3/31 GT: 4th Channel, 4th Win

[GL_Storm]

I'm reading about Hancock, it's like a Rocky feel good story. He worked out on his own in Georgia, throwing into a net, no special equipment. Comes in a new man. That, or it's peds

When Hancock arrived to spring training, there was a noticeable difference in his stuff and command. The velocity on his two fastballs and gyro slider had increased. The break on his slow sweeper had increased from 11 inches to 18 inches. And the increased confidence in himself and his place in the organization and MLB as a whole felt palpable.

“I didn’t have TrackMan or anything like that back home, it was just one of those feel things,” he said

Where was this from?

[Donn Beach]

The Times

.

Ryan Divish By Ryan Divish
Seattle Times staff reporter

In this modern era of baseball, every major-league team and most major college baseball programs have “pitching labs” featuring an array of coaches and analysts and state of the art of facilities all to hone and study pitching success.

And seemingly every private indoor pitching facility from Seattle to South Beach features the latest technology like TrackMan or Rapsodo that measures the velocity, spin rate, movement — both horizontal and vertical — and the exact shape of every pitch in real time for instant feedback.

Yet, Emerson Hancock increased his fastball velocity, reworked his sweeper slider and found himself as a pitcher this offseason in rural southern Georgia with none of those advanced trappings to supposed success.

Hell, he didn’t even have a catcher some days.

But that offseason of old-school work, often throwing to a “nine pocket” net on his own, or occasionally throwing to Sam Summerlin, a freshman catcher at Kennesaw State who was home on Christmas break, helped lay the groundwork of his brilliant performance Sunday night at T-Mobile Park.

Hancock dominated the Cleveland Guardians on a frigid evening with the roof closed, tossing six scoreless and hitless innings, allowing only two base runners and striking out a career-high nine batters, to lead the Mariners to an 8-0 victory.

Seattle split the four-game series with Cleveland and will open a three-game series with the New York Yankees on Monday.

“What a ballgame today in probably one of the colder days I can remember at this ballpark,” manager Dan Wilson said. “What an incredible performance by Emerson Hancock. We talked about it this spring that he had and just how he was attacking the zone with his stuff. Today was just an extension of that. It was impressive.”

When Hancock arrived to spring training, there was a noticeable difference in his stuff and command. The velocity on his two fastballs and gyro slider had increased. The break on his slow sweeper had increased from 11 inches to 18 inches. And the increased confidence in himself and his place in the organization and MLB as a whole felt palpable.

“I didn’t have TrackMan or anything like that back home, it was just one of those feel things,” he said.


It felt like he was throwing hard. It seemed like the sweeper was moving a lot.

“I’d ask some guys that were there to watch and see what they thought,” he said. “When I had a catcher I’d ask him, ‘How does that look?’”

Wilson likened it to one of the more unforgettable training montages in sports movies.

“Just like when Rocky is working out in the barn and Drago is working out with all the tech,” Wilson said, referencing Rocky IV.

Hancock didn’t know until arriving to spring training just how much his velocity increased. But his four-seam seemed to carry through the zone better than it had before and his two-seam had more movement.

“I started throwing harder by not trying to throw hard,” he said. “I stopped trying to force velocity.”

He didn’t know how much the sweeper was moving or how it would play until he took it into games.

“It was more about the grip,” he said. “If you get the seams right, you can really get that ball to kind of catch and break off the plate, which is what I want.”

In the first inning, he hammered a four-seam fastball at 96 mph on the hands of Steven Kwan for an easy ground out. He ripped a 96-mph four-seam fastball past Chase DeLauter for a swinging strike three.

After walking José Ramírez he came back to strike out Kyle Manzardo, getting a swinging first strike on the slow sweeper before coming back with fastballs later in the count.

It was the start of a string 13 batters retired in a row.

With Hancock’s pitch count at 83 pitches after five innings, Wilson opted to let him start the sixth and see if he could finish it.

“We were going to let him see how far he could go,” Wilson said. “We were a little nervous, because the pitch count was getting up there.”

Hancock hit C.J. Kayfus with a misplaced fastball to start the sixth inning. But a perfect 1-1 sinker to Brayan Rocchio was immediately turned into a double play to erase the base runner. When Hancock got Kwan to ground out to second on the 97th and final pitch of his outing, he walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the crowd of 30,800, having held Cleveland hitless for six innings.

He became the second pitcher in Mariners history to pitch the first six innings of a game hitless while striking out at least nine hitters. The other pitcher was Felix Hernandez on Aug. 15, 2012 — his perfect game.

“Getting the opportunity was huge,” Hancock said of going back out for the sixth. “And when you get that opportunity, you go out there and do the best you can to get those last three outs. You always want to get through the sixth.”

