50 CARDINALS MAGAZINE @CardsMagazine
SEEDS ON U.S. SOIL
It had taken plenty of sweat and grit on
two continents for Mikolas to turn himself
into the kind of starter who would be
coveted by big-league teams. That was the
goal when he and his wife, Lauren, moved
to Japan in 2015.
But there were no guarantees, especially
after his uneven career stateside. The
skills Mikolas has harnessed as part of the
Cardinals rotation were barely in their
infancy back then, still on the verge of
sprouting.
Drafted by the Padres in 2009, Mikolas
turned his attention to becoming a power
pitcher when he was placed in the bullpen
a year later at Class A. It cost him his feel
for location, but staking his claim as a
gunslinger was worth the tradeoff.
“I kind (of had it) in my mind that
I’m going to really let it eat,” he explains,
“because that’s what back-end-of-the-bullpen
guys do.”
Relying on a fastball that suffered from
shaky command, Mikolas pitched well
enough over two seasons to make the majors- but not to stay. By 2014, he found himself
with the Rangers organization, where
injuries to starting pitchers had created flux
in the system. Mikolas was moved into the
rotation at Triple-A, and a call-up to the
majors followed that July.
The Rangers’ pitching coach was Mike
Maddux, who didn’t rush to judgment as
Mikolas accumulated a 6.44 ERA over
10 starts. Instead, Maddux saw progress
taking shape because of the pitcher’s
attitude and aptitude.
“He was like a blank canvas, willing to
try a lot of new things,” says Maddux.
“No hesitation. If he thinks something can
help, he’s all-in to find out. You have the
guys who want to and you have the guys
that can do. He’s a can-do.”
The Rangers helped correct Mikolas’Four years before they reconnected in St. Louis, pitching coach Mike Maddux reached out when Mikolas joined the Texas Rangers midway
through 2014. Resetting his delivery mechanics, they turned the former power reliever into a command pitcher, without a sacrifice in velocity.