“YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP BAT TLING” John Lackey is looking for bigger and better things in 2011 by David Laurila
J
ohn Lackey didn’t live up to the expectations of most Red Sox fans in 2010, but while some have labeled him a free agent bust, the former Angels hurler was a more reliable pitcher than most people give him credit for. His 14–11 record and 4.40 ERA were more workmanlike than stellar, but the 31-year-old righthander led the team in three important categories: starts (33), quality starts (21), and innings pitched (215). Lackey talked about his first season in a Red Sox uniform, and his expectations going forward, during the final weekend of the 2010 campaign.
David Laurila: My first question was suggested by [Red Sox coach] Rob Leary: How would you pitch to yourself?
John Lackey: As a hitter? Oh man, I guess I’d probably stay hard. I got lucky running into a couple of off-speed pitches
this year when we played the interleague games, but if you throw it above 90 [mph], I have no chance. That would probably be the book on me as a hitter.
DL: When you’re on the mound, to what extent do you utilize scouting reports as opposed to attacking hitters with your own strengths?
JL: There’s got to be a balance, for sure. A report might say one thing, but if it’s not one of your strengths, it’s hard to go with that. You have to balance what you do well with what you know the guy up there hitting might struggle against. And your stuff can vary quite a bit. Some days, you have a good breaking ball but you don’t have real good feel for your change-up, or it can be vice versa. That’s part of what you establish with the catcher in the bullpen, when
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THE 2011 OLDE TOWNE TEAM
When Theo Epstein signed John Lackey to a big contract last offseason it immediately put heightened expectations on the pitcher. you’re getting ready, so he knows what you’re feeling best with that day.
DL: You’re pretty intense on the mound. Are you ever too
DL: It is said that what a pitcher has in the bullpen doesn’t
JL: I think that early on in my career there might have been
always translate to the game. Is that accurate?
some of that, where maybe I tried a little bit too hard. But I think that I’ve learned how to harness that pretty well, and that came through experience. I had some ups and downs my first couple of years in the big leagues, but the last five years in Anaheim were pretty good years for me. I learned a lot in those first couple of seasons and have tried to carry those lessons with me.
in the bullpen and not good in the game, and times where I’ve been bad in the bullpen and great in the game. But most of the time, you get a feel for what you’re feeling good with. When you walk in from the bullpen, you’re talking with your catcher and kind of going over what you feel good about using against that particular team. That helps you out a lot.
DL: What did you learn coming up through the minor leagues and playing in places like Boise, Idaho?
DL: What you’re saying is that the walk in from the bullpen is part of your preparation?
JL: It is, for the most part. You’re with the guy who is going to be catching you that night and talking about the signs you’re going to be using, because there is obviously a different set of signs when there’s a runner on second base. We’re also talking about the first hitter or two, and what we think might happen. For instance, do we think that the lead-off guy might swing at the first pitch of the game, or do we think that it’s safe to just throw it right down the middle? So yes, it’s work time. We’re usually talking about the game.
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JL: A lot. You pick up little things in the minors, because you usually have a different pitching coach in each city. You try to pick up things throughout each year and put them together, and it kind of becomes who you are. You grow up a lot. When I was in [Low-A] Boise, I think I was second in the league in walks, so I’ve come a long way since then.
DL: Do you see yourself as a power pitcher or as more of a finesse guy?
JL: I’m probably somewhere in between. I don’t throw
Photo on previous page: Joe Robbins/Getty Images Photo this page: Michael Ivins/Getty Images
JL: It can be, for sure. I’ve had games where I’ve been great
intense?
“You Just Need To Keep Battling” extremely hard, but I probably throw a little above average. But I have to locate, for sure. So I think I’m a little mixed. I’m a control guy with a little power mixed in. And you have to make adjustments, especially when you’ve been in the league as long as I have. The book is out, and there is video out, and it’s tough when you face… there are hitters in this league that I’ve faced 100 times. They have a lot of information on me, so I can’t just go out there and be predictable every time.
DL: Is pitching simple, or is it complicated? JL: I think that the in-game adjustments can be complicated, as far as changing up the patterns of how you go about getting guys out, but it’s also simple in that you give yourself a lot better chance if you get ahead in the count with strike one. Something like that is simple, but it makes the game a lot easier.
DL: Did you pitch better in 2010 than your numbers indicated, or are they pretty indicative of how you threw the ball?
JL: Honestly, I think that… I haven’t had an ERA over 4.00 in five years, so my ERA is definitely higher than it should be. It’s around 4.30 or 4.40 and I’ve got a career [ERA] of about 3.80, so it’s not all that crazy of a difference. I think that maybe it has been overblown a little bit by some people. But I definitely could have pitched better, that’s for sure. That said, the second half of the season, I think I actually threw the ball really well. I didn’t have a whole lot of luck as far as wins go, but I think there have been a lot of things out there on the field that have affected things.
DL: Your batting average on balls in play [.323] was much higher than it has been in recent seasons, which is often indicative of bad luck. Do you feel that was the case?
JL: I definitely think that I could have had a lot more wins than DL: The 0-0 pitch is important, but there are people who feel that the 1-1 pitch is even more important. What is your opinion?
I did, but really, it is what it is. You just need to keep battling, and I think that [2010 was] a good learning experience for me.
