Greinke gets comfortable, is virtually unhittable
Photo credit: AP | Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox. (September 22, 2009)
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CC Sabathia
One has to wonder what goes through Zack Greinke's mind when he walks into Yankee Stadium. Does he pine for a chance to put on the pinstripes? Does he dream about walking around in CC Sabathia's shoes, about what it would be like to be a great pitcher on a great team instead of a great pitcher on a bad one?
"I definitely think about what it would be like to be going to the playoffs," Greinke said last night before the Yankees' game against the Royals. "But I don't want to pitch for New York in the playoffs. I want to pitch for Kansas City."
It may be a while before Greinke gets his wish, though strange things have happened before for the 25-year-old righthander. Take this season. Who would have thought that Greinke might put up such incredible numbers, that he would have a chance of beating out aces such as Sabathia, Detroit's Justin Verlander and Seattle's Felix Hernandez for the American League Cy Young Award?
It's hard not to be seduced by Greinke's numbers: 16 wins, a 2.06 ERA that is nearly a half run lower than anyone else in the AL and a league-high three shutouts.
It's even harder, however, not to be seduced by Greinke's story.
Greinke missed nearly the entire 2006 season dealing with social anxiety disorder, a condition so emotionally crippling that he told the Kansas City Star that at least once a month, he would cry himself to sleep while swinging a bat in his bed. With the help of medication and counseling, Greinke went 7-7 in 2007 working as both a starter and reliever before his breakout season in 2008, when he was 13-10 with a 3.47 ERA.
No one, however, could have predicted that he would be nearly unhittable at the start of this season, posting two shutouts in his first four starts and going 29 innings without giving up an earned run.
Greinke said Tuesday that things started turning around for him in the middle of 2007.
"It's not that I figured out what to do so much as I figured out what not to do," Greinke said.
The biggest thing that Greinke figured out was that he didn't have to give everything he has on every pitch. Instead, when he started studying other pitchers he admired, he learned that they picked their spots.
"You don't always have to pitch 100 percent, but when the game's on the line, it's nice to have a little something in the tank," he said. "CC has always done that. When the bases are loaded, he throws 99 miles an hour and throws it right by the guys."
Though Greinke is clearly comfortable on the mound, he isn't all that comfortable with the Cy Young talk. When fans in Kansas City chanted "Cy Young" during his last start, he said after the game that he found it a distraction. He also wasn't comfortable Tuesday talking about his chances of winning the award. When asked if he would be feeling some pressure to win his final start so that he could raise his win total to 17, Greinke shrugged nervously.
"Not really," he said. "I'll just try to treat it like every other start. The plan is just try to be consistent and stay focused."
The plan is working so far.
