BALTIMORE -- If you're fortunate enough to be in Camden Yards hours before game time, you just might see Daniel Cabrera sprinting step-by-step up the stadium stairs, slowly snaking his way around the entire lower concourse. It's an old routine, but it's taken on new dimensions as Cabrera winds through the most successful stint of his brief career.
Cabrera, known far and wide throughout Baltimore for his maniacal conditioning habits, is only beginning to see that hard work pay dividends on the field. The hulking right-hander finally has himself under control, which has manifested itself in fewer walks on the mound and a steady diet of hard two-seam fastballs in and under the hands of opposing hitters.
"He's pitching to his strengths. He's been very aggressive," said pitching coach Rick Kranitz. "His sinker's been very good. He's really stayed with the philosophy of attacking the zone down, and that's it in a nutshell, as far as what he's attempted to do. I think we've tried to not have him make the adjustment first, and to try to make the hitter adjust to him."
Those adjustments have mostly ended poorly for the hitters, as Cabrera has achieved more success through 11 starts than he has in many of his other seasons. The youngster has already walked zero batters in a start more times (three) than he did all of last season (two), and he recently worked through a career-best string of eight consecutive quality starts.
For perspective, consider that he logged just 14 quality starts last season, which stood as his career high. Cabrera tossed 10 of those in 2006 and 12 in '05, so he appears to be well on his way to establishing a new personal best.
"I'm not surprised," said veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez. "I know he's always had good stuff, but he hadn't figured the game out. Now, he's figured it out and he knows what he's doing. He has an idea when he's pitching."
He's done it all with a steady brilliance, underlining the potential people have seen in him for years. Cabrera worked deep enough in most of his starts last year to log 200 innings for the first time, but he also lost a league-high 18 games and led the American League in walks for the second straight season. This time, there's no downside.
Cabrera has walked two batters or fewer in six of his first 11 starts this year, and he did it just 12 times in 34 outings last season. There's no magic reason for the transformation, but Kranitz credits it to pitching to contact as opposed to working for the strikeout. Cabrera is down in both rates this year, but his ERA has shown the same exact trend.
"There's no question he is [pitching to contact]," said Kranitz. "He's had a couple tough walk days, but he's battled hard on those days and he's given us a chance to win. Those days are going to happen sometimes, and you will get out of whack from time to time. Like his last start -- he wasn't at his best, but he battled hard. He gave up four runs."
"I think his work ethic is improved," added manager Dave Trembley. "He's a lot more consistent with his effort. I think it's just a matter that he's matured, he's grown up and he's gotten a taste of some success, which he's never had before. I think that benefited him, and I think Kranitz deserves credit for giving him a plan and making sure he sticks with it."
Cabrera, who turned 27 on Wednesday, has said that he's not really doing anything differently. He credits Kranitz for easing his transition, but he points out that he's still largely the same pitcher. Cabrera has had four pitching coaches in his four-plus seasons, and he said he's rarely experienced any areas in which their tutelage contradicts each other.
"Whatever they tell me, I have to deal with that," he said. "I don't know if it's weird, because I've never been anywhere else and worked with any other pitching coaches. This is the only team I know, and what happens here is all I know."
The Orioles have also ironed out one of Cabrera's chief weaknesses, namely his slow time to the plate with runners on base. Kranitz helped streamline his stretch delivery during Spring Training to get him to stand straight and minimize his leg kick, an endeavor that has kept Cabrera comfortable while giving runners far less of a head start to the next base.
And according to Kranitz, that was a priority for many pitchers, not just for Cabrera.
"If they didn't work on it, they heard about it," he said. "It did simplify his delivery to the point that he's quicker. He gets that hand out of his glove and he's on a downhill plane a little more consistently from the stretch."
Now, the pitcher with inimitable stuff has results to match. Kranitz admits he didn't know much about Cabrera when he arrived and isn't the best source to gauge his improvement, but he knows exactly what he's seeing now. Much like his habit of running the stairs, Cabrera is cooling down between starts and ramping back up every five days.
"I just knew he had good stuff," said Kranitz. "I knew he was a 200-inning guy and had struggled somewhat. Anytime you get a guy that has pitched that many innings and has struggled from time to time, you think, 'Wow. If he's going 200 innings and pitching like that, he should pitch even more innings and have more success if he gets on a roll.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment