BALTIMORE – Of the various statistics that have fallen out of favor in modern baseball, perhaps none has seen a steeper fall than the pitcher’s victory. Pitchers somewhat coveted 20-win seasons, regardless of their ERA; the last Cy Young Award winner to reach 20 wins was now 2019. As starters go fewer and fewer innings and analytics more reliably present strengths and weaknesses, winning the pitcher is not everything simply no longer the measuring stick it once was.
Reid Detmers understands and is aware of this reality. He’s not an old face stuck in a bygone era. But for the 23-year-old southpaw, his win-loss record matters more to him than anything else.
“The more wins you have, you help the team,” Detmers said. “You delve deeper into games. Which saves the bullpen. You bring much more to the team. I’m not saying if you play six rounds each time you’ll win… but you give it your all.
“It means so much more than the statistics say. This is not important to some people. That does not bother me.
Detmers showed flashes of total dominance. His no-hitter against the Rays in 2022. His impeccable innings a few months later. He once again came within five outs of a hit against the eventual world champion Texas Rangers last season. Then he struck out seven and walked none four starts later.
When Detmers is on, there are few things better. But to only highlight the good moments would be an inaccurate reflection of how hard his MLB career has been thus far. Those big moments came with a career 4.37 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. He was optioned to fix mechanical issues, and he’s been open about consistency issues with his slider — a pitch he throws nearly a third of the time.
But this year, Detmers’ goal is to be the guy. To consistently showcase the talent that made him the No. 10 pick in the draft just four years ago. Accumulate the victories, because in the end, that’s all that really matters. He will have his first opportunity Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles.
“There are no limits,” said fellow starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval. “A young lefty who throws gas and has quality off-speed stuff. I think he has the potential to be one of the best pitchers in our game.”
The slider is arguably Detmers’ most important pitch. And last season, he failed to realize it. When asked if it was the point of grip or release that bothered him, Detmers joked: “There were a lot of them. »
Detmers has thrown the slider the same way his entire life. With success in high school. College. The minor leagues. And sometimes in big ones. He said it took him a long time mentally to accept that this had to change.
In the middle of the offseason bullpen, he said to himself, “I’m done with this.” » He used to “stitch it”, referring to a more unusual sliding grip, where the index finger is curved near the seam. He’s switched to a standard sliding grip and believes the ceiling of his effectiveness is just as high, while the floor of his failure is equally high.
“I’m not as worried about the slider for him,” Angels pitching coach Barry Enright said, while emphasizing the potential for increased use of the changeup. “The mechanical things that come into play, we talked about his leg push. We moved him to the center of the rubber instead of the third base side. To keep the cursor on the plate, you almost have to throw it to the left-handed hitter. We try to keep this thing on white.
While there are those minor adjustments, Enright said the only thing he really needs to talk about with Detmers is body language and confidence. Because when it comes to pitching, “he has it all.”
Enright could talk about mechanics and science for hours without even a sip of water. He also understands that Detmers needs less mechanics and science. It’s mental. It’s a belief. An intangible, certainly, but still so critical.
Part of this mentality is allowing bad things to happen. Do not let an out go ahead because a run is scored in the first inning or if the number of pitches increases. If the runners are first and third, it is more important to finish the inning than to come out of it completely unscathed.
“For him, it’s never a thing,” Enright said. “In big moments, we won’t always succeed, but you have to have the right mindset to achieve it. You have to have the right confidence to achieve this. This requires a strong mentality.
“But also big balls.”
Enright started a drill in spring training called “Chaos.” It’s an ordinary enclosure. But it’s done on a back lot, with music. And the fans came and got excited to scream and scream and take him away from the comfort that often comes with spring.
Not all casters participated in Chaos. But Detmers did it. And that was why. Its exits have often been devolved. Chaos was his enemy. And this exercise was about facing it head on. It therefore no longer costs him these coveted victories. And above all the team. Detmers needed to improve his mentality and mechanics, and believes he put himself in a position to do so.
Its objectives are clear. He wants to throw more than 180 innings. He wants to achieve 10 to 15 victories, or even more. He said he sets numerical goals for himself in order to mentally push himself to improve. This will be his fourth year in the majors. It’s time.
“Obviously there’s a lot that goes into it,” Detmers said. “It’s not always going to happen the way you want it to. But if I give everything. If I give it all I have and prepare for it, I don’t see anything holding us back.
The Angels’ rotation has been a sore spot in 2023. Not only because they’ve struggled, but because pitchers like Detmers and Sandoval haven’t taken the step forward that everyone expected. They entered this season hoping to become the double that seemed painfully possible. It was within their reach, and it remains so.
They will be in a five-man rotation, the centerpiece of the pitching staff with Shohei Ohtani on a new team. If this ballclub has a chance, Detmers will have to be the guy. The pitcher who gets involved in matches carries his team. And above all for him, he accumulates victories.
“If you want to be a starting pitcher in this league, you want to be one of the best,” Detmers said. “You want to succeed. And you want to be known. And I think that’s my way of setting my personal goals. If I want to be who I want to be, this is how I’m going to get there.
(Top photo by Reid Detmers: Michael Owens/Getty Images)