Nolan Ryan has been at the forefront of a new pitching program for the Texas Rangers. Ryan wants to see pitchers go deeper into games like he and his colleagues did in past eras. Forget about coddling pitchers with pitch counts.
Pitchers are expected to compete until they have nothing left. Ryan demands that they give their very best and nothing less.
Ryan wants to go against the grain. He wants to challenge the boundaries set by modern day baseball. Boundaries that have watered down the game with specialists in bullpen and quality starts that last six innings.
He wants players to build up stamina and toughness – two qualities that served as the foundation for his Hall of Fame career – in an era where mediocrity is accepted.
Ryan may finally have the poster child for his program. A throwback pitcher who eats up innings and competes at a high level every time he takes the ball.
Cliff Lee was traded to the Rangers with reliever Mark Lowe for rookie first baseman Justin Smoak and three minor leaguers. […]
Lee immediately brings a workmanlike approach that will boost the first-place Rangers to new heights in the second half. With the lefty leading the way, Texas should finally get over the hump to play October baseball.
Since he started the year April 30, Lee leads the league with a 2.34 ERA and five complete games. He has an 8-3 record on a bad team that includes wins over five first-place teams. And he has a ridiculous 89-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He’s also a big-time pitcher. During last year’s playoffs with the Philadelphia Phillies, he went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA and two complete games. In the World Series, Lee won the only two games for the Phils against the Yankees.
He has been great in every situation – on a loser in Cleveland, a winner in Philly and back to losing in Seattle.
Texas presents a new challenge. The organization is looking for a spark to its first postseason since 1999. The Rangers have yet to win a playoff series in their history – the only franchise in baseball to have that distinction.
Ryan never tasted team success in Texas, but he’s working just as hard in the front office as he did as a player to bring the state a winner. Ryan has been a winner during his entire baseball life. He’s done it with a simple formula that calls for a lot of hard work. It sounds simple, but in today’s game with huge contracts and so many players, hard work isn’t easy to sell.
Hard work and conditioning are the basis of great pitching and thus winning baseball.
Tim Wendel outlines the turning point for Ryan in his career in High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time. Ryan nearly quit baseball during his early years with the Mets, unable to harness his fastball and struggling to survive financially (imagine that for a ballplayer today).
Then, he was traded to the California Angels. Coach Jimmie Reese got after Ryan from the start, drilling ground ball after ground ball to him during the team’s first spring training workout. After 20 minutes of ground balls left and right, Ryan was exhausted and ready to pass out.
“One more ground ball would have done it,” Ryan remembers in High Heat. “I was about spent.”
The workout inspired Ryan to be in top shape the rest of his career. His fitness allowed him to last deep into games and to pitch for 27 years until he was 46 years old.
Since he retired in 1993, pitchers have thrown fewer and fewer innings.
Cliff Lee has been an exception. Lee seems to get stronger as games go on. He seems to live for the challenge to finish what he starts.
Lee didn’t have any memorable workouts like Ryan as a wakeup call. Lee’s wakeup call was much more humbling.
He was left off the Indians postseason roster three years ago and sent to the minor leagues to find himself. Lee had a 6.29 ERA in the big leagues and his career was in question. Some pitchers never find it again. But Lee was determined to prove all the doubters wrong. He just needed another shot.
When Lee got his chance the next season, he took advantage, going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA. He won the Cy Young and became one of the top pitchers in baseball. Like Ryan, Lee’s success came down to a whole lot of hard work and determination to be the best he could be.
In Philadelphia, Lee instantly became a fan favorite. Watching him on a daily basis, I noticed something little about Lee that made a big impression on me.
He sprints on and off the field between innings.
To me, this routine was as awesome as his pinpoint control. Pitchers are allowed to walk on and off the field to conserve energy. It’s a well-known rule in baseball circles. But Lee runs. He hustles onto the field, giving everything he has and setting the tone for the entire game. His teammates better hustle and his opponents better be ready for a battle. In today’s game, hustle is a lost art. When a starting pitcher is doing it, it’s a beautiful thing.
His no-nonsense style carries over to the mound. Lee works fast and efficiently. He throws strikes. And he wins games.
Nolan Ryan will be proud to watch his new starter after the All-Star break. He’ll see the old-school mentality out on the mound every fifth day. And so will his teammates.
The Ryan pitching program that preaches stamina and conditioning will have a perfect example. Cliff Lee already has that style down. He should take the pitching staff and the team to another level of intensity that will help them finish the division on top.
He re-energized Philadelphia last summer. He can do the same for Texas.
All it takes is some hard work and belief in the system.
When those come together, the sky is the limit. The boundaries are erased and rebuilt with a tougher attitude. The challenge is to go higher and higher until there is nothing else to accomplish.