‘That slider is death’: Why Blake Treinen might be too good to be a closer

It began on the again fields at Camelback Ranch.

That’s the place, a yr in the past, Blake Treinen began experimenting with a brand new pitch, a distinct form of slider that will quickly change his sport.

The veteran Dodgers reliever already threw a breaking ball. However after again to again underwhelming seasons, he was in search of a method to combine up his arsenal.

So, he started toying round with completely different throws with teammates. Assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness helped him mildew the suitable grip. Pitching coach Mark Prior and bullpen coach Josh Bard walked him by means of numbers, perfecting the brand new slider’s lateral sweeping form and pinpointing the most effective conditions to make use of it.

“It simply form of all got here collectively,” Treinen stated. “It was a fruits.”

It culminated in a bounce-back 2021 season for Treinen too. Dominating opponents along with his new weapon — the brand new slider had quadruple the horizontal break of his previous one, forming a deadly mixture along with his repertoire of fastballs — the 32-year-old posted a 1.99 ERA and 85 strikeouts to reaffirm himself as one of many majors’ greatest reduction pitchers, and one of many Dodgers’ most impactful arms coming into the 2022 marketing campaign.

“It was a sport changer,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “That slider is loss of life on hitters. And I feel numerous the credit score goes to him and our pitching guys. It’s form of getting the suitable grip to match your throw. I feel that’s form of the key sauce.”

With Kenley Jansen gone to Atlanta, there’s little doubt about who the Dodgers’ greatest reduction pitcher is. However that doesn’t imply Treinen will essentially be the nearer as soon as the season begins.

As a substitute, Roberts has leaned towards a distinct plan, hinting that the Dodgers might use a rotating collection of pitchers within the ninth inning of video games.

The reasoning: Treinen has develop into too precious in his setup/fireman function, wherein he usually is lined as much as face the guts of an opponent’s order in any late inning of a sport.

“Blake is aware of how a lot we worth him,” Roberts stated. “He’s top-of-the-line relievers in all of baseball. He’s proven that over the past couple years in pitching the best of leverage. I do know in speaking to him, he’ll do no matter we ask. So proper now the place we’re at, we don’t have a delegated nearer.”

Treinen not solely agrees with such a system however nearly prefers it.

“I form of take pleasure in [my current role] greater than closing, to be trustworthy with you,” he stated this week. “I take pleasure in each. After I was within the ninth, it’s a extremely enjoyable feeling being the final one on the sphere once you get the final out. That’s a enjoyable factor, realizing the sport comes all the way down to you. However you don’t all the time face the most important conditions within the ninth inning.”

Nonetheless Treinen is used this yr, his new slider might be key.

Early in his profession with the Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics, Treinen’s slider had extra vertical break, biting down as soon as it received close to the plate.

That pitch wanted to be arrange by his different throws: a cutter, sinker and four-seam fastball that reaches the upper-90s. And after a historic 2018 season wherein he posted a 0.78 ERA and 38 saves with the A’s, incomes All-Star honors for the primary time in his profession, that mixture of pitches started to lose its effectiveness.

In 2019, his ERA skyrocketed to 4.91. Regardless of enhancing upon becoming a member of the Dodgers in 2020, he nonetheless had only a 3.86 mark within the pandemic-shortened season.

That’s why Treinen went into spring coaching final yr in search of completely different concepts.

He took inspiration from former Tampa Bay Rays reliever Chaz Roe, who parlayed his so-called frisbee slider right into a nine-year main league profession. He workshopped completely different variations with teammates, giving credit score to Trevor Bauer particularly. Then he mastered the pitch with steerage from the membership’s pitching coaches, throwing it barely slower and flatter than his previous slider however with extra devastating late right-to-left break.

“It was an natural factor,” Prior stated, recalling Treinen’s first time testing it out throughout a reside batting observe. “He received some loopy motion on the primary one, and we have been like, ‘Yeah, that’ll play.’ Then he simply ran with it.”

Over the course of the season, the slider accounted for greater than one-third of Treinen’s throws. Opponents hit .074 in opposition to it, swinging and lacking nearly half the time.

“Every thing’s nasty,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith stated of Treinen’s arsenal. “However [the slider] makes every little thing slightly bit higher. It’s a plus-plus pitch.”

This spring, it’s a pitch others within the group have tried mimicking — to various levels of success.

“Everybody needs to have Blake Treinen’s slider,” Roberts stated with amusing.

Added Prior: “If you are able to do it, nice. However a lot simply is determined by guys’ our bodies and their capability to have a really feel to do it. Blake, simply the best way his arm comes by means of and delivers the baseball, it makes it actually pure for him.”

It’s why the Dodgers consider a standard nearer function might be limiting for Treinen. With the brand new pitch, he’s efficient in opposition to hitters on both facet of the plate. He can get strikeouts or induce floor balls. And he generally is a jack of all trades within the Dodgers’ new-look bullpen, assured of serving up his sweeping new weapon in any leverage second.

“I simply need to be greatest at no matter function I’m in,” he stated. “If I’m a seventh [inning] man, if I’m a hearth man, if I’m a man that is available in and will get holds in opposition to the guts of the lineup, simply be the most effective of no matter I’m.”