The New/Old Pitchin' Coach
I was planning on writing a detailed entry about new (and former) Royals pitching coach Guy Hansen’s appearance on 810 WHB’s Hot Stove Show, but I thought kcroyals.com threw a wrench in those plans when they cut his entire interview from the archive. After reading a summary on the scout.com Royals message board, however, I’m now 100 percent convinced that The Fighting Allards have a real pitching coach in place. Although I’m no authority on pitchers, Bruce Kison, Mark Wiley, Al Nipper, John Cumberland, and Mike Mason are all just pawns in Hansen’s profession.
Of course, it’s probably a little bit early to be getting all excited over the impact a new coach seems to be having, but optimism’s the key to avoiding insanity for Royals fans. It’s difficult for me to not crack at least a small smile when I read that out of the 33 pitchers who’ve been invited to Surprise, 22 have already worked with Hansen at one point or another this offseason. In Virginia. At an indoor pitching facility. Which is located in his backyard. Obviously he’s a guy who’s serious about pitching, and those 22 pitchers have a head start on their seasons and are better for it. Two of those pitchers – Zack Greinke and Mike MacDougal – worked with Hansen previously. Greinke learned from him when the Royals sent him to the Puerto Rican League as an 18-year-old, and MacDougal also soaked in some information in 2002 at winter ball. Everyone knows what Greinke’s become, and Doogie posted All-Star caliber numbers in the first half of 2003 before tiring out down the stretch. Take that for what it’s worth.
I don’t know very much about Hansen’s tendencies and theories on pitching, but I’m very encouraged that he has confidence in himself that he can (and will) fix one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball ten years running. Here’s what he said shortly after he was hired last October:
"What's hard for me to understand from a distance is that they moved the fences back and you still had all these negative pitching numbers. That's almost impossible to do. How do you get those numbers in a pitcher-friendly park? That will get fixed."Talk is usually cheap, but since he’s worked in the Atlanta Braves organization for the past several seasons, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Hansen prides himself on having one pitcher – count ‘em, ONE – suffer an arm injury of any kind during his six years of work with the Braves. However, being a successful pitching coach entails much more than just keeping pitchers healthy and installing a philosophy that will work. It’s also about maximizing the ability of each individual pitcher. Two guys come to my mind when I think of Hansen’s top priorities when the team opens up camp late next month.
"Basically [my philosophy is] pitch inside quietly, meaning don't be a headhunter. And what I've always stressed is the fastball in and the change-up down and away. I've always felt that the change-up is the most underused pitch in baseball. That won't be the case with the Royals next year. We will be keeping hitters off-balance."
Runelvys Hernandez
Aside from Greinke, Runelvys Hernandez might be the most important pitcher on the 2005 staff. Before he blew out his elbow in 2003 shortly after the All-Star break, Hernandez was very good, posting a 3.05 ERA in in 62 innings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio (34-22) left something to be desired, but he has a fine 2.7-to-1 ratio in 370 minor league innings, and had a 2-to-1 ratio during his first major league stint in 2002. After sitting out a full season following Tommy John surgery, Runelvys has made a stronger commitment to adhering to a conditioning program. His unwillingness to train in ’03 caused him to gain a ton of weight from April to August, and therefore lost velocity and movement on his pitches.
There’s very little wrong with his mechanics, so I’m optimistic that he’ll be ready to go on Opening Day, and perhaps even pitch against the Tigers. Sometimes, pitchers come back throwing harder than they ever did before after undergoing a ligament replacement operation. If Hernandez falls into that category and maintains his three other above-average pitches, he’s the best candidate to become Greinke’s right-hand man for the next several seasons.
Jaime Cerda
Sort of like Abraham Nunez, Jaime Cerda’s a little bit of a mystery to me, at least when comparing his major league stats to his minor league stats. It’s obvious that he’s a very talented pitcher, and therefore amazing that the Mets gave him away for a song like Shawn Sedlacek. Check out what Cerda’s done in his minor league career:
| IP | ERA | K/9 | K/BB |
| 219 | 1.11 | 8.93 | 3.88 |
That, my friends, is dominance. Cerda had a really good 2004, and my only complaint is his terrible control (5.87 BB/9 IP), which was odd considering he didn't have that hard of a time throwing strikes in the upper minors. He countered his control problems by allowing a lone home run in 45 2/3 innings, and blew away left-handed batters, allowing them just a .185/.304/.215 line. At times, Cerda’s issues with throwing strikes consistently can be attributed to mechanics that cause him to rush his front half to the plate before his arm can catch up. If Hansen can solve that problem, I think Jaime has a good chance of having Mike Stanton’s career.