Brett Conine - June 2019
Photo by Jayne Hansen
Conine has split his season so far between Low A Quad Cities and High A Fayetteville. The Quad Cities team was forced to play on the road for most of their early season games due to river flooding, and Conine described the experience for me, "From what I remember, we only played three home games in a 30-game period so we were living off the bus basically. That was an experience. We would play a three-game roadstand or a six-game roadstand and come home for one day and then go and do it again. You didn't actually get to play at home. You just slept in your bed one night at a time every six days. So yeah we were always on the road. You get used to it because we've been playing baseball our whole lives so everyone's used to playing on the road but you like to mix in a home game every once in a while too. It didn't affect how we played. [Quad Cities went on to win the first half of the season in their division.] We were still playing the game of baseball but it would be nice to have the home fans. When I first showed up here in Fayetteville, having a home crowd behind me was just totally different. We get a good crowd out here too."
When asked about the early success in his season (and his pro career thus far), Conine said, "For me, I'm just trying to be consistent. Each and every day we have a specific throwing program that we try to do to help improve our pitches and the coaching staff has just been really up front on what they want out of all of us. For me, I've just been able to make small strides with each of my offspeed pitches and even my fastball, not only shape but locations. That's what I'm trying to focus on and keep things simple and just make pitches in each of my outings."
Conine described his pitch repertoire as consisting of a fastball, curveball, changeup and slider. "The slider's my most recent developmental pitch. That's kind of what I'm trying to use to help with the right handed hitters. The curveball and changeup I've had, but those were slow works of progress last year when I first got drafted and now they've been more of a staple for me. The fastball command is what I rely on. Just mixing those pitches is what helps me best." With his fastball sitting in the low 90's and hitting the mid-90's, command is key and that command has helped to set him apart.
I also spoke with Fayetteville Manager Nate Shaver and he was very complementary about Conine's command and his ability to pitch efficiently, allowing him to pitch deep into games despite being on a pitch count and putting the team in a good position to win. Shaver went on to say, "He's a good pitcher. And makeup wise, I couldn't ask for anything more out of the guy. Even-keeled most of the time. When he gets on the mound, he's in the zone, he's competitive. He has that swagger about him on the mound, doesn't really let much affect him. Trusts his defense behind him. He's good. He's a competitor."
"For me when I go out, I just want to give my team a chance and pound the strike zone, move quickly. I think if I'm taking too much time on the mound, then I'm out of my own rhythm and I need to keep the game moving and just get on the rubber and wait for the hitter to get in the box because I'm ready and keep a fast pace. I think that keeps the defense into the game as well and they're not dragging along and they can get back in and put up some runs for us and make it as (little) time as possible out on the field," said Conine.
Conine's main focus right now is working on that slider, "I throw the slider to righties so for me that's another out pitch that I can use against them. For me, I just listen to my catchers and mix well and I think that is what has helped me in these games. And as long as I'm consistent, I'm going to know what I can provide each outing."
During the season, in Conine's limited off time, he and his roommates spend most of their time simply trying to decompress and take their minds off baseball for a little bit, watching Netflix or playing video games. While at home in Orange, California in the offseason, Conine likes to hang out with friends and family at nearby California beaches or go for runs and bike rides. His competitive instincts propel him toward ping pong and bowling.
The most surprising thing I learned about Conine is that his major was Child and Adolescent Development and, but for baseball, he would be headed for a career in teaching. "That was like my third major but that was the one that kind of fit me well, to become an elementary school teacher. I still have a couple of semesters left so that would be the plan to go and chip away at that degree." And even though it surprised me, it made sense. I could definitely see Conine's very calm, unflappable demeanor translate well into the classroom.
The Astros 2018 class of 16 signed pitchers had a remarkable first season in 2018, combining for a 2.74 ERA and a 1.207 WHIP (Conine had a 1.99 ERA and a 1.074 WHIP in 11 appearances). But since none of them were promoted beyond the short season A level, I was keeping a close eye on those pitchers to see how they would handle the higher levels this season. Many of them have shown that 2018 was not a fluke. "That's what we come out here to do. We feed off each other. It's always an internal competition between the pitching staff. We all had that same goal. We were all excited to see what we could do on a full season team and push ourselves to get to the next level and show everyone," said Conine. So far, he's done just that.
Thank you for your time, Brett, and best of luck as your season continues to unfold.
Other recent interviews:
Colton Shaver
Nivaldo Rodriguez and Enmanuel Valdez
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