MLB can ‘suffocate’ players from Class A, but 5 Texas Rangers learning how to breathe
Much has been made, and rightfully so, of the five Texas Rangers rookies this season who went to the big leagues from High A in the minor leagues.
Anderson Tejeda was the first. Sherten Apostel was the latest.
No Double A. No Triple A. Work at summer camp for some and at the alternate camp site for all five, but no meaningful games to get them ready for the baseball like they’ve never experienced.
It’s like going from being freshman in high school to a senior.
That was the case for those who played Double A or Triple A last season, but their learning curve was much smaller. The A ball kids missed out on 200-250 games at the two upper levels in the minors before their debuts.
Chances are they all see time next season in the minors. They might all start there. But they have seen what the difference is between A ball and the majors, and it was a quick lesson.
“Just the experience level of better competition,” manager Chris Woodward said.
That’s not vastly different for pitchers and hitters.
Pitchers might have velocity and a secondary pitch or two, but they haven’t quite figured out how to sequence them or how to command them consistently enough. A big-league hitter will exploit that.
A big-league hitter won’t swing at the same pitch just off the plate that an A ball hitter would. That can lead to a young pitcher to make mistakes, either by catching too much plate with a pitch or by throwing a pitch a hitter reads as a ball right out of the hand.
Woodward said that the discipline can “suffocate” an A ball pitcher.
“In A ball, there’s maybe one hitter that’s a big-leaguer potentially,” Woodward said. “Then you get to Double A and there’s three or four and there’s five or six at the Triple-A level. Then you get to the big leagues and it’s basically 1 through 9 are better than anybody you’ve ever faced.”
Kyle Cody, who last pitched in A ball in 2017 and missed most of 2018 and 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery, allowed one run Tuesday in three innings against the Houston Astros.
They had a chance for more, taking advantage of a lack of fastball command from Cody. But he wiggled out of jams in the second and third innings by keeping his composure and making quality pitches at the right time.
It was a physical and mental grind, and there was a telling reason for the difficult time.
“First thing, I’ve got to command my fastball better,” Cody said. “That was a very obvious thing for me to improve on. Everything starts with the fastball for me and being able to command it is a very huge thing and that goes along with my performance. I just feel like I battled and made quality pitches when I needed to.”
Hitters don’t have easy either. They are trying to hit the kind of pitching that the A ball pitchers are hoping to emulate.
MLB pitchers know how to executive a game plan and exploit a hitter’s weaknesses. Sam Huff, who finished last season at High A Down East, hasn’t seen many fastballs because he hasn’t shown an ability to hit breaking balls.
Even though he probably knows one is coming, especially when behind in the count, he can’t quickly read when a pitch is going to dive out of the strike zone. The result is chasing out of the zone.
“Nowadays in A ball you’re still facing guys that throw 95 to 100 pretty regularly,” Woodward said. “The velo is there, but the execution is not. Being able to pitch off of two two different pitches, the higher up you get, you still get guys that can execute. In the big leagues they execute it a lot more.”
One thing the A ball players have shown the Rangers is energy, smarts, no fear, and, of course, talent. They are asking the right questions, following the guidance of veterans and getting better with each game.
Cody likely has the best shot at the Opening Day roster next season. Tejeda, Huff, Apostel and John King are on the 40-man roster and an injury away from returning if they don’t win a roster spot next spring.
They will have an idea of what they need to do to be successful.
“It can be difficult at times, but you’ve just got to try to go in and, do your best job to prepare for the games, watch a video and do all the stuff necessary to make sure that you are the most prepared that you can be,” Cody said.
