CLEARWATER, Fla. — A tip from Robinson Cano may have been just what Ernesto Frieri needed to resurrect his career.
Frieri, 30, is at Phillies spring training as a non-roster invitee hoping to earn a spot in a wide-open bullpen. Though his contract is not guaranteed, it's an ideal spot to be in for a former closer seeking a bounce-back season, and the Phillies have a bunch of them in closer frontrunner David Hernandez, Frieri, Andrew Bailey and Edward Mujica.
When Frieri was at his best, he deceived hitters — particularly righties — with a delivery that came across his body. Remember how lefties had no chance against Jake Diekman when he was going well? Think of that sort of delivery, just from the right side.
Frieri got away from that deception the last two years as numerous pitching coaches tried to correct his issues. All the mechanical adjustments just made things worse. Finally, after getting hit around became a regular occurrence for him, Frieri asked Cano, who is 1 for 5 with a walk in their career head-to-head matchup, if he could see what he was doing wrong.
"I am a guy that hides the ball pretty good. I step across my body," Frieri said Thursday morning at his locker, a few hours before his slated spring relief debut for the Phillies against the Astros.
"And hitters, they don't like that, especially righties. They feel that I'm coming straight to them. And somehow I changed, I [started] stepping straight ahead to home plate. I wasn't hiding the ball that good anymore. And I was getting hit, I was getting hit. I asked one of the guys I faced, I asked Cano (a lefty), 'Hey, am I doing anything wrong?' And he said, 'Oh yeah, you are. You're not hiding the ball anymore, I can see it. Before, I couldn't see your ball.'
"And I started working on that. This year, I went into the offseason and I was working on hiding the ball, and I feel that I'm back. I feel that I'm stepping across my body again. When I was throwing live BP [recently], I could tell. The guys weren't making good contact on my fastball and other pitches. That says a lot. That says I'm hiding the ball again, and the movement on my ball came back, too."
MLB
Frieri had a tremendous start to his career out west. In parts of four seasons as a setup man in San Diego, he had a 2.33 ERA with 137 strikeouts and just seven home runs allowed in 108 1/3 innings.
The Angels acquired him in May of 2012 and soon after made him their closer. He set a major-league record by pitching 13 hitless — not scoreless, hitless — innings upon joining the Angels. Many relievers have success in short spurts, but you don't fluke your away into 39 consecutive outs without allowing a hit.
Over the next season and a half, Frieri saved 60 games in 67 chances for the Halos, posted a 3.15 ERA and struck out 178 batters in 123 innings.
But in 2014, he had five meltdowns in his first 34 appearances, including three outings in which he allowed three runs or more. The Angels demoted him from the closer's job and eventually traded him to Pittsburgh at the end of June for Jason Grilli in a swap of struggling, once-dominant former closers.
Things went OK for Grilli in Anaheim, but they went horribly for Frieri in Pittsburgh, and after posting a 10.13 ERA in 14 appearances, he was released at the beginning of September 2014.
A few months later, Frieri latched on with Tampa Bay — an organization that routinely buys low on players with upside — but things didn't work out there either. Frieri allowed six home runs in just 23 1/3 innings.
"Every organization has a different philosophy of how to work people, delivery-wise, mechanics, and the last couple years, I've been in different organizations and it's been tough for me, getting used to every organization," he said.
"I know that every pitching coach tries to help any pitcher on the team. But for me, I got away from my deception in my delivery. I'm a guy who relies on deception. With all the trades and pitching coaches that tried to help me, somehow I just got away from myself. But right now I feel like I'm back, back to the delivery I always had in my good years with the Angels and Padres."
He said some arm troubles played a role in the recent struggles, as well. Frieri went from averaging 94 mph with his fastball to sitting in the 91-92 range.
"I don't like excuses but it's tough to pitch when you don't feel 100 percent," he said. "But this year I feel great, my arm feels really good, no pain at all. Working really hard here. I love this organization, the way they make us work, they push us to be better every day, and I think I made the right decision coming over here. I feel good. We'll see how my arm responds, but so far, so good."
There are more than 20 potential relievers in Phillies camp and they'll likely carry seven into the regular season. So Frieri has plenty of competition, but if he pitches well in Grapefruit League play he could be back in the back-end of a big-league bullpen.
"These guys (the Phillies) are letting me be the guy that I can be. They're not telling me, 'You have to do this, you have to pitch this way.' No. They're just letting me be me, which I really love," Frieri said.
"Of course there are a couple things I'll have to do for the manager or the pitching coach, but mechanics-wise, delivery-wise, they're just letting me be me. And obviously I know there's a lot of chance to make the team here and there's a lot of room in the bullpen. Hopefully they give me the opportunity to be on the team. I'm excited. I know this is gonna be a really good year for me and a really important one too."