Fister developing into surprising ace

J_Ray · May 11, 2010

SEATTLE -- The fact that the Mariners have one of the best starting rotations in baseball and a pitcher among the league's most dominant shouldn't come as a surprise.

The fact that the latter role is being filled by Doug Fister -- not perennial Cy Young Award contenders Felix Hernandez or Cliff Lee -- should.

Through six starts, Fister is 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA, the lowest of any Seattle pitcher, and has posted five straight quality starts after being roughed up in his first outing of the year.

And he's doing it without overpowering tactics. With a fastball in the upper 80s, Fister pitches to contact rather than trying to leave hitters looking foolish, and his reliance on the law of averages has worked like a charm so far.

"Hitting is pretty difficult if you can fail 70 percent of the time and be a Hall of Famer," Fister said. "If I throw a pitch down the middle, 70 percent of the time, they're going to get themselves out, so that's in our favor if I throw a strike."

And Fister has thrown an awful lot of strikes.

He has walked just six of 159 batters and boasts a WHIP -- walks and hits per innings pitched -- of 0.88, both of which are the lowest totals among Major League pitchers with at least 40 innings.

He describes his approach as attacking the strike zone and letting his defense do the work behind him. That can be a dangerous game to play, but Fister succeeds at it because of his deceptive style.

Three factors give Fister an edge: his height, delivery and ability to get late movement.

At 6-foot-8, there's an angle available to Fister that's tougher to attain for those of more average height. He uses the lanky frame that made him an all-conference basketball player at Merced (Calif.) Golden Valley High to deliver pitches at a sharp angle, and that, along with his slow, unfurling delivery, makes up for what he lacks in velocity.

"He's so smooth and relaxed, it relaxes you," said Angels center fielder Torii Hunter, who went 1-for-3 against Fister on Saturday. "Then when he lets go of the ball, it's halfway there already. It might say 88 or 90, but he's throwing 94."

The third component, movement, is best seen on Fister's two-seam fastball, which breaks downward as it approaches hitters.

Those tools don't make Fister hard to hit (batters have made contact on 91 percent of swings), but they do make him tough to hit hard. Fister is one of just five Major League pitchers to allow one or fewer home runs through 40 or more innings.

Hunter said it took two at-bats to figure out a good approach against Fister. He grounded out in his first two tries, then fouled off four pitches before knocking a line drive to right field for a two-run single in the fifth inning to help his team to a 4-3 win.

"His two-seamer moves a little late, so right when you swing, it might move a couple of inches -- just enough to get you out," Hunter said. "His fastball is his best pitch. I think he needs to keep throwing that and he'll get a lot of guys out."

Fister seems to agree, as he has thrown fastballs (he also employs a four-seamer) 79 percent of the time. Catcher Rob Johnson is mostly responsible for the pitch selection, as Fister said he hasn't shaken off a call from Johnson yet this season.

The formula has proven reliable, and Fister's ability to hit the strike zone puts pressure on hitters who know they won't be getting a free pass to first base.

"Hitters come up and they're like, 'Man, you need to stop calling strikes,'" said Johnson, who has caught all five of Fister's quality starts. "When a pitcher is pounding the zone, it forces guys to swing. [If] you can force guys to swing and locate pitches, most of the time you're going to get outs, and if you get one-or-two-pitch at-bats, you're going to last deep into the game."

Fister's last five starts have yielded three eight-inning performances and two seven-inning outings, and he has logged the second-most innings on the team at 42, just two behind Hernandez, who has made seven starts to Fister's six.

His emphasis on pitching deep developed during his two-year career at Fresno State. Recruited as a pitcher and first baseman, Fister shed the latter label after his junior year to focus on his work from the mound.

He did enough to earn a fifth-round Draft selection from the Yankees in 2005, but Fister elected to return to school. Fresno State coach Mike Batesole cites that as the turning point for his program, which has won four Western Athletic Conference titles in a row beginning with Fister's final season.

"I remember his senior year, giving him the ball and saying 'I'll see you in 120 pitches.'" Batesole said. "He was going to go until it was the sixth or eighth inning, and that gave our bullpen a chance to rest because he was always going to go deep. That was huge for our ballclub."

Batesole and former Fresno State pitching coach Tim Montez (who also coached Lee at Arkansas and is now with Jacksonville) both called Fister one of the hardest workers they've ever been around, and he has brought the same boost to the Mariners, who drafted him in the seventh round in 2006.

He was called up in August of last year, going 3-4 with a 4.13 ERA and earning his first career win in seven innings against the Yankees. Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair said his approach with Fister was mostly to leave him alone, as his pitch-to-contact style meshes especially well with Seattle's defense-oriented approach.

"With Doug, you know the preparation is going to be there, and when you start combining that, there's really no ceiling to the guy," Adair said. "His angle, preparation and his feel to pitch is a great combination. There's no telling what this guy can do."
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I became a fan of this guy last year when we called him up, but man has he been awesome this year.

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Fister developing into surprising ace

J_Ray JBB JustBBall Member

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Fister developing into surprising ace

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