An Interview with Astros RHP Travis Ballew

When I talked to RHP Vincent Velasquez a couple of weeks ago in Quad City, I asked him what Astros pitcher had a pitch he'd like to steal. He cited Travis Ballew's slider as a pitch he'd love to be able to add to his already impressive aresenal.

So, just how good is Ballew's slider? Lancaster Manager Rodney Linares recently told Ballew, "I'm telling you right now, that's a big league slider." Pitching Coach Don Alexander calls it filthy, "It's hard. It's late. It's a swing-and-miss pitch. It's one of the best I've ever seen. It just disappears."

But the key to Ballew's success is his fastball which Alexander calls a plus pitch that sits around 93 to 94 miles an hour. According to both Alexander and Linares, Ballew will need to learn to trust his fastball and pitch off the fastball in order to keep from becoming predictable as hitters start to see him more.

I spoke with Travis over the weekend and we talked about using his fastball more, how his slider evolved and much more (edited for brevity and clarity).

Travis Ballew - May 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

What has he accomplished and what is he working on?: "I feel like I've done pretty well this year. It's been a nice time out here in Lancaster. I've been closing off and on when Kenny [Long] was here, me and him would swap off, but now [that] he's gone, I think I'm still sitting back in the closer role. I think the first month went pretty well. One big thing I've been trying to work on is throwing more fastballs because I was getting to places where I was throwing 25 sliders so I'm trying to get a 1:1 ratio between my slider and my fastball which is the main thing for me."

On being told that Velasquez would love to have his slider: "I've had quite a few people ask [about the slider]. Me and Brady [Rodgers] talk about it all the time because he throws a slider and he asks me sometimes how I throw it. I just kind of learned it through college and my college coach helped me out. I picked it up really quick which is surprising because I'd never thrown it and I learned it in about two weeks in college, and it ends up being my best pitch. It's what got me drafted so it worked out really well."

On having better numbers against lefties so far this season: "I saw that the other night and I was like 'What the heck? That doesn't seem right. That's backwards.' That's not normal for me. In college, against lefties, it [batting average] was a little higher and against righties, I was pretty dominant. I've been working on getting a pitch to throw to lefties ... I do that and the righties start getting hits so [I'm trying to land] right in the middle somewhere."

Whose pitch would he like to steal?: "You know what I would like overall?  I'd love to have Brady's control because you watch his bullpens and the catcher doesn't move his glove. That'd be nice to have, but I really like his changeup because my changeup's kind of iffy. He spots it up pretty well and it's a good pitch for him so I'd probably go with Brady's changeup."

Who would he least like to face in the batter's box?: "I'd probably have to go with [Nolan] Fontana. I mean, he hits everything and me facing lefties is always hit or miss for me. Fontana or [Andrew] Aplin would be the two I wouldn't want to face. I faced Fontana once in Spring Training and he got a hit off me."

Who does he like having behind him when he pitches?: "Defensively, I can't complain with anybody we've got in the field. I know Fontana's a really good defender and [Matt] Duffy over at third ... that left side's pretty strong. Aplin and [Preston] Tucker for sure in the outfield, they cover a lot of room. Aplin is a good centerfielder, but pretty much all around, I don't mind having anybody out there."

Who on the team makes you laugh?: "I hang around with the bullpen guys a lot so it's Long, [Jonas] Dufek and [T.J.] Geith. Geith's pretty funny. He'll talk to anybody. Say anything. Whatever's on top of his head, he'll say to somebody ... he doesn't even know them. He'll just start talking to them. It's pretty funny. If you followed Geith around for a day, you'd probably get a pretty good laugh. He's pretty funny."

What would he do if he couldn't play baseball?: "I've probably still got a year left of school which I was doing Exercise and Sports Science. I only need about a year for a degree so I'd probably be back doing that. After that, I'd want to coach but that's about it. That's all I've thought about so far because [I thought I] was probably going to get drafted and so I didn't really work and think about that so much. I focused more on baseball."

Something most people don't know about him: "Most people don't know that I've had grey hair since I was about 16. I have a lot of grey hair like on the sides. I have to dye my hair all the time. It gets out of hand. I just cut my hair maybe two and a half weeks ago and the grey hair that was falling out was just unreal. My Dad had grey hair kind of young but not young like I did. Nobody really notices it because I've always worn a hat. I've had a few grey facial hairs before. I had a grey eyelash one day. I'm getting old, I guess."

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On April 16th at High Desert, Ballew pitched two innings. Six up, six down, six strikeouts swinging. He may have a few grey hairs, but if he keeps that up, he may be handing out a few grey hairs to the hitters who face him as well.

Thanks for your time, Travis. The best of luck as the season unfolds.