60 Sunday,March 29, 2020 DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com
SUNDAYSPORTS
ON THE CALL
There could be some big changes for
announcers when baseball returns
BOB RAISSMAN, PAGE 75F
or Michael Wacha and
his offseason transfor-
mation, it all started
with videos, mechanics
and his dad.
Wacha, 28, signed as a free
agent with the Mets in De-
cember on a one-year, $3 mil-
lion deal. But, well before
that, his dad, Tom, pulled up
videos of Wacha’s starts from
his 2019 season with the Car-
dinals. Together, they looked
at his release point, spin rate,
arm slot and other mechanics
as Wacha welcomed the use
of analytics into his ground-
work for the upcoming sea-
son.
“I’ve always just been like,
I’m going to out-compete this
guy,” Wacha said earlier this
month. “I usually take it on
myself and not really under-
stand — OK, that’s a bad pitch
because of this, and maybe
this will work better because
of the spin rate or the ride on
this pitch.”
The former NLCS MVP is
not one for “analytics stuff,”as Wacha described it. His
dad had always been “way
more interested” in technol-
ogy-based training, but that
changed this past winter.
After his seventh season in
the big leagues, when Wacha
went 6-7 on a
4 .76 ERA and
1. 5 6 3 W H I P
over 24 starts,
he a d m i t t e d
his mechanics
had been get-
ting “a little
bi t o u t o f
whack” over the years. A ca-
reer-low -0.2 fWAR after
bouncing back and forth
from the rotation to the
bullpen last season was, in
Wacha’s mind, reversible. So
he set out to learn more about
himself from that final year in
St. Louis.
“My dad definitely pulled
up quite a bit of the videos,”
Wacha said. “He’s got some
websites — I don’t even know
where he looks it up. He’s got
my release points at certaintimes during the year when
I’m not pitching good. He
was definitely getting into it
this offseason and passing
along some information to
me. I think it was very helpful
for sure.”
Wa c h a
didn’t know it
ye t , b u t h e
was creating
an advantage
fo r h i m s e l f
be f o r e e v e n
signing with
the Mets.
By the time Mets pitching
coach Jeremy Hefner and as-
sistant pitching coach Jere-
my Ac c a r d o a p p r o a c h e d
Wacha about his mechanics
in spring training, the right-
hander already had a head
start. Hefner and Accardo
looked at video of Wacha’s
outings and prepared in-
structions for him to imple-
ment as soon as they got word
that he was joining the club.
It wasn’t until Wacha told
his pitching coaches abouthis offseason schooling with
his dad that he realized how
beneficial technology can be
in his routine.
“They said my mechanical
changes that I made over the
offseason were exactly what
they were going to be telling
me,” Wacha said of his early
conversation with Hefner
and Accardo. “Exactly the
same type of information or
helpful tips that they were
trying to get me into, I already
made them on my own.”
Despite the head start, this
spring featured Wacha’s first
time throwing in front of
cameras. The Mets recently
employed advanced technol-
og y — l i k e E d g e r t r o n i c ,
TrackMan and Rapsodo — in
hopes of it leading to better
results from their pitching
staff. Wacha, across a few
Grapefruit League starts,
quickly noticed a difference.
For the first time in his ca-
reer, Wacha went into the vi-
deo room after bullpen and
live batting practice sessionsduring spring camp. If he
threw a bad curveball during
abullpen, he’d make a note of
it so he could go back into the
video room and inspect why
it slipped out. He found it
easy to adapt to a new process
of correcting his mechanics.
“Those changes have defi-
nitely been a success so far,”
Wacha said. “I feel like the
ball’s coming out really nice.
Arm and body have been feel-
ing great.”
Wacha arrived at Mets
camp in competition with
Steven Matz and Rick Por-
cello for a spot in the rotation.
That changed when the club
announced Noah Synder-
gaard will miss the 2020 sea-
son with a torn UCL that
fo r c e d h i m t o u n d e r g o
Tommy John surgery. Fol-
lowing Syndergaard’s injury,
Wacha cemented his role in
the team’s five-man rotation,
but he had already impressed
the Mets in backfield simula-
tion games and exhibition
outings.MIKE: FATHER
New Met pitcher Wacha embraces technology with help
DEESHA
THOSARIf the final pitch of the 2020
baseball season comes closer
to Christmas than Halloween,
that's fine with the players.
Ma j o r L e a g u e B a s e b a l l
owners ratified a 17-page
agreement with the union in
the wake of the coronavirus
pandemic, with players will-
ing to extend the season as
long as needed to cover as
close to a full schedule as pos-
sible.
Even if it involves neutral
sites in warm-weather cities
and domes. Even if it involves
playing in empty ballparks.
Even if it involves lots of day-
night doubleheaders.
And if it means expanding
the playoffs from 10 teams,fine.
“Players want to play. That's
what we do,” said union head
Tony Clark, a former All-Star
first baseman. “Being able to
get back on the field and being
able to play, even if that means
their fans are watching at
home, but being able to play
for their fans is something
they've all expressed a desire
and an interest to do, and to do
so as soon as possible.“
This season was to start
Thursday and Game 7 of the
World Series was on track to
be Oct. 28. With opening day
postponed until mid-May at
the earliest, the final pitch
could come as Frosty the
Snowman starts popping up.
The sides discussed a regular
season extending into Octoberand a postseason in November.
“We would play as long as
we possibly could. Obviously,
the weather becomes a chal-
lenge the later you get in the
calendar year,” Clark said.
“But we would do our best to
play as many games as pos-
sible regardless of when we
start.”
Abigger playoff field will be
considered.
“Is this a year where trying
different things could be of
benefit, and that is one of the
things that in a one-year trial
could be a benefit,” Clark said.
When the season can start is
beyond the control of MLB
and the union. If games are
missed, players will receive
prorated shares of their sala-
ries.Baseball could be this year’s Christmas
Assuming the 2020 MLB season eventually happens, Gerrit Cole could
be pitching for the Yankees in a December Classic. APTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS