After I interviewed Marco Gonzales in spring coaching 2018, the now 32-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates southpaw was with the Seattle Mariners and about to determine himself as a strong large league starter. We mentioned his return to well being — he’d undergone Tommy John surgical procedure two years prior — in addition to his repertoire. We additionally touched on his strategy on the mound, a topic we’d earlier addressed in a 2014 dialog when he was a St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect. On the time, Gonzales was your prototypical artful lefty, and he’s remained simply that all through his profession.
The previous Mariners’ participant rep for the MLBPA has a variety of opinions on the sport he’s performed professionally since 2013, when the Cardinals drafted him nineteenth general out of Gonzaga College. Not surprisingly, the rise in arm accidents is of specific curiosity, as is the pitch clock.
Gonzales, who has since landed on the 15-day injured listing with a left forearm muscle pressure, sat down to debate these subjects at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park earlier this month.
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David Laurila: We talked again in 2018 while you had been with the Mariners. Are you an identical pitcher now that you simply had been then?
Marco Gonzales: “No. You’re by no means the identical pitcher you had been, even in case you assume you might be. You may need an identical id — you at all times have an id as a participant — however you alter bodily, emotionally, mentally. Your maturity on the mound modifications. Your thought course of modifications, and in flip, that modifications what you are able to do on the mound.
“The pitches I throw haven’t added or subtracted, however how I take into consideration them, how they transfer, and the way I’ve used them has modified so much. 12 months to 12 months, week to week, there are modifications. That’s a part of baseball. For no matter purpose, generally a pitch doesn’t come out the identical approach it normally does and it’s a must to use it otherwise, or possibly manipulate it extra.”
Laurila: How a lot have the modifications been knowledge pushed?
Gonzales: “That’s an ideal query. I’d say that within the final couple of years, it’s change into extra knowledge pushed. Nevertheless, there may be at all times an natural improvement, and an natural studying. As a human being and a competitor, you’re consistently rising and altering, so there may be an natural half to it.”
Laurila: That stated, what has been your most notable data-driven change?
Gonzales: “I’d say my cutter. I’m at all times conscious of what the horizontal motion is. I need it to chop — I need it to go in to a righty — and when it’s not reducing, possibly I’m not ending it proper, or possibly the grip wants to vary barely. It’s simply little changes right here and there.”
Laurila: Can you are feeling refined variations in baseballs?
Gonzales: “If you happen to’re an professional in one thing, you discover a distinction. Proper? You discover completely different weights. You discover completely different dimensions of seams. I don’t know the inside of the baseball, however the exterior has modified. The seams was very, very small, very, very tight. It was virtually like a cue ball. It was a really, very easy feeling; you didn’t actually really feel the seams. Now they’ve ridges. The aerodynamics of it, the best way the ball travels — I imply, that’s going to vary it. I don’t know the way a lot it’s affected me, however I do know that your pitches have a tendency to vary generally. You may see it within the knowledge.
“I’ve in all probability held 1,000,000 baseballs in my life. I imply, as an individual who holds a variety of balls — for lack of higher phrases — I can let you know very minuscule particulars which are completely different. I’ve to. Take into consideration how exact we now have to be with throwing them, how a lot we now have to spin and find — particularly for a pitcher like myself. I don’t throw overly exhausting, so I’ve to be exact. I’ve to depend on motion [and] deception. So, in fact I do know each inch of that baseball.”
Laurila: You’re atypical to the present pattern in that you simply’re a… smooth tosser is possibly not the proper solution to put it.
Gonzales: “Artful. However sure, I throw 90. I’m a dying breed.”
Laurila: With that in thoughts, quite a lot of guys who do throw actually exhausting have been taking place with elbow accidents. On the identical time, you had Tommy John surgical procedure regardless of not being a tough thrower.
Gonzales: “Sure, I had TJ in 2016. I imply, look, we pushed again on decreasing the clock this 12 months. We — the gamers — pushed again on initiating the clock, and we pushed again once more this 12 months once they needed to lower the time on the clock. Every time, MLB has overpowered our vote and went on with it. We raised critical security issues over the lower in time. There are guys that want extra time, or no less than must not be rushed. Particularly in between innings for relievers. We pushed again on that too, and so they decreased it.
“The Gamers Affiliation has [four out of 11] votes. I don’t know if folks know that or not. Rule modifications are a [majority] vote. We voted unanimously no on the entire new guidelines this 12 months, and so they went by way of. I believe there ought to be extra accountability with modifications to the sport.
“So, I believe that it will be silly to not have a look at that as a main concern. That’s one of many greatest modifications to pitchers on this recreation, introducing the clock. We’re seeing a [rise] in accidents. I believe that correlates.”
Laurila: Do you purchase the concept that the rise of splitters and/or sweepers is a contributing issue?
Gonzales: “Look, guys throw more durable and spin the ball sooner than ever earlier than. Guys are getting larger and stronger — guys are studying how one can get larger and stronger — and that’s one other factor. If you happen to throw more durable, and also you spin the ball sooner, properly, that’s extra taxing in your arm. I’m not saying that’s not the first trigger, both. I believe there are a number of causes. I additionally assume it may be completely different for every particular person particular person.
“It could actually occur to anyone. Throwing a baseball overhand isn’t wholesome, irrespective of how exhausting you throw. However it will be silly to not have a look at the pitch clock and the modifications in coaching. With the baseballs themselves, it will be intriguing to do additional investigation into how baseballs have advanced on this recreation and what impact that has on arms.”