KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Former Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg, now with the Houston Astros, has pretty much cornered the 'Roy' market.
Having worked with former Jays ace Roy Halladay the past five seasons, Arnsberg now is working with Houston ace Roy Oswalt.
“I've actually got two of them,” Arnsberg said with a laugh Monday. “During the off-season when Doc (Halladay) said he would probably take a hike I said we need a Roy square over there and I ended up getting a Roy Corcoran out of it. Yeah, I lost one and inherited another couple here so I can’t get enough of them.”
Having parted company with the Jays, Arnsberg was pleased that the open job fell to Bruce Walton, the Jays’ long time bullpen coach.
“It’s probably my biggest thrill, I was so excited. I didn’t know that they were going to ask him to take the job,” Arnsberg said of the transition. “I knew that he was probably next in line when I got the job. So I was elated. I couldn’t be happier and more excited for this new opportunity for him.”
Starting for the Jays Monday was Ricky Romero. The lefty made a late surge at last year’s Jays camp and went on to post an impressive 13-9 record with a 4.30 ERA in his rookie season. It was a quick study project that Arnsberg takes pride in.
“Not only were there a couple of mechanical adjustments that we made (with Romero), I tried to explain to him how confident in his stuff I was,” Arnsberg said. “I wanted his confidence to soar like mine was in his own stuff. Besides trying to get him a little bit back more in line and downhill and being able to work the lower half of the zone with more consistency, the mechanical end of that got better, which made the psychological end get better. So you saw that confidence just gaining steam.
“It was just keep pile driving the theory of on-line and chest, head up and over. And the best thing that happened was his first outing after that (his third of spring training) he got to see it click. So it was kind of wash your hands and just watch him work his magic. He’s a tremendous kid.”
Arnsberg said that he and Romero keep in touch.
“He texted me last night and said: ‘You better not be giving them hitters my scouting report. I text him back and said: ‘As many pitches as you leave out over the middle we won’t have to have a scouting report.’”
Romero had the last laugh. Over three innings he blanked Houston on four hits while striking out three.
Pitching nightmare
With 33 pitchers still in camp, pitching coach Bruce Walton has far more arms than he has innings in spring training games. With minor-league camps just getting underway and games not scheduled until next Monday, Walton has had to resort to B games and simulated games to find enough work for his staff.
As spring training rolls into its second week of games, the innings are squeezed further by the fact the starters are going three innings instead of two and when two starters are piggybacked as they were Monday — Dana Eveland worked three innings in relief of Romero — it takes potential innings away from the relievers.
Walton’s worst nightmare these days is rain.
“I don’t know what I’d do if we run into that,” he said.
mike.rutsey@sunmedia.ca
