FROM WORST TO FIRST... HOW THE REVS WERE BUILT TO WIN
Monday, July 19, 2010
By: Ron Gardner
Part 2 Of 2
Click here to read Part 1
“How many guys have you gotten signed, Coach?”
That’s the question that Revs’ pitching coach Mark Mason invariably knows he’ll have to answer whenever he’s trying to recruit and sign a pitcher.
“The players, they couldn’t care less about how many championships you’ve ever won,” Mason said. “They want to know how many guys have you gotten signed? How many pitchers? How many this, how many that? To players in independent ball, that’s the most important thing - because if they come to you, they’ve got a chance to get moved on.”
It’s a good thing for York that Mason has built an enviable reputation as a coach who can help get his pitchers an opportunity to be signed by major league organizations. Mason’s pitching staff has included 22 different hurlers in the season’s first half and despite all the personnel changes, the Revs own the Atlantic League’s third-best team earned run average (4.16) in the first half, behind Bridgeport (4.15) and league-leader Southern Maryland (3.17).
In his eight years coaching and managing in pro baseball, Mason estimates he’s had a hand in helping some 50 players get signed by an affiliated team. That, along with manager Andy Etchebarren’s reputation as a good skipper to play for, has helped the Revolution continually restock and upgrade their pitching staff throughout the first half of the season.
“Some of the guys know me, so I think it was a comfort level that they knew me or knew of me,” Mason said. “They knew what they were going to get with me. They know that I’ve had a track record of getting guys picked up. They know that I’m going to do everything I can for them. The players know we’re going to let them play. We don’t babysit here. I tell them showcase yourself every night. If you struggle, we’ll try to fix it.”
York has a trio of starting pitchers with six wins – Derell McCall (6-2, 3.46 ERA), Corey Thurman (6-4, 4.36 ERA) and Bob Zimmermann (6-1, 4.26 ERA). Left-hander Jesus Sanchez (5-2, 2.37 ERA) would also likely have six or more wins had he not left the Revs briefly to pitch for the Oakland A’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento before returning to York.
While relief pitching was a problem early in the season, the Revs’ frequent roster moves have helped to bolster the bullpen. Hard-throwing lefty Matt Riley and righty Jason Richardson have both worked significant innings as set-up men. To close out games, York now has a trio of relievers who have been effective in the late innings with John Muller (1-1, 5.29 ERA, 7 saves), Sean Stidfole (2-1, 1.83 ERA, 4 saves) and recently-acquired closer R.J. Rodriguez (2-0, 1.61 ERA, 3 saves).
After leading the Carolina League with 27 saves a year ago while pitching for Single-A Lynchburg in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system, Rodriquez has not given up a run in 14 of his 17 appearances. He is a perfect example where having the right contacts can pay off in bringing quality pitchers to York.
“A lot of minor league coordinators would call me when they release a guy like (when) they told me about R.J. Rodriquez,” Mason did. “The Pirates did. Basically they said he throws it over and he’s not afraid. That’s exactly what he is. Why they let a guy go, I don’t get into that. I just know when guys are available I try to get a scouting report.”
While improved, Etchebarren isn’t ruling out further roster moves involving pitchers in the season’s second half. “The pitching we’ve had to tweak a little bit as we’ve gone along,” Etchebarren said. “I’ll probably tweak it a little more.”
Settling On a Winning Formula
One of the intriguing things for Atlantic League baseball fans is being able to see a bunch of relatively “no-name” players competing on the same field against “big-name” players who often enjoyed successful years in the major leagues. While several of the league’s eight teams have rosters that include several recognizable former big-league players, having those well-known types in the line-up doesn’t necessarily result in a winning record.
“You look at the (teams) with the big-name guys,” said Revs center fielder Scott Grimes. “Bridgeport has a couple big-name guys that everybody knows. Newark’s got a lot of guys that everybody knows. But in the standings, where are they sitting? The numbers don’t lie. You can see what teams are winning and what teams aren’t winning. What two teams won the first half on each side?”
That would be the Revolution in the Freedom Division and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the Liberty Division.
“The two teams without the real big-name guys,” Grimes said. “I think (having well-known players) helps put people in the seats. Does it make them play (as a) team that much better? Maybe not. Not having the big-name players might make it easier. We might look at it as they’ve got these guys on their team. Let’s prove that we are maybe better or play a little bit better or we can do more than they can do with their big-name guys and beat them. That might light a fire under teams like us or Southern Maryland. I think the formula that Etch has put together has worked very, very well.”
