes in his long relief and spot start work, and the young relievers that Woodworth had last year in Double-A got their first taste of big league camp and jitters behind them.

“Walking away from what we accomplished in those weeks, I was very, very excited from just about everybody that threw. A lot of guys exceeded expectations,” he said.

So now Woodworth along with everyone else waits for a start date. As we wait, the pitchers’ workloads are being monitored and Woodworth believes the intensity levels are being kept in check by the situation, saying that in your backyard it’s hard to generate the intensity of even a spring training bullpen where coaches, teammates and media are watching. This goes for Kikuchi too, who is with his family in Scottsdale, Ariz., keeping up his regular in-season routine by throwing to his interpreter.

“Everybody is healthy and everybody seems to be in a good spot to be ready to return when the time comes,” said Woodworth.

And what will that look like after the long pause and the uncertainty in that time?

“I think everybody will be biting at the bit to get back,” said Woodworth. “In reality it’s kind of very similar. They will have the day that they report, they will have an opening day date set and everybody will have an individual plan of how they are ramping and building up and preparing for that date. Whether they get to three innings or five innings, it all depends on the individual guy. It will be a little strange but shoot, we all are going to be really excited when we are all in the same building, in the same facility and back on the field. That will be the same.”

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