PEORIA, Ariz. \u2013 The crew of coaches, analysts, executives and pitchers crowded into the small covered platform behind the backstop of Field 1. This was must see viewing.<\/p>\n
On the mound, the man-child that is right-hander Ryan Sloan warmed up for his first live batting practice of Major League spring training.<\/p>\n
Standing in front of the dugout, Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor and Dom Canzone watched Sloan intently working on timing up his delivery. Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena sat in a shaded area, gazing at the Mariners\u2019 prized pitching phenom.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo much for a soft landing,\u201d a coach said sarcastically.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Sloan? Or for the hitters?\u201d came a reply.<\/p>\n
When Raleigh stepped into the box, Sloan ripped a four-seam fastball registering 99 mph on his first pitch to the All-Star catcher. Raleigh fouled it off. It was the start of an eight-pitch battle where Sloan threw another 99-mph heater, a sinking-two seam fastball at 98 mph, a nasty changeup and a handful of sliders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to every single home series in Everett,\u201d came a comment from the staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunko Field is going to be packed for his starts,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n
With Naylor and Arozarena also wanting to face him, Raleigh exited the box after fouling off another 3-2 pitch, giving his teammates a chance.<\/p>\n
Naylor\u2019s at-bat lasted five pitches. He hit a soft ground ball to first on a 2-2 changeup.<\/p>\n
Seeing that Sloan attacked both Raleigh and Naylor with a first-pitch fastball, Arozarena tried to ambush the first pitch, believing it would be a fastball. The thinking was correct, but the execution didn\u2019t follow. Arozarena swung through a 99-mph fastball above his belt.<\/p>\n
Sloan kept attacking Arozarena with his fastball. He got ahead 0-2 with a foul ball and then ran another fastball up and in to get Arozarena to move his feet and get uncomfortable. To play off that inside fastball, Sloan snapped off a nasty slider on the next pitch. Arozarena made an awkward, lunging swing at the offering, trying to foul it off. Instead, he missed badly and his bat sailed out of his hands, landing almost where the infield dirt meets the left-field grass.<\/p>\n
With the excitement he\u2019s generated inside the organization, starting with the Mariners\u2019 offseason pitching camp for prospects and what he\u2019s done already this spring, it was a fitting end to Sloan\u2019s live BP.<\/p>\n
Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners president of baseball operations, and general manager Justin Hollander wore perma-grins after watching Sloan. A day earlier they were just as giddy about seeing lefty Kade Anderson have a similar showing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard for me to stop smiling,\u201d Hollander said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s only 20,\u201d Dipoto said. \u201cHe still hasn\u2019t grown into his body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sloan turned 20 on Jan. 29. But he actually looks much younger from the neck up. He has a baby face that makes him look innocent. Growing a beard isn\u2019t happening any time in the next few years.<\/p>\n
From the neck down?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a man\u2019s body right there,\u201d Raleigh said.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Sloan\u2019s 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame speaks to his time in the weight room. In an era where pitchers build up their legs and core strength to generate their pitch velocity, Sloan has embraced that thinking since he was a freshman in high school in Elmhurst, Illinois.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would get after it,\u201d he said of the weight room. \u201cI had a good team at home that helped out a lot with that. We had a good program in place, and I have just been doing the same thing, staying disciplined to it since I was a freshman in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dipoto admitted that Sloan might have a larger lower half than \u201cThe Big Dumper.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it isn\u2019t just his size and strength that makes him good. He has a simple and fundamental delivery that\u2019s drawn comparisons to Gerrit Cole.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got really good mechanics,\u201d Raleigh said. \u201cI caught him the other day and the ball comes out clean. It\u2019s easy. He can really move the ball around too. At a time where a lot of guys are just kind of chucking it, he actually has a good feel for where his fastball is going from what I could tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mariners felt like they got a steal when they were able to select Sloan in the second round of the 2024 MLB draft (No. 55 pick overall) and get him to forgo his college commitment to Wake Forest with a $3 million bonus.<\/p>\n
He started his pro career last season with Low-A Modesto, making 18 starts and posting a 2-2 record with a 3.44 ERA. In 70 2\/3 innings, he struck out 77 batters and walked 15. He was promoted to High-A Everett in mid-August. He made three starts, going 0-2 with a 5.56 ERA. But eye surgery to address a lingering issue ended his season early.<\/p>\n
Sloan\u2019s first season was a learning experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season just kind of proved that my stuff was really good but there\u2019s still room for improvement,\u201d he said. \u201cJust mentally, I went through a bad stretch, and it kind of taught me a lot about me, about what I need to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cbad\u201d stretch was a three-start span (May 28, June 4, June 11), where he allowed 12 runs on 20 hits with two walks and 13 strikeouts in 12 1\/3 innings pitched.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d never dealt with anything like that in his high school days.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it probably taught me the most of the entire season, just about myself and how I need to look at things, how I need to be more process-oriented,\u201d he said. \u201cI found myself falling in the trap of being uber results-oriented, and I just kind of hammered myself for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got caught up in the hits allowed and the runs scored, which are important, but they clouded his intent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d throw a pitch wherever I wanted it, and it\u2019s a base hit, or it\u2019s a double,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then it just kind of starts spiraling out, where you give up a hit after you locate a pitch, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, what am I supposed to do?\u2019 Having three outings where nothing is going my way is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then came the clarity in a conversation with a teammate and embracing one of baseball\u2019s most tried and true mindsets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Screw it.\u2019 I\u2019m just going to accept that whatever I do my next outing, I\u2019m just going to care about where I throw the ball, and after that nothing else matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went out and tossed five shutout innings against San Jose, allowing four hits \u2013 all singles \u2013 with a walk and three strikeouts.<\/p>\n
It was the start of a run of five starts where he allowed just one run over 21 innings pitched with two walks and 18 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
To help keep him in a similar process-oriented mindset, Sloan started journaling in the offseason and has continued it this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the morning, I\u2019ll write down what my intentions are for the day, write down a bunch of other stuff, and then after my bullpens or catch, I\u2019d write down if I was feeling good,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, in a month or two when I\u2019m not feeling the best, I can come look back at it when I was feeling really good and see what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something he thinks will be beneficial during the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to learn,\u201d he said. \u201cIn high school, I just kind of went about my business and did what I had to do. But I\u2019ve realized that everyone here is really good, so if I can get a little bit of an edge doing whatever it is, whether it\u2019s journaling or whatever someone else may do, I\u2019ll take that edge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PEORIA, Ariz. \u2013 The crew of coaches, analysts, executives and pitchers crowded into the small covered platform behind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-479568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}