DL: Do you pitch differently at Fenway than you do at other JL: I would probably take getting ahead in the count 0-1 over
ballparks?
the 1-1 pitch. I think that it just opens up so many more options for you. It can dictate the rest of the at bat. If you throw a strike on 1-1, you’re obviously only one strike away from a strikeout, but I’m not really a big strikeout guy. I’m more looking to locate, and to make the hitters miss the barrel when they put the ball into play, hopefully not too hard. I’m looking for weak contact more than I am swings and misses and strikeouts.
DL: Do you ever look at reports to see what hitters are doing against you in certain counts and on certain pitches?
Photo: Joe Robbins/Getty Images
JL: You’re aware of that, for sure. We have meetings, and we talk about the numbers and that kind of thing, but the main thing I look at coming into a series is who has been hot in the last week and who hasn’t. What a guy did against me three or four years ago may not mean a lot, so I kind of want to know what they’ve been doing lately. Numbers are something that you can look at in a lot of different ways. If a guy is 4-for-10 off of you, .400 looks pretty good but that could have been three infield singles and a blooper. If that’s the case, you feel pretty good about what you’ve been doing—pitching to that guy—so you probably wouldn’t make too many adjustments. But if those hits are doubles and home runs, that’s something else. That’s when you probably want to make adjustments.
Once Lackey stopped trying to prevent hitters from hitting balls off the Wall, his results at Fenway Park improved.
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THE 2011 OLDE TOWNE TEAM John Lackey Career Statistics Year
Age
Tm
Lg
2002
23
ANA
AL
2003
24
ANA
AL
2004
25
ANA
AL
2005
26
LAA
2006
27
2007
W
L
W-L% ERA
G
GS
CG SHO
IP
H
9
4
.692 3.66 18
18
1
10
16
.385 4.63 33
33
2
0
108.1
2
204.0
14
13
.519 4.67 33
32
1
1
AL
14
5
.737 3.44 33
33
1
LAA
AL
13
11
.542 3.56 33
33
28
LAA
AL
19
9
.679 3.01 33
2008
29
LAA
AL
12
5
2009
30
LAA
AL
11
2010
31
BOS
AL
14
SO
HBP WP ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
SO/ BB
R
ER
HR
BB
113
52
44
10
33
69
4
7
121
1.35 9.4
0.8
2.7
5.7
2.09
223
117 105
31
66
151
10
11
95
1.42 9.8
1.4
2.9
6.7
2.29
198.1
215
108 103
22
60
144
8
11
96
1.39 9.8
1.0
2.7
6.5
2.40
0
209.0
208
85
80
13
71
199
11
18
123
1.34 9.0
0.6
3.1
8.6
2.80
3
2
217.2
203
98
86
14
72
190
9
16
129
1.26 8.4
0.6
3.0
7.9
2.64
33
2
2
224.0
219
87
75
18
52
179
12
9
150
1.21 8.8
0.7
2.1
7.2
3.44
.706 3.75 24
24
3
0
163.1
161
71
68
26
40
130
10
5
119
1.23 8.9
1.4
2.2
7.2
3.25
8
.579 3.83 27
27
1
1
176.1
177
84
75
17
47
139
9
6
115
1.27 9.0
0.9
2.4
7.1
2.96
11
.560 4.40 33
33
0
0
215.0
233
114 105
18
72
156
9
3
99
1.42 9.8
0.8
3.0
6.5
2.17
TOTAL
116 82
.586 3.89 267 266
14
8
1716.0 1752 816 741 169 513 1357
82
86
114
1.32 9.2
0.9
2.7
7.1
2.65
162 Game Avg.
15
.586 3.89 34
2
1
219.0
10
11
114
1.32 9.2
0.9
2.7
7.1
2.65
10
34
224
104
95
22
65
173
JL: Not anymore, no. The last couple of years, with the
DL: When you signed with the Red Sox, did you truly
Angels, I started to pitch better here because I quit trying to pitch away from the Wall. Against right-handed hitters, in this ballpark, some guys are afraid to pitch in, but you have to. You have to establish the inside part of the plate. Once I started concentrating on doing what I usually do, things started working out a lot better for me.
understand what pitching in Boston would be like?
JL: Probably not. It has probably been a little bit… I knew that it was going to be different, but it has probably exceeded what I thought it was going to be.
DL: Exceeded in which way? DL: In a nutshell, what does “what I usually do” mean? JL: A lot of different ways. That’s all I want to say on that. JL: I think that I’m pretty good at establishing my fastball, and I can pretty much throw a breaking ball for a strike any time I want. That’s about it, really.
DL: Why do you expect to be better in 2011 than you were in 2010?
JL: The experience. Having a year under my belt, pitching here, is going to help. I’ll know what to expect coming into my second year. But really, if I pitch like I did in the second half, I think that my numbers are going to be a lot different. I think that’s especially true if we have a full team out on the field, which wasn’t always the case [in 2010].
DL: What about from a pitching standpoint? JL: Well, my change-up, the second half of the season, was the best I’ve ever had in my career. I also started throwing a cutter, so I’ve definitely added some things to my game that are going to help me move forward. Like I said earlier, this game is all about making adjustments. I’m looking forward to coming back and having a good season. MSP
In the second half of the 2010 season, Lackey posted a 3.97 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and averaged nearly seven innings per start, but that resulted in only a 5–6 win-loss record.
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David Laurila is a lifelong Red Sox fan who grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, MA. He authors the weekly Prospectus Q&A series at BaseballProspectus.com and has been a contributor to Baseball America, Boston Baseball, DieHard, and Red Sox Magazine. His book, Interviews from Red Sox Nation, was published by Maple Street Press.