Tigers Pitching Coach Jeff Jones Anticipates Great Season For Verlander
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
LAKELAND, FLA. - As Justin Verlander threw on a practice field Thursday, fellow starting pitcher David Price, pitching coach Jeff Jones and general manager Dave Dombrowski all leaned up against the cage and watched intently.
Even more so than usual, Verlander will be under unceasing scrutiny in 2015. He won the Cy Young and MVP in 2011, pitched excellently again in 2012, saw his numbers worsen markedly in 2013, and unloaded in 2014 one of the worst seasons of his career.
In 2015, Verlander is on a mission to prove his poor performance last season came about because of post-surgery problems rather than because of his age (32) or the considerable number of innings on his arm (1,978 in the regular season alone).
A few days into spring training, the pitcher has marveled at how much better he feels now than he did at the end of last season, and he has drawn rave reviews from manager Brad Ausmus and pitching coach Jeff Jones.
While Jones is wary to project what Verlander - with his mobility and strength restored - can do this season, he can hardly help but have a positive outlook.
"As the spring progresses, I'll have a much better idea of where I think he is, where he thinks he is, and you can tell just by watching hitters' reactions on certain pitches how nasty he's going to be," Jones said with a chuckle. "It's just so tough to predict. If he stays healthy and stays strong the whole spring, I expect Justin to have a great year. I really do. You just don't know until we get toward the end.
"Catchers that have caught him this spring ... they come up and tell me, tell him, that, 'Boy, that's the best I've seen you in a while. Your curveball looked really sharp, probably sharper than I'd seen it all last year,' that kind of stuff," Jones added.
Verlander has undergone therapy sessions three or four times per week throughout the offseason to get his body right following the core surgery he had before the 2014 season. To this point, the work appears to be paying off. Jones even noted that Verlander seems to be further along at this point in spring training than he was in other years.
"It looked to me like he was cutting loose even more today than maybe some other springs," Jones said. "I could be mistaken. But he's got a lot to prove this year to himself. I don't think he feels good about what happened last year, and I expect him to push, push, push because that's just the way he is, that kind of competitor. Like I said, I expect him to have a great year."
Verlander, whose normal offseason routine was cut short before the 2014 season because of the required rehab after surgery, has gained nearly 30 pounds through his workout routine.
"It's funny," Verlander said with a grin Wednesday. "You don't even realize it. I put my baseball pants on, [and] I had to change pants. I think I maybe went down a size last year so I put them back on, and they were too tight. It's funny me saying my pants are too tight. I'm the only guy left that wears super-tight pants. It's nice to look down and see my legs look like they're supposed to look, like I remembered them looking."
Verlander said he does not notice the extra bulk - does not necessarily feel much stronger, even though he knows that he is - because the changes in his body have been gradual.
"It's kind of like if you're the parent of a kid, you don't notice them growing, but if you leave for a month and come home, it's like, 'Holy s---, they got a lot bigger,'" Verlander said. "That's kind of what I would equate it to. If I were able to feel like at right now and then rewind five months, I'd probably feel drastically different, but it's been such small increments all the way through, so you don't really notice it."
Verlander can tell a major difference in his ability to throw, however.
"I've had some good signs throwing bullpens," Verlander said. "The other day I threw like 50 pitches in the bullpen and sat down, cooled off, and after 15 minutes it felt like I could throw again and get loose pretty quick, whereas last year every inning was a grind trying to just get my arm working again. It would take me 10 pitches into the inning to feel like I was loose, which wasn't fun."
Like everyone in the Tigers organization, Ausmus hopes the effect of the surgery was the sole reason for how Verlander struggled in 2014, turning in an ERA of 4.54 and recording far fewer strikeouts - 159, down from 217 - than he did the previous season.
"I don't know if I could quantify it, but he's noticeably better and has been noticeably better since day one," Ausmus said Wednesday. "He looks stronger, his bullpens look better, his arm speed looks better, his curveball looks better. He's still got a long way to go, but I'm hoping it's a sign of good things to come."
Given Verlander's competitive nature coupled with his struggles in 2014, Jones will keep a close eye to make sure the pitcher does not push himself too hard.
"Definitely," Jones said with a laugh, answering the question before it was even completed. "And if I think he's pushing too hard, I'll let him know."
