With the snow falling in Eastlake, Ohio, the news was announced with little fanfare. As with every offseason in a minor league city, a new coaching staff is brought in to help develop the young prospects that will pass through it in the spring and summer. Assuming that organizations are serious about their assets, the hiring of the on-field staff plays a vital role in the players development in hopes that they can help the big league club down the road.
The Cleveland Indians announced that Steve McCatty will be the pitching coach with the Lake County Captains for the 2016 season. McCatty, who has an extensive resume as a Major League pitcher and pitching coach, will be challenged with teaching the young pitchers how to prefect their art.
McCatty joins the Indians player development staff after spending nearly 6 seasons as pitching coach for the Washington Nationals. He took over Washington’s big league staff on June 2, 2009 when Randy St. Claire was fired. That began a run of six-plus seasons developing the careers of right-handers Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg into leaders of the one of the game’s most dominant rotations.
In 2014, with McCatty presiding over the rotation, the Nationals led the majors with a 3.04 starters’ ERA, 3.24 FIP and a 3.37 xFIP. The talented collection of arms only became more feared when the Nationals landed Scherzer in January. Though still posting the majors’ seventh-best starting ERA at 3.70 last season, the Nationals rotation never reached the historic expectations placed on it before the season.
The Nationals had three no-hitters under McCatty – one by Zimmermann and two by Scherzer. Lefty Gio Gonzalez won a career-high 21 games in 2012, finishing third in the NL Cy Young vote under McCatty’s watch. McCatty also helped develop right-hander Tanner Roark into a solid starter in 2014.
But the real issues surfaced in McCatty’s bullpen, where the Nationals struggled to find late-inning consistency throughout the season. A trade deadline move to acquire veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon ended up doing more harm than good, as the Nationals bullpen floundered through August and September en route to early elimination from postseason contention.
There were questions about former manager Matt Williams overworking relievers unnecessarily, which seemed to highlight a disconnection with McCatty. That was never more evident than when Papelbon attacked star Bryce Harper with a chokehold in the Nationals dugout late in the season. McCatty, hitting coach Rick Schu and a few players were among those who broke up the brawl. However, neither coach seemed to relay the details of the fight back to Williams. So Williams sent Papelbon back out to pitch the ninth inning in a move general manager Mike Rizzo called “odd” after the fact. When Rizzo fired Williams on Oct. 5, the entire coaching staff was dismissed, as well.
After his dismissal, McCatty became a finalist to be the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers after the retirement of Jeff Jones. McCatty was born in Detroit and still calls Michigan home. He served as Tigers’ pitching coach from 2003-2005 before joining the Nationals organization a year later. Two days before Halloween, it was announced that Rich Dubee would be the new Tigers pitching coach thus leaving McCatty to pursue other options.
One of those options led to Eastlake where McCatty will play an instrumental role in mentoring young arms.
A glimpse at who could benefit from McCatty’s experience and expertise include two hurlers that made impressions in the Arizona Instructional League: Triston McKenzie and Juan Hillman.
According to Baseball Prospectus’ Christopher Crawford, McKenzie
“…touches 93 with his four-seamer, and while it typically sits in the high 80s at present there’s obvious room to add a couple notches to the sitting velocity and push the pitch into plus territory. Both his curveball and change are more advanced—a rarity for a pitcher this young—with the curve occasionally showing plus thanks to its depth and hard spin. The change is an above-average offering, as he generates late fade and sells it with excellent arm speed. Like every other pitcher in the system, the delivery is easy to repeat, and he can throw strikes with all three of his pitches, though he can get wild in the zone.”
One of the negatives on McKenzie is his durability due to a small frame.
“…[i]t is an open question whether his frame will fill out with enough good weight that he can hold up as a starter. Despite the durability concerns, sources called McKenzie one of the most impressive pitchers in the AZL.”
A look back at McCatty’s coaching history does not reveal any comparable pitchers to McKenzie’s build in his portfolio. However, two pitchers with a similar pedigrees (tall and lanky with fastball life and a sharp, breaking curve) were at one time under McCatty’s watch: Justin Verlander and Stephen Strasburg.
As for Hillman, BP goes on to say:
“Hillman and McKenzie share pedigrees as well-regarded prep arms from Florida who went on Day One of the 2015 Draft. That’s where their similarities end, however, as McKenzie is projection and Hillman is much closer to a “finished” product. Hillman throws 90-93 with some run to his fastball, and he commands it to all parts of the plate with solid plane. Endurance has been an issue, but the hope is that it becomes less of one as he matures physically. Both his curveball and change are average offerings, with the former occasionally flashing above-average with good depth while the latter sticks more to the fringe side of a 50. His delivery is clean and easy to repeat with little wasted movement, and that allows him to pound the strike zone with all three pitches.”
BP projects both pitchers to be impact Major League pitchers, both estimated to begin helping the big-league club in 2019.
Justus Sheffield, who spent the entire 2015 campaign with the Captains, could benefit from a return to Lake County, if only for a few months. BP ranks Sheffield as the #4 ranked prospect and projects him to be a “mid-rotation starter.” Sheffield is probably the most athletic pitcher in the farm system; his delivery is balanced throughout and his
“…enviable arm strength allow[s] him to sit 91-93 while touching 96.”
McCatty’s experience with projects will make him a valuable asset; especially with pitchers who are still establishing an identity for their careers.
With McCatty’s presence, Lake County could become the destination the organization sends it’s young and promising pitchers to tutor under one of the most experienced pitching coaches in the minors.
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