Dyson returns to Rangers with larger following after dominating WBC

Pedro Martinez, yes, that Pedro Martinez, spoke glowingly late Wednesday night about a kid named Sam Dyson.

Martinez, the Hall of Fame right-hander and arguably one of the top pitchers in the past 50 years, has a commentator’s gig on MLB Network and was at Dodger Stadium after Team USA wrapped up the World Baseball Classic title.

Dyson pitched the seventh inning, again silencing an opposing country’s bats to keep his WBC ERA at the Blutarsky line, 0.00. Those who don’t watch the American League or, more specifically, the AL West, might have been surprised to learn that Dyson is the closer for the Texas Rangers.

“This is a kid that really impressed me. This kid is poised,” Martinez said. “He’s like a cold-blooded killer. He stands out there like, ‘I don’t want anything, but I’m going to kill you promptly.’ ”

The end of his remark is up for debate. Some say Martinez said “kill your family.” Whatever. The point is that the great Martinez was wowed by Dyson, who prefers to work without fanfare and seems oblivious to it.

Those who might have been surprised to learn about Dyson are no longer oblivious to him.

“According to my Instagram, I got like 25 or 50 more followers,” Dyson said Friday as he, Team USA teammate Jonathan Lucroy and Puerto Rico lefty-hander Alex Claudio returned to Rangers camp. “I saw it go over 5,000 the other day, and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ ”

That was Dyson’s way of diverting the attention away from him, but that’s not easy to do as the closer for a division champion and a setup ace for the WBC champs. It’s not easy to do when you throw a heavy 95-mph sinker that breaks the bats and the spirits of hitters.

But it was quickly evident that manager Jim Leyland trusted Dyson as one of Team USA’s top relievers. Dyson recorded five outs on 11 pitches in the biggest game, a 6-3 victory Sunday over the Dominican Republic in a win-or-go-home game that was 4-3 when he entered.

He was the winning pitcher Tuesday in the semifinals against Japan, working a perfect seventh inning against Japan, and he was perfect in the seventh again Wednesday in an 8-0 win over Puerto Rico to secure the title.

Dyson finished the tournament with six perfect innings in five appearances and four strikeouts.

“Compete. Get the job done. Try to put a zero up,” said Dyson, who saved 38 games last season despite taking over Rangers closer duties in mid-May from Shawn Tolleson.

Lucroy, who caught Dyson on Sunday and Wednesday, said Dyson caught the attention of Team USA players and coaches who hadn’t seen him up close. Dyson said that the only players he had a prior relationship with entering the tournament were Lucroy and former Miami Marlins teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich.

He gained some friends the past two weeks.

“Everybody was like, ‘He’s nasty,’ ” Lucroy said. “I was like, ‘Yeah. He’s throwing 95-mph sinkers down. You’re not going to square that up.’ The other guys were definitely impressed by him.”

Dyson said he doesn’t have any catching up to do after being away from Rangers camp for two weeks. He said he might be an inning shy of his typical springtime workload, but he has also knocked out a reliever’s spring requirement of working on back-to-back days.

He isn’t concerned about any adjustment period from the highs of pitching for his country in meaningful games, which he considers the highlight of his career, to the drudgery of pitching in spring games.

He’s ready to be the Rangers’ closer again.

Those who might not have known who Dyson was before the WBC do now.

“One, that’s he’s a groundball machine, but he’s more than a groundball machine. He’s got swing-and-miss stuff,” manager Jeff Banister said. “He can handle big situations. He’s pretty calm on the mound. This is a high-quality back-end-of-the-bullpen pitcher with the demeanor for it.”

Up next

vs. Mariners, 3:10 p.m. Saturday, Peoria Sports Complex

Rangers probable pitchers: RHP Nick Martinez, LHP Dario Alvarez, RHP Eddie Gamboa

Mariners probable pitchers: LHP Dillon Overton, RHP Evan Scribner, RHP Jonathan Aro, RHP Jean Machi, LHP Nick Hagadone

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Dyson returns to Rangers with larger following after dominating WBC."