BRADENTON, Fla. — When right-hander Tyler Glasnow stepped off the pitcher’s mound Tuesday, the hitter he’d just blown a fastball by walked toward him with something to say. The hitter, Josh Harrison, and onlooker Adam Frazier had noticed Glasnow tipping pitches during his slide-step delivery, revealing his grip on the baseball when he separated his hands and reached back to fire.
“We just thought Glass might be giving a couple things away,” Frazier disclosed later.
They chatted briefly and decided the easy fix was for Glasnow to draw his hands closer to his body.
The interaction, according to manager Clint Hurdle, was an example of the feedback loop ideally at play during live batting practice, a spring training staple pitting teammates against teammates. Hurdle used to hear hitters in the batting cages comment on pitchers’ tendencies.
“I’d say, ‘Hey, talk to him. It’s not going to help me,’ ” Hurdle said. “The conversations have started.”
Glasnow is eager for advice. The Pirates’ 6-foot-8 prospect spent the past six months rewiring his mechanics in an effort to secure a spot in the rotation, and he understands the strikes against him. He couldn’t hold runners last season. His command came and went. His fastball, which touched 97.6 mph, is weaponized by showing secondary pitches — but Glasnow threw only seven changeups.
It’s rare to get advice from opposing hitters, Glasnow joked, so hearing from teammates helped.
Harrison and Frazier “had some good words for me,” Glasnow said. “Especially with guys of those calibers, they’re so good at hitting. Anything they have to say, I have open ears.”
At 23, it’s no surprise Glasnow proclaims, “This is the best I’ve ever felt, by far.” But he’s not just talking about his athleticism. He said his confidence is better, and his delivery is cleaner, too. Last season, he felt he was in his head, trying to implement adjustments, and showed poorly.
Glasnow, the 2011 fifth-round pick from Santa Clarita, Calif., trained part of the offseason with Kyle Bracey, a Chicago-based strength and conditioning coach. Bracey tailored a stability program using medicine balls he felt would solidify the mechanical tweaks Glasnow had made on the mound.
“At first, I was weak and long with the [exercises] — just like pitching,” Glasnow said. “Afterward, I could feel the transfer of short-stride, weight-ball throws to pitching. Everything felt right.”
This spring, Glasnow has added a two-seam fastball and workshopped a new changeup grip — switching from a four-seam to a two-seam grip — and incorporated a slide step designed to keep runners at bay. The leg lift is quicker, the stride shorter. Time to the plate Tuesday was 1.4 seconds.
What were delivery times last year?
“Oh, I don’t know,” Glasnow said. “Fourteen seconds? I have no idea. It was long, though.”
Glasnow made another change Harrison liked. In the full windup, Glasnow now pauses on his first step, rocking slightly on his left foot, before continuing the motion. The problem in the past, Glasnow said, is he tended to rush forward. This adjustment helps his weight distribution and rhythm and, according to Harrison, disrupts hitters’ timing as they gear up for a high-90s heater.
“He’s got some exciting stuff,” Harrison said.
Tyler Glasnow with a little 🔥. pic.twitter.com/nzPtp2wBWY
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) February 18, 2017
Glasnow had a 4.24 ERA in 23⅓ innings for the Pirates, but there were intriguing signs. He struck out 24 batters, and while his average fastball velocity was 93.5 mph, according to MLB’s Statcast, his perceived velocity was 96.5 mph, a jump aided by a delivery with an average extension of 7.74 feet.
Pirates management hasn’t been especially subtle about Glasnow’s situation. He’s outgrown the minors, evidenced by a 1.96 ERA and 181 strikeouts in 151 innings for Class AAA Indianapolis, but the major leagues are a different story. General manager Neal Huntington’s view: “There’s no other way to put it, he dominated AAA baseball last year. Those results didn’t translate.”
When weighing options for the fifth starter, Huntington spoke of right-hander Drew Hutchison’s experience, of Glasnow’s ceiling, and of others. To overcome the experience gap — and the fact Hutchison is due $2.3 million this season — Glasnow must prove he’s prepared.
“Trust me, if Tyler Glasnow is ready to help us at the major league level, that’s a good thing for us and we’ll absolutely give him that opportunity,” Huntington said. “If he’s not, we’ll continue to work to help him get ready. When he puts this all together, he’s going to be a fun pitcher to watch.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: February 23, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
