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Bannister gets as many batters out with his head as his fastball
That’s why it’s so easy to appreciate a guy like Brian Bannister (the Professor, as he is known in the clubhouse). There’s comfort in knowing that if all else fails, Bannister can get hitters out simply because he’s smarter than them.
You probably know that Bannister is a self-admitted slave to his charts, videos and logs he keeps of every hitter. Bannister will do everything but interview a hitter’s high school counselor (don’t give him any ideas) to gain an edge.
“Can you just outthink a hitter?” Bannister said, pondering the question. “Yes, I think you can once you get enough knowledge of that hitter.”
Sometimes, though, even Bannister knows that all that information may not be enough to beat a great hitter. That’s when the thinking man does the unthinkable: He totally gives in to the hitter.
Former Royals closer Jeff Montgomery used to do the same thing when he felt overmatched. Montgomery would toss up a batting-practice ball right down the middle, on purpose. The hitter, startled and overanxious, often popped up or hit a weak grounder.
“Oh, yeah, I do that,” Bannister confessed. “I’ll throw them a big lollipop. You know, if you throw them your best pitch, they’ll hit it. That’s what they do. That’s why they’re such great hitters.
“But you throw them a lollipop — that’s the last thing they expect.”
Bannister loves the thinking element to the game, so much so that he also has great respect for the way some hitters try to outthink him.
“Take a guy like Manny Ramirez,” Bannister said. “He’ll purposely take outs early in the game just so he disrupts any pattern pitchers might have of him. That way it’s really hard to pitch to him when the game is on the line. That’s why he’s so good in the clutch.”
Not surprisingly, Bannister has the most trouble with hitters who don’t present any pattern at all.
“The guess hitters get to me,” he said.
Then there are the hitters that Bannister has a perfect plan for, and still can’t get out.
“That’s the random part of baseball,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. The rest of the league gets them out no problem. But I can’t. I don’t know if it’s because the plane of my pitches sets up well with the plane of their swing, or what...
“Logically, you pitch around them. Don’t let them hit at all.”
Be sure
A growing number of e-mailers are wondering whether the Royals would be better served trading David DeJesus and going with Joey Gathright full time in center. Two problems: There is still some hopeful thinking inside the Royals organization (I’m of that mindset too) that DeJesus has another level offensively he will excel to, and there is no outfield depth.