Marlins’West Finds A Challenge In Arizona
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MESA, Ariz. — He could be in Hawaii right now, hanging out on the beach when
he isn’t at the ballpark, or maybe even grabbing a surfboard and testing his
mettle on the waves as they rolled in from the Pacific.
Instead, Marlins lanky lefthander Sean West passed on the palm trees and
postcard-perfect sunsets of the islands and chose to spend a couple of months
around the dust, sand and menacing cactus in the desert southwest.
If some think he is nuts, so be it. The Arizona Fall League has proven to be
a finishing school for minor leaguers and West, a first-round supplemental
pick in 2005, wanted to challenge himself. That despite having spent all this
past summer with high Class A Jupiter in the Florida State League.
“I didn’t want to go to Hawaii,” West said Wednesday. “It has beautiful
scenery and all. But I’ve faced those hitters already. Coming here, I knew
I’d have to bear down.”
Finally free of problematic blisters on his pitching hand, West rallied from
a month-long absence this season, positioning himself for the heady jump to
Double-A Carolina next spring.
However, he is finding that hitters here in the Arizona Fall League to be
much more disciplined, a scenario that has created a valuable learning
experience that could help shape West in Double-A ball, arguably the proving
ground of the minor leagues.
Through four starts covering 12 innings for the Mesa Solar Sox, he is 1-1,
6.75 with 10 strikeouts but also eight walks, 13 hits and 10 runs, nine earned.
But …
“I’m learning how to pitch,” West said. “I have to throw offspeed pitches
in fastball counts. And I’m trying to pitch inside more. This year in high
Class A you got away with the fastball. That doesn’t work here. I’ve given
up a few gappers, but I’m learning how to pitch.”
That the AFL is further educating West should be more comforting to the
Marlins, who signed him for $775,000 out of a Shreveport, La., high
school—who doesn’t love a hard-throwing, 6-foot-8 lefthander?—but had to
shut him down ahead of the 2007 season so that he could undergo labrum surgery.
His return this season, coupled with success as he finished 6-5, 2.41 with 92
strikeouts in almost 101 innings in Jupiter, signaled that West could be
valuable next season, particularly in a pinch much the way the Marlins
summoned Chris Volstad to the majors straight from Double-A Carolina.
Even better for the Marlins, there are no more worries about the
blisters—West fixed the problem by urinating on his hand for a week, hardening
the skin—and now the sole focus centers on developing him as a complete
pitcher.
He’s abandoned his get-over slower slider in favor of the hard slider and is
eagerly learning how and when to employ a changeup.
Ray Burris, the Tigers’ pitching coach at Double-A who is mentoring Mesa’s
pitchers, has emphasized throwing inside and wants to see West repeat his
delivery more.
“A pitcher is someone who is going to use his defense, by understanding how
to keep the ball down and attacking the strike zone,” Burris said. “A thrower
is going to live on velocity only. (West) can be both. But I think when he
understands the two compliment each other, he’ll attack the zone and get
better results.
“He has the stuff to be overpowering. But when you’re trying to be
overpowering from a thrower’s standpoint, your pitches are up.”
Fortunately, West is soaking up the advice, so much so that he plans to stay
in the Phoenix area the rest of the winter and train at the Athletes’
Performance Institute in Tempe.
“In Double-A and Triple-A ball, you have to have the ability to throw your
offspeed for strikes anytime in the count,” West said. “Just having the
confidence to throw that pitch will make a difference.
“Hopefully I can jump (to the majors) next year,” West added. “You’re
just a few good outings from the big leagues in this organization. But there
is a ton of talented guys that are probably a year or two away.”
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11/03 19:23, , 1F
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