Trevor Rosenthal pitching his way into Royals bullpen with strong start this spring
Right-hander Trevor Rosenthal threw hard last year. In fact, his average fastball velocity was a blistering 98 mph. However, he struggled with command of his pitches and he generally felt out of whack physically.
That’s a large part of the reason he was on the free-agent market when the Kansas City Royals scooped him up on a minor-league deal in December prior to the Winter Meetings.
That’s also why he knows, appreciates and has embraced the difference he’s felt this year when he’s taken the mound this spring in Arizona. He has pumped fastballs that light up radar guns at 100 mph, as he did on Tuesday night, and he’s been in full control.
“Something I wasn’t able to do last year,” Rosenthal said of being locked-in mechanically. “I just put in a lot of work over the offseason, trying to get that muscle memory back and throwing strikes. Coming in here, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know where I was going to be. I knew I put in the work, but for it to be paying off now is definitely rewarding.”
Rosenthal, who grew up in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, tossed one scoreless inning with three strikeouts and allowed one hit on a hanging changeup in a 6-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
Through three innings in three Cactus League appearances, Rosenthal has allowed only one hit, hasn’t walked a batter and has struck out seven. He’s faced one more than the minimum number of batters he could’ve in that span, and he’s consistently thrown in the upper 90s and went up to 101 in his latest outing.
It’s seemingly a world apart from last season when one team, the Washington Nationals, released him and another, the Detroit Tigers, designated him for assignment in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. He did not pitch in 2018 following surgery.
“It felt a little bit off to begin with,” Rosenthal said of last season. “Then as it started to get worse and worse, I felt strong. I felt my velocity was good. I noticed that with my changeup I was cutting it a lot. My slider was a lot better than my fastball and my changeup, which is not normal. So those were some red flags that I saw early on.”
While he still threw with great velocity, he posted a 13.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 26 walks in 15 1/3 innings.
Things snowballed quickly for the former All-Star closer. The feeling of not quite being in sync and the poor results left him doubting himself last year.
“The situations just kind of got out of hand, guys on base and giving up a lot runs — it will kind of take a shot at you mentally, your confidence more than anything,” Rosenthal said. “So (it’s been about) just trying to get here and get that confidence. OK, I can throw strikes. Now, I can kind of relax, not worry about am I going to throw a strike today or am I going to throw one to the backstop. It’s not fun to be out there thinking about stuff like that.”
So far this spring, Rosenthal has enjoyed a renaissance. He saved 45 games in 2014 and 48 in his All-Star season of 2015 with the St. Louis Cardinals. From 2012-17 with the Cardinals, he registered a 2.99 ERA with 435 strikeouts in 325 innings to go with a 1.31 WHIP and 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings.
“This is kind of what I’ve seen,” said Royals manager Mike Matheny, who managed the Cardinals when Rosenthal was there. “I didn’t have him last year. I watched some film and realized that it wasn’t him. But it’s so easy in this game to get mechanically off just a bit.
“When that happens, then you start doubting yourself a little bit. Last year was one of those, ‘How do I start feeling good so I can perform well?’ He just never really got into that space.”
Rosenthal, who still lives in St. Louis, got a jump start on this spring by getting on the mound earlier this offseason. He’d thrown more bullpen sessions prior to camp than he had in any recent year.
Another year removed from surgery, he started to find the comfort zone physically that eluded him last year.
For Matheny that’s shown up most noticeably in the way Rosenthal’s body moves on the mound compared to what Matheny saw on video last year.
“I think he just got back to what he knows works for him,” Matheny said. “Everything just looked timed-up right. I think he was allowing himself biomechanically to have that range to stay square to the plate. He was falling off a lot last year. I think a lot of it had to do with, maybe, a limited range. To me he looks extremely similar to what I’ve seen him when he’s been at his best.”
Rosenthal came into camp laser-focused on the idea that he needed to earn a spot on the roster and a job in the bullpen. So far, it looks like it will be a tall task to keep him off the club.
