LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Mike Minor remembers how bad it felt early last summer, when things reached the point where there was no direction to go but up. Or else get sent down.
That was the reality of the situation for the Braves left-hander, and at some point the mental calluses probably helped him turn things around.
“I didn’t let a whole lot of things bother me,” he said, “because I had already done so bad I thought, I can’t do any worse. I can’t embarrass myself any more. That was a big part of it, the embarrassment. Everybody watching me on TV, in the stands before away games, saying things like ‘Don’t give up another home run,’ or ‘Well, chalk up another win for the Reds,’ or whatever.
“You try not to listen to it, but you still hear it. Especially when you’re doing bad. You still hear it.”
Then it happened. Minor made some adjustments, began throwing more strikes and better breaking balls, and went on a tear. After posting a 6.20 ERA and .271 opponents’ batting average in 15 starts through the end of June, the left-hander had a 2.21 ERA and .193 opponents' average in 15 starts the rest of the way.
Minor pitched two innings in his spring-training debut Tuesday against the Nationals, allowing three hits, two runs and two walks with four strikeouts in a 9-5 Braves win. He threw 28 pitches in the first inning, then 10 pitches in a perfect second inning that included two strikeouts.
Braves veteran Tim Hudson said there was nothing flukey about Minor’s midseason turnaround.
“He’s gradually taken some steps all along,” Hudson said. “Last year was some big steps for him in the second half. Along with that comes confidence, and I think for him a lot of it was between the ears. I think he started taking some dramatic strides forward in that area last year, once he started having that confidence and that success. He’s going to be very good.”
Minor’s won-lost record wasn’t much different – 4-6 in his first 15 starts, 7-4 in the last 15 – but that was due to run support more than anything: The Braves scored one or no runs while he was in the game in seven of his last 15 starts, and in that period he won six of the eight when they scored two or more runs while he was in.
After producing three quality starts (six innings or more, three earned runs or fewer) in his first 15 games, he had 12 quality starts in his last 15. Among the three that didn’t qualify was a rain-shortened start when he pitched 3-2/3 scoreless innings.
Paul Maholm was traded to the Braves in late July and didn’t witness Minor’s first-half struggles. All he saw was his fellow left-hander’s methodical performance in the second half.
“Whenever he would go out there, he would get six-plus innings and (allow) one or two runs,” Maholm said. “I think the biggest thing was, he had a few of them and he got confident, and the confidence kind of carries you. Then all of a sudden you realize you don’t really have to do anything extra to go out and win games.
“He throws in lower 90s (mph), challenges guys, and understands how to mix his pitches up. He understands how to establish his stuff early and then is able to read hitters and mix his speeds. He’s got four pitches that the hitters have to think about.”
There wasn’t much time to spare when Minor, 25, turned things around. Alhough he heard positive reinforcement from pitching coach Roger McDowell, manager Fredi Gonzalez and teammates during the first half, he knew there was only so long the Braves could stick with him if he didn’t get going.
“I thought he was very successful last year (when he was) taking the fight to the hitter and pounding inside and making everything else work off of that,” general manager Frank Wren said. “(In late) April we saw a great start in Arizona, a great start in L.A., same thing. When he came back home (from that trip), for whatever reason he started going away, away, away. He lost that aggressiveness and I think he kind of lost his way for a while. When you’re not taking it to the hitter, he’s taking it to you.”
In a two-month stretch of 10 starts from April 30 to June 24, Minor had one win, a 7.45 ERA and 17 homers allowed.
“It seemed like every time I went out there I had the same confidence to start the game,” Minor said. “But as soon as something bad happened it just went right back to, ‘OK, here we go again.’ Every fifth day I felt like I was going to win. I felt like I was prepared. I still did my bullpen, still felt good going into the game. But any time I gave up a home run or a double and it was on a good pitch, I just felt like, ‘Here we go again.’”
Gonzalez said the team had begun discussions about how much longer to wait for Minor to show progress. Soon, he would.
Minor showed encouraging signs in consecutive starts against the Yankees in mid-June, then gave up four runs including three homers in 4-2/3 innings of a June 24 loss at Boston. It was another game where he pitched well before stumbling in one poor inning (fourth inning: two walks followed by two homers).
Gonzalez was asked that day – as he had been a few times before -- how long he could keep Minor in the rotation, especially given that Kris Medlen had just returned from a two-week stint in Triple-A to build arm strength in preparation for a move to the rotation. The manager’s answers that day indicated the lefty needed to show more progress, and soon.
Minor gave up four runs and five walks in five innings in his next start against Washington, then reeled off four consecutive games with two earned runs or fewer in six innings or more, and nine starts in a row with three earned runs or fewer. He allowed more than three runs just once in his final 15 starts.
“When you have a bad game, people are scared to approach you and talk to you,” Minor said. “Not that they’re mad at you, they just don’t know what to say to you. They can’t say, ‘Hey, it’s OK, you only gave up four home runs.’ That won’t work.
“But I had a lot of guys come up to me (during the slump) and say, ‘Hey, I thought your (stuff) looked good. It’s still there. It was Roger, it was Mac (catcher Brian McCann); Fredi would come up to me and say, ‘You’re going to be here, you’re going to start next week.’ Because I always had that question after four or five bad starts, thinking, ‘I’m probably going down soon.’
“Those guys … gave me the confidence that the whole clubhouse, it felt like, was on my side.”
