Does Verlander Listen?
By Blake VandeBunte • Apr 8th, 2009 • Category: 2009 Season, Jim Leyland, Justin VerlanderOn the Tigers website today, Jason Beck wrote about how Jim Leyland has advised Justin Verlander to “ease up.” Didn’t Leyland suggest the same thing last season? I’m with Leyland on this one as it seems that Verlander gets frustrated out there and just doesn’t let his talent take over. Here’s a bit from Beck:
Tigers manager Jim Leyland can sense the pressure that Justin Verlander is putting on himself. He could also see the power Verlander was trying to put on his fastballs Monday night. After Verlander opened the season by tying his career high with eight earned runs over 3 2/3 innings, Leyland talked about taking a little off on both.
“The biggest thing with Justin Verlander, in my opinion, I think he has to eliminate putting too much on himself to be the horse of the staff,” Leyland said. “I think the other thing that is definitely, totally necessary is that he continues to stick with [pitching coach] Rick Knapp and do the things that he saw so much progress in Spring Training and not get away from it.”
No one in baseball denies Verlander’s talent as a pitcher. He throws an “easy” 98 mph and when his offspeed pitches are under his control, he’s one of the best in the game.
However, I’m starting to think that he thinks he’s better than he actually is. Stay with me here: On opening day, Rod and Mario said something about how Verlander thinks he was good enough last year to win 17 games instead of losing 17 games. I take issue with comments like that, no matter who they come from.
Now, I don’t know Justin Verlander, but when people say stuff like that it makes me think that they really aren’t trying to get better because they already believe they are great. If Verlander thinks he pitched well enough last season to win 17 games then he is mistaken.
While the defense hurt him at times last season, he continues to hurt himself. He nibbles on the corners instead of attacking the strike zone which results in a lot of really negative outcomes. He is prone to walks when he’s throwing so many pitches. He is prone to wearing down early in games and therefore is susceptible to the long ball. It’s a bad situation.
However, I really do think the main thing is that he needs to be a bit more humble. I want to hear Verlander say that he blew it last year and that he blew it against the Jays on Monday. He really needs to be willing to take suggestions from those who are hired to help him figure this sort of stuff out.
Now this is not a one way street. Say you’re a dentist. All you hear all day is that you are one of the best dentists in the country. Now let’s also say you arent’ super-passionate about being a dentist. You just kind of fell into it in college because you realized you were really good at dentistry. If all you hear is how good you are all of the time a couple of things will happen:
- You will start to believe you really are one of the best.
- You may let your guard down because this whole dentist thing just comes really easily to you.
- Your performance starts to slip. You miss a cavity here, cut a lip there and all of the sudden, people are dropping you as your dentist. However, you’re still riding high from everyone telling you how good you were just a few years back.
- Pride is a bitch.
I think something similar is going on with Verlander and the Tigers. Leyland walked a thin line with him last year. He would drop hints here and there about what Verlander was doing wrong. However, as far as we know, no one ever sat Verlander down to just tell him how it was. He stunk and he needed to get right.
If you want to be great at something, you have to be willing to listen. You have to be willing to swallow your pride and take suggestions.
Maybe that first start of his will be the lone stinker this year. Maybe I’m overreacting. But from everything I’ve seen, we should be really concerned about Justin Verlander.
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Blake VandeBunte is a posting fiend.
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I agree. Verlander seems to want to always say, I pitched pretty well, I had good stuff, blah blah blah, and never wants to just say, hey, it was a bad outing and own up to that. He sort of tried to take responsibilty for the loss the other day, but I still heard some of that denial. I’m sure it’s a fine line for pitchers trying to keep their confidence level up, but at some point, you’ve got to point the finger at yourself.
It definitely speaks to a lack of maturity. I just don’t think Verlander is mature enough to be an ace pitcher on any ballclub. Unfortunately, we really need him to be. I am hoping the Tigers caught a break with the Jackson trade. I liked seeing him take notes on Opening Day while the Jays destroyed Verlander and the bullpen, I liked how he pitched yesterday, and I loved what he said to Lyon after he blew the game. He was one of the first ones in the dugout and in the bullpen to try to pick him up.
I’m not sure that Justin has the maturity for that, and I know that we haven’t seen that from Bonderman. Bondo has shown up many a reliever who blew one of his leads. So, what do you say, Blake? Can Edwin evolve into our ace this season?
I’m glad some people agree with me on this one. I was a bit worried people would get upset. I just really worry about Verlander and he doesn’t seem to be saying the right things or improving. Of course he’s only made the one start and maybe it was just a blip. Let’s hope he can turn it around.
Jackson looked great in his first start. He is still only 25 and has that live heater. If he can limit his walks a bit he certainly has the potential to be the staff ace.
I said all this , after he pitched his no hitter. I’m not sure how it went but Leyland made a comment and Verlander commented that he didn’t have to do whatever because the manager said so. He could think for himself. He may have the physical stuff, but it takes mental requirements as well. He has the attitude of a Yankee.