Etchebarren prefers to think of his formula in terms of finding those players, with or without big-league experience, that give his team the best opportunity to win.
“If I bring in (Newark’s) Carl Everett or this guy or that guy with names, am I making the team better or am I satisfying the fans that they recognize the names?” Etchebarren said. “And I’m not saying they’re bad guys. I’m not saying that. But am I going to build my team so that the fans can recognize names and lose, or are we going to build a team we think can win? That’s the bottom line. When I put these guys on the field, I think we’ve got a chance to win. I would take (Bridgeport’s) Wily Mo Pena as a DH - they would recognize Wily Mo Pena. But he wasn’t available in the wintertime when I talked to him.”
Maybe, as Mason suggests, successful Atlantic League teams simply have more players with something they still want to prove.
“I think in this league, guys that are still aspiring to get (to the big leagues) or maybe guys that were there once for a cup of coffee, sometimes motivation is a factor,” Mason said. “Sometimes if a guy’s been there for a long time, he probably feels like no matter what I do here, it’s not going to get me back there. Sometimes in this league, if you can get a guy with a lot of experience that is more talented than a guy with less experience, but the guy with less experience might be a little more motivated, I think that’s the equalizer. It’s like an overachiever and independent baseball is lot about overachieving. It really is.”
Clubhouse Chemistry
Just like most of us regular Joe’s, baseball players enjoy coming to work a whole lot more and consequently perform better when they mesh well with their co-workers. If there are conflicts within the team, expect fewer wins on the field.
“You still have to have a good clubhouse and it doesn’t matter if you’re in college, here or in the big leagues,” Mason said. “A lot of what transpires in the clubhouse carries onto the field.”
Etchebarren talks frequently about wanting players with character - the right qualities that make for a positive environment that lends itself to winning performances. In leading the Revolution to a first-half division title, Etchebarren has seamlessly blended youth and experience, along with former high-profile prospects and undrafted hopefuls in building this team. His decisions to not bring back or trade away players who were fan favorites still continue to draw criticism from some in the stands, despite the “worst-to-first” turnaround he has engineered.
“I didn’t know anybody on the team last year - I didn’t know anything that was going on,” Grimes said. “I just saw the record. To me, that record doesn’t constitute happy people in the stands. But I know Etch came in and did what he wanted to do (and) changed over the whole staff. It has seemed to work wonders for us. We already know we have a spot in the playoffs.”
And despite his reputation as a no-nonsense, old-school baseball lifer who wants things exactly his way, you have to search pretty hard for a Revs’ player that doesn’t seem to genuinely like and admire Etchebarren.
‘We all play hard for Etch and we all play together as one, which is the key to the wining team,” shortstop Chuck Jeroloman said. “We have a loose clubhouse. Everybody in here has fun. It’s awesome. Etch does a great job helping guys keep their confidence up during the season. I love playing for him. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in world.”
Neither would pitcher Corey Thurman, one of two players (along with pitcher Bob Zimmermann) on York’s opening day roster in 2009 who are back with the team this season.
“We won the first-half championship (for) the first time in franchise history,” Thurman said. “That should be enough said.”
They Know They Haven’t Won Anything
For all the euphoria that winning a first-half division crown brings, there are still another 70 regular season games to play before the playoffs even start. That’s a long time for any team to try to rest on their laurels.
“We set out with a goal,” Etchebarren said. “We accomplished a third of our goal. We’ve got the second half and then we’ve got the playoffs. So we’ve got two-thirds of the way to go.
“Winning every series we play - that’s our goal. Hopefully we don’t lose too many. That was our goal when we started this thing and that’s our goal in the second half. And if we win every series in the playoffs, we’re going to be champions of the Atlantic League.”
And even as the players celebrated their freshly-won division title, Etchebarren was quick to remind his team that the league championship they seek is still a long way off.
“I told them - they know it,” Etchebarren said. “They know they haven’t won anything. It was a nice celebration because it was a lot of hard work the first half. A lot of guys played injured - a lot of guys were worn out. They went out there every day and they wanted to go out there every day.
“Some of the fans probably didn’t understand why (Jose) Herrera wasn’t running as hard as he could run. (John) Pachot, (Liu) Rodriquez - all those guys were hurt. I thought they could help us more on the field than they did sitting down, so they did it. I’m proud of this club and I’m proud of them no matter happens the rest of the way.”
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