Humble pie

On a March afternoon in 2005, the Seattle Mariners sent Felix Hernandez to the mound for a spring training game in Surprise, Ariz., and settled in to watch their great young right-handed hope against the Kansas City Royals.

Hernandez was a bushy-haired 19-year-old already viewed as the future

of the starting rotation, if not the franchise. He threw his fastball in the upper 90 mph range and mixed it not only with a sharp curve but also a supreme air of confidence.

Then, a couple of innings into the game, Billy Butler of the Royals blistered the baseball directly back to where Hernandez threw it, and a star was, in the least, humbled. Hernandez dodged that head-hunting line drive as it sailed into center field, but he was a different guy by the time he got to his feet.

It looked like a yard sale near the mound. Hernandez’s cap was over here, his glove there, his jersey unbuttoned and nearly untucked, and his demeanor not nearly as boastful.

Over at third base, Mariners teammate Adrian Beltre laughed so hard he had to cover his face with his glove. Hernandez wasn’t laughing; he was regaining his composure so he could make another pitch.

Funny as that moment was, it also was vitally important in the development of Felix Hernandez into the pitcher he is today. A little humility doesn’t hurt anyone, as long as there’s an understanding that any big-league hitter can hit any big-league fastball, and that it takes a true repertoire to star at this level.

That’s what the Mariners’ latest right-handed hope, 22-year-old Michael Pineda, is going through.

For all Pineda accomplished in his first month as a big-leaguer — a 4-1 record, quality starts in his first five games and the American League rookie of the month award for April — he’s still got a lot to learn with that 97 mph fastball.

Mainly, that big-league hitters can scorch it.

That’s why Wednesday night’s game, a 5-2 loss to the Texas Rangers, has a chance to be one of the most valuable experiences Pineda could have.

He gave up three hits and two runs in the first inning; that happens even to the best as they settle into a rhythm. Then he did just that, retiring the next 10 Rangers and making them look pretty uncomfortable in the process by pumping in first-pitch strike after first-pitch strike.

Then the Rangers got him.

Mitch Moreland absolutely crushed a down-the-middle first-pitch fastball for a home run in the fifth inning, and Pineda tried to muscle up and thrown one past Chris Davis in the seventh — on a two-strike, no-balls count — and that pitch became perhaps his best learning experience to date. That fastball caught too much of the plate and Davis hit it out.

A lot of people thought Pineda’s biggest challenge Wednesday was the “book” the Rangers would have because they were facing him for the second time this season. I’m not so sure about that, because that book didn’t help them much in the second, third and fourth innings when Pineda made them look meek.

This simply seemed like a young pitcher who’d been able to throw Good Ol’ No. 1 past everyone in the minor leagues suddenly learning that any hitter, in any count, can hit that pitch a long way if it’s in their wheelhouse.

“As he becomes more experienced and has a feel for when he wants to expand the strike zone or when he gets a feel for these hitters, that’ll be a part of his process of maturing as a pitcher in the American League,” manager Eric Wedge said.

What has impressed me about Pineda — in addition to that fastball — is that he hasn’t gotten visibly rattled when he’s been hit hard.

The Indians pounded him pretty good one inning at spring training but he fidgeted with his mechanics and finished with a strong outing. The two-run first inning Wednesday didn’t seem to bother him, nor did the home runs by Moreland and Davis.

“It’s always a game of adjustments. It’s never ending,” Wedge said. “What he needs to do is go out and pitch his game and we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Pretty simple when you look at it that way, although nothing about baseball at this level is less than a constant struggle (to borrow a phrase from Mariners pitcher Doug Fister).

Pineda certainly didn’t seem like the disheveled guy Hernandez was several years ago after he was undressed by that line drive at spring training.

What Hernandez dealt with as he developed — adjusting to hitters who are adjusting to him, living up to expectations and handling the off-field responsibilities as an emerging star — will only help Pineda. Those two are buddies.

“I think that relationship is real. That has helped him,” Wedge said. “You look at what Felix took on when he came up here at a young age and just how he’s matured over the years and the way Michael’s leaned on him, I can’t speak first hand but obviously you see them around each other and talking with each other and I think that’s helped.”

There will be rough moments, but so far it looks like Pineda has the physical tools and the mental approach needed to be a star.

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com/marinersblog and follow his Twitter updates on the team at @kirbyarnold.