A year ago, Hancock’s first start of the season was a disaster. He never made it out of the first inning, allowing six runs on seven hits with a walk and no strikeouts.

“That’s just part of the journey,” he said. “A year ago, right now, we were having a completely different conversation. Things went completely different. That’s just part of this game. You’re going to struggle, there’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, but if you’re fully committed to what you’re doing in your process, of how you go about each day … you’re growing.”

We need your support
In-depth journalism takes time and effort to produce, and it depends on paying subscribers. If you value these kinds of stories, consider subscribing.

Meanwhile his teammates provided plenty of run support after squandering some early scoring opportunities against Guardians starter Slade Cecconi. The Mariners broke the game open with two outs in the fourth inning. Dominic Canzone doubled on a looping fly ball to left field that Kayfus couldn’t corral with an awkward sliding attempt. Cole Young worked a walk and Leo Rivas drove in the first run of the game with a single to right.

Brendan Donovan, who had been hit by pitches in his previous two at-bats, did the hitting in his third trip to the plate. He pulled a 1-1 fastball that was above the strike zone just over the wall in right field for his second homer of the season. The three-run blast made it 4-0.

Seattle continued to add on in the fifth. Randy Arozarena scored Julio Rodríguez with a double to the gap in left center and then scored on Luke Raley’s single to right, ending Cecconi’s outing.

An RBI double from Cal Raleigh in the sixth and another run-scoring single from Arozarena, pushed the lead to 8-0.

Cooper Criswell, who replaced Hancock to start the seventh, couldn’t keep the no-hit bid going, giving up a leadoff single to DeLauter. But he did pick up a three-inning save, working the final frames scoreless.

With Andres Muñoz and Eduard Bazardo unavailable due to usage, covering nine innings with a starter and one reliever made it that much sweeter for Wilson and the Mariners

[Donn Beach]

That's right, last year at this time he was a mess

A year ago, Hancock’s first start of the season was a disaster. He never made it out of the first inning, allowing six runs on seven hits with a walk and no strikeouts.

“That’s just part of the journey,” he said. “A year ago, right now, we were having a completely different conversation. Things went completely different. That’s just part of this game. You’re going to struggle, there’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, but if you’re fully committed to what you’re doing in your process, of how you go about each day … you’re growing.”

[Seattle or Bust]

97 from Logan.

Hopefully he can sustain it.

[seth8734]

97 from Logan.

Hopefully he can sustain it.

Logan 2 outs so what. 5th best pitcher right now!!!

SHIT HEAD LOGAN. UGHHHH SETTLE DOWN.

Gotta chip away against great pitching yay!!

Fantastic start on both ends. Bad lefty lineup.

[DavidGee24]

Robles sucks.

[Seattle or Bust]

Robles sucks.

The lack of arm talent in major league outfields is befuddling to me.

What happened to guys with hoses?

[AT Fresno]

97 from Logan.

Hopefully he can sustain it.

Logan 2 outs so what. 5th best pitcher right now!!!

SHIT HEAD LOGAN. UGHHHH SETTLE DOWN.

Gilbert has no good wipe out pitch, I'd like to see him pitch to poor contact instead of trying for no contact. Become more efficient, maybe he should g o to sleep every night watching old videos of Greg Maddox.

[Seattle or Bust]

97 from Logan.

Hopefully he can sustain it.

Logan 2 outs so what. 5th best pitcher right now!!!

SHIT HEAD LOGAN. UGHHHH SETTLE DOWN.

Gilbert has no good wipe out pitch, I'd like to see him pitch to poor contact instead of trying for no contact. Become more efficient, maybe he should g o to sleep every night watching old videos of Greg Maddox.

Everyone raves about his splitter. Until he can consistently keep it down, it's not an elite pitch to me.

He has a tendency to hang it a bit and it doesn't really compliment his pitch mix even if it gets effective results.

[seth8734]

Logan 2 outs so what. 5th best pitcher right now!!!

SHIT HEAD LOGAN. UGHHHH SETTLE DOWN.

Gilbert has no good wipe out pitch, I'd like to see him pitch to poor contact instead of trying for no contact. Become more efficient, maybe he should g o to sleep every night watching old videos of Greg Maddox.

Everyone raves about his splitter. Until he can consistently keep it down, it's not a great pitch to me.

He has a tendency to hang it right over the middle and its more of a meatball knuckle ball at that point.

Your absolutely right. Its not a knockout pitch. Its hangers. I hate facing lefties.

Damnn it waited 2 long to challenge. Fried is tough Nasty stuff. Cant get anything going yet!!