Winter Warm-up: Reyes’ fastball quest
DOWNTOWN — Anthony Reyes bee-lined out of baseball and straight to the beach when last season was over.
Proving he’d rather have sand in his shorts than thoughts of his season in his mind.
“I didn’t think about it one bit,” he said this weekend at the Winter Warm-up when asked about his 2-14 season that saw him seesaw from the majors to the minors and sink in performance. ”I went home and went straight to the beach and tried to forget everything.”
Well, everything but one thing.
One question continues to gnaw at him: Where did that fastball go?
Reyes burst into the majors several seasons ago as the Cardinals top pitching prospect — top prospect overall, really — and buried Milwaukee in his debut. The hotshot righthander with the crepe-flat brim and ring-tail stockings burned batters with a four-seam fastball he could elevate for the strike out or bore in on the hands. He offset that with a changeup he had confidence in and a curve he knew needed work.
He was successful. He was confident.
And he was neither in 2007.
“I kind of went home and erased everything that I did that year,” Reyes said. ”Just kind of started from scratch.”
Reyes’ goal this offseason is two-fold — to have fun throwing the ball again and to rediscover his fastball. In the minors, Reyes has been able to fire a fastball that pushes it to an above-average pitch. In the majors, that same fastball hums at slightly less than 90 mph and has been imminently hittable. He agrees with Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan’s assessment — it’s not only about velocity.
It’s also command. Reyes struggled to locate his fastball to any other location but up in the zone. He couldn’t tickle the corners. He couldn’t find the lower zone. He’s spent this offseason working toward finding command first and hoping velocity follows.
“My biggest thing is command,” Reyes said. ”I didn’t have the command that I’m used to having. I’m out there now just playing long toss (and) trying to get my feel back for my fastball. I’d like to start using it more. That’s the pitch I used to throw to get ahead of hitters and then I’d use my other stuff as kind of put away pitches. Just trying to get my fastball back has been my main goal in preparing for this season.”
***
In addition to telling us he called off elbow surgery this winter, Albert Pujols joked that he’s now the old man in the clubhouse. “Me and Russ Springer are going to have to take over the clubhouse,” he said.
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The Cardinals have hired Mike Aldrete as an associate hitting coach. Aldrete will help Hal McRae work with hitters. While Aldrete will be in uniform before games, he will not be during games. He’ll work with hitters in the cages while McRae steers batting practice, or vice versa. Aldrete will also help with scouting and may station himself in the video room during games to work with hitters. La Russa said adding the position was something he got approval from ownership to do when they negotiated his new two-year deal.
In what La Russa called “a complete coincidence, but a nice one”, Aldrete was Troy Glaus’ hitting coach in Arizona.
***
A question asked Sunday of Jay Randolph and Rick Horton compelled manager Tony La Russa to leap from his autograph session and take to the stage to give his opinion on the matter. The topic: Scott Rolen. Of course. The MLB.com fellas, including Matthew Leach, got the details of this crowd-pleasing exchange, one Randolph later described to me as lighthearted.
A fan asked about what happened between Rolen and La Russa and why they just couldn’t get along. Randolph and Horton explained how even the best relationships go sour. Alpha player. Omega manager. Etc. Etc. Eventually the personalities clash and they don’t give an iota about each other.
That was when La Russa left his signing behind to take the stage, and say, breezily:
“The Cardinals have a history of taking the absolute best care of their players and Scott Rolen got the best care possible,” La Russa said. “He made a very big mistake.”
Rousing applause ushered La Russa back to his table.
***
Will be at Winter Warm-Up all weekend, filing live updates into the blog from press conferences and panels. On Monday, I’ll be hosting a panel for fans at noon. It’s opposite Tony La Russa’s Q & A on the main stage and Albert Pujols signing autographs. So choose wisely … and get back to me if they say or do anything newsworthy.
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
[...] Reyes wants to find his fastball. If you’ve seen it, please leave it at the Busch Stadium will call [...]
DG’s Tuesday story about Adam Kennedy:
“This year, I just don’t think we have that margin (to let a player play out of a funk),” La Russa said. “Adam is a key guy in that mix. So I expect him to return to his winning player form. But he needs to make sure he dots all the I’s, and not coming (this weekend) is I hope his first and only mistake.”
The coverage from the Winter Warmup has been great, except there’s been no mention of how the players look taking infield practice and in the batting cage. Oh, wait, they’re just signing #?&%’ing autographs and answering questions. Gee, I can’t imagine why Kennedy wouldn’t want to face the fans after hitting .219 in the first year of a big contract. Does LaRussa think that the way he antagonized Rolen is a model for motivating players? (A pox on both TLR and Rolen.) I don’t care whether Kennedy shows up at the fan fest. Whether he signs $1 autographs for Cardinals Care is irrelevant. Hopefully, he’s rehabbing his knee and getting his head straightened out.
Question: It would be great to see Kennedy rebound in ‘08. But if he looks the same in spring training, or if he’s hitting .230 in May without improving in the field, what are the odds that he could be released? Would the Cardinals seriously consider eating his contract? Send Jocketty the bill.
I hope Reyes can find his fastball, but I wonder if he’ll get a chance to use it with the Cards. It seems Duncan does better with older pitchers than young ones.
[...] Winter Warm-up: Reyes’ fastball quest One question continues to gnaw at him: Where did that fastball go? … fastball. In the minors, Reyes has been able to fire a fastball that pushes [...]
I heard recently lots of Cardinals players are big on xbox live……wonder how hard it is to track down their xbox live IDs…….might be a good time to shoot down your favorite redbird in Halo 3. Or team up with them.
I’m inclined to agree with you, Fuhrig, concerning Kennedy. I personally don’t care whether he’s at the Winter Warmup or not. Still, if you know that your manager wants you there, but still don’t show up, I don’t think that’s a very smart move on Kennedy’s part. One thing about TLR is that he’s very loyal to his players in the press. It takes an awful lot of bad blood (i.e. Rolen, Ozzie) for La Russa to finally say enough’s enough. I hope for Kennedy’s sake, as well as the team’s, that he shows up for Spring Training healthy and ready to put 2007 way behind him.
perhaps reyes fastball could be located by searching the six inch vacuum between his ears.
[...] Anthony Reyes Anthony is saying that he lost his fast ball and command last year. I thought that was because he was being directed to change his fast ball. Maybe not. I hope everything is corrected in 2008 and that he has a good season. STLtoday.com - Bird Land - Blog Archive - Winter Warm-up: Reyes’ fastball quest [...]
there have been instances of 2 - 14 pitchers turning around their next seasons, haven’t there? wouldn’t it be great if reyes could be the pitcher we didn’t know we had? he has the stuff…if only the cards could find someone who could fix his attitude. i feel sure that he has a mental block that changes him when he reaches the majors. i think he feels he is a 4A player. in other words, too good for AAA but not good enough for the show. someone tell dr. phil to quit screwing around with brittany and get to work on anthony.
My thought on Kennedy is there was a reason why we let him go as a hot prospect early in his career. Sadly 2007 told us why it was a good move then. The guy is no Tommy Herr.
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