MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Francisco Liriano’s fastballs and sliders moved and zipped three years ago as if they were in a video game, a dazzling start to a promising career that has stalled during a confounding climb back from elbow surgery.
Liriano is still learning how to use his altered left arm, and some of the lessons have been hard – even long after the operation. With his once-unhittable pitches moving two or three fewer miles per hour than his All-Star rookie season for Minnesota, the 25-year-old must be smarter and more focused to succeed.
This season, that hasn’t happened much.
“He’s got to figure it out,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve got a really good pitcher.”
iano’s ERA rose to 6.42, while his confidence moved the other way.
“It’s not the same,” Liriano said, reflecting on his rookie year. “Now I just throw like 92. I need to find a way to pitch like that, not throwing 95 or 96. Sometimes I make good pitches. I haven’t got the rhythm, you know? Doing it over and over again. I need to get more consistent.”
Being more consistent on the mound might mean being less consistent – or at least less predictable – with his slider. Liriano used it to strike out the side in the second inning against Boston with runners on second and third, but it didn’t work as well after that.
“Instead of slider, slider, fastball, slider, I talked to him about trusting his other pitches,” pitching coach Rick Anderson said. “You use that slider so much, it takes away the effect. That’s what he’s doing, plus he’s overthrowing it.”
ry, which usually requires a recovery period of at least a year.
Late last summer, Liriano was on track. He went 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA in August after his recall from Triple-A and, despite a drop in pitch speed struck out 31 in 29 innings in September. When Scott Baker started this season on the disabled list, Liriano was Gardenhire’s pick for the opening day starter.
This spring, though, has not been pretty for him.
Liriano’s performance against the Red Sox on Monday was ugly, in terms of mechanics and mental approach.
“When it’s early in the game he’s staying tall, staying within himself,” Anderson said after that game. “Once he gets in trouble, it’s kind of like a broken record. … His fastball, instead of sinking, it’s flat. His slider, instead of biting late, is coming on a flat plane. He gets in trouble a little bit and tries to do too much, and when you do that your delivery goes. Once your delivery goes, everything else goes with it.”
Anderson, ever the reasoned sage for Minnesota’s young rotation, tried on Tuesday to reassure Liriano of his ability to bounce back during their usual post-start video review that’s part pep talk, part idea exchange. This time, Anderson pointed to the schedule.
work for you.”
Liriano shook his head with a slight smile and a faraway gaze in his eyes this week as he sat in a chair in the clubhouse and reflected on his most recent start. He insisted he wasn’t rushing. He insisted he was throwing in the right places.
“I don’t know what was wrong,” Liriano said. “They were good pitches. They were just hitting them.”
So he’ll take the mound again on Saturday against Tampa Bay, aiming to maintain the proper angles and pace as he winds up, trying to recapture that mojo from his rookie year with a couple of confidence-boosting starts.
“He’s got stuff,” Gardenhire said. “It’s not always about 95. It’s about that good, hard sinker he’s got that’s running all over the plate, that nasty slider, and that nasty changeup. He’s got three major league pitches – above average – when he stays in control and throws it.”
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