It’s not unusual for the Seattle Mariners to send a coach, scout or executive to check on a player during the offseason, even if it’s out of the country. They can beef up their frequent flyer accounts pretty quickly with trips to Latin America alone.
Amsterdam?
That was a first for Roger Hansen, the Mariners’ minor league catching coordinator. He spent five days there last month talking with highly regarded outfield prospect Greg Halman and his parents.
Halman, a native of the Netherlands, had just completed a challenging season with the Mariners’ Class AA West Tennessee team, having struck out more than anyone in the organization.
Halman was the object of some very specific instruction on plate discipline and pitch recognition not only during West Tennessee’s season but after games ended as well. The Mariners had him take part in their instructional league program for 21/2 weeks last month at their training facility in Peoria, Ariz., and want him to return there well before spring training begins to get him a head start on the big-league camp.
Mom and dad, obviously, had questions about how the organization is handling their 22-year-old, and all parties — the parents and the Mariners — agreed face-to-face communication was needed. So Hansen flew from Phoenix to Detroit, then to Amsterdam — 14 hours of flying to get there.
“The parents care so much,” Hansen said. “He’s such a huge prospect that it was good for me to go there and put everything to rest. Basically, I told them, ‘Here’s what it takes to get ready for the big leagues.’ They were very thankful that I came over.
“They want the truth. They don’t just want to be told, ‘You’re going to be great, you’re going to be this.’ They wanted to know exactly what is the next step to take, where he is headed and what he needs to do on and off the field. That’s pretty much it.”
Hansen, who has taken a greater role in minor league operations this year, became closely involved with Halman throughout the season. Midway through, when Halman was sent to Peoria for rehab on a heel injury, Hansen helped steer a multi-faceted effort to deal with the outfielder’s challenges that involved hitting instructors, trainers and a sports psychologist.
Halman was striking out in nearly half of his at-bats before the midseason work in Peoria and improved slightly by the end. He finished with a .210 average, 25 homers, 72 runs batted in and 183 strikeouts with only 29 walks in 457 at-bats.
There clearly was more work to be done. Part of that included Hansen’s trip to Amsterdam, and Halman’s sessions with the Mariners’ minor league hitting instructors in September in Peoria.
“When he came back, he got in a good 12-13 days of work,” said Pedro Grifol, the Mariners’ minor league director. “It’s probably the best I’d ever seen of him as far as working and making adjustments.”
The Aumont plan
While much of the attention is on outfielder Dustin Ackley, the Mariners’ top draft pick, in the Arizona Fall League, the Mariners themselves are as keenly interested in relief pitcher Phillippe Aumont. He pitched a perfect inning Wednesday for the Peoria Javelinas in his Fall League debut, which is exactly what the Mariners want to see.
“It’s about him being able to repeat his delivery,” Grifol said. “There have been some mechanical inconsistencies that we want him to focus on. We want him to command the fastball opposed to just controlling the fastball. Controlling it means throwing it for strikes, but commanding it means being able to put it where you want to put it.”
He went 1-4 with a 5.09 earned run average with West Tennessee in a season interrupted by injury and a leave from the team for personal reasons.
The Mariners have four pitchers on the Peoria Javelinas roster in the Arizona Fall League — Aumont, Josh Fields, Nick Hill and Anthony Varvaro.
“Each one of them has their own little mechanical things they’re working on that will be monitored by our pitching (instructors),” Grifol said. “In general, we want to see them start commanding the baseball.”
It’s not just the fastball. The Mariners are requiring all their pitchers to develop an effective changeup.
“We made it mandatory that they throw 15 percent changeups per game this year. Last year it was 10 percent,” Grifol said. “We feel it is such an important pitch for all our pitchers.”
Of note
Catcher Rob Johnson will undergo hip surgery today in the first of what may be four offseason operations. Today’s procedure, in Vail, Colo., will repair a torn labrum in his left hip. He’ll return to Vail in about three weeks and undergo a similar operation on his right hip. After about a month of rehab, Johnson will have surgery on his injured left wrist. He also may need surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow. The Mariners believe Johnson will recover in time for the start of spring training in mid-February. … Ackley, who had two singles in his pro debut Wednesday for the Javelinas, went 2-for-5 and stole a base Thursday as the DH in their 17-9 victory over the Peoria Saguaros. Hill, a left-hander who went 5-6, with a 3.10 earned run average this year for West Tennessee, gave up four hits, two walks and an earned run in three innings. Varvaro allowed one hit and one unearned run in one inning. … The Mariners say their nonprofit foundation, Mariners Care, provided $816,640 this year to numerous charitable programs in the Northwest. In 10 years, Mariners Care has raised more than $10.7 million.
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com\marinersblog
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