By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
PEORIA, Ariz. – Like most men without a dominant fastball, John Halama learned years ago that nothing in major league baseball gives a pitcher the benefit of the doubt more than velocity.
“You throw the ball 95 mph, even a mistake is hard to hit,” Halama said. “You make the same mistake at 86 mph, it can go a long way.”
In a Seattle Mariners camp where seven pitchers are fighting for five spots in the starting rotation, Halama knows that the radar gun may have a big say in the decision.
“It usually does,” he said Tuesday.
For the fourth time in as many springs with Seattle, Halama came to camp this year uncertain precisely what role he might play for the Mariners.
“In ‘99, I started in the bullpen, went to the rotation and won 11 games,” he said. “In 2000, I started the season in the rotation and won 14 games. Last year, I began the year in the rotation, finished in the bullpen and won 10 games.”
At 30, Halama is a soft-tossing left-hander in a game that loves high octane. Looking around the clubhouse, he sees arms that, when healthy, can throw a baseball more than 10 mph faster than anything he can send to the plate.
“You look at this team, we’re probably deeper than any team in baseball when it comes to starting pitchers,” Halama said. “We have seven guys here with five spots available, but it’s deeper than that.
“When Gil Meche is healthy, when Ryan Anderson is healthy, when Ken Cloude is healthy – now you’re talking 10 pitchers who could start, and most of them throw harder than I do.”
Teammate Jamie Moyer won 20 games a year ago and reminded everyone in the game that velocity isn’t essential to the craft. And while Halama didn’t have that kind of season – and never has – his wasn’t too shabby.
Out of the Mariners bullpen, he went 4-1 with a 1.84 earned run average.
And in a three-game stint with Class AAA Tacoma, Halama pitched the only perfect game in Pacific Coast League history.
A man who has gone 35-26 since joining the Mariners in 1999, Halama is without a role today, though not a pitcher without a preference.
“I’d rather start, and I think that’s always been my best role,” he said. “But a lot of guys in this clubhouse want to start. Not all of us can.”
Pitching coach Bryan Price suspects Halama will find himself in the Mariners rotation, if not this spring then somewhere down the line.
“I think John’s best pitching is ahead of him, and I think the bullpen is not his final destination,” Price said. “He doesn’t need to add or subtract pitches, he just needs to do a little more with the pitches he has, and he’s learning that.”
Halama is a quiet student of his own game, understanding that a line score alongside his name shouldn’t be evaluated in the same way that a power pitcher’s might.
“If I pitch six innings and give up 12 hits and four runs, that could be a good or bad game,” he said. “I don’t strike out many hitters, I don’t try to, and when you pitch to contact, hitters hit the ball.
“If I give up 12 hits, but they’re all ground ball singles, that’s probably not a bad game. If I give up six hits but four are home runs, that’s a worse game.”
An analytical type, Halama knows what he offers the Mariners rotation – and what he can’t offer it.
“I can eat up some innings, I don’t get hurt, I usually keep you in the game,” he said. “But I’m not the kind of pitcher teams think of first when they put together a rotation.”
That role, he knows, goes to flame throwers.
“With Freddy Garcia, Ryan Anderson, Gil Meche and Joel Pineiro you’ve got an ace and three guys who throw hard and could become No. 1 pitchers,” Halama said. “That’s a lot of competition”
This spring, Halama isn’t looking at his teammates as pitchers he must beat out for a job. He finds that counter-productive.
“If I look at it that way, and say Ryan Franklin throws three shutout innings, I start thinking I have to throw four shutout innings,” he said. “That’s not how you get ready for a season. I have to get in shape, get my pitches sharp, build up arm strength.
“My priority is to be ready for the season, in whatever role they want me to fill. It’s not to win the job down here and then be unable to carry it into the season.”
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