Daniel Minor - September 2019
Photo by Jayne Hansen
Minor continued with his thoughts on that talented Astros system, “When I got drafted, it was like wow, we’re with the Astros. They’ve lost 100 games three years in a row. They’re going to be a lot of opportunities, but it was like an overnight turn. So much talent. Looking back, we had half a roster with major league players.” So, despite having a very respectable minor league career (3.57 ERA/1.286 WHIP over 4 seasons), Minor was squeezed out during the 2015 season, a move that Minor called a “gut punch.” After a couple of forgettable appearances in the American Association later that year, Minor took some time away from baseball to work on his degree.
While working on his degree in 2016, Minor said, “I started helping out with the Texas State baseball team and I was coaching youth baseball and starting to give lessons and I just kind of re-found the love for the game seeing children play because (it helped me) realize how I was building this up so much in my mind when it’s really, in the end, just a game.” So Minor decided to give it another shot in 2017 and his baseball adventures continued in the American Association, Mexico, Venezuela and most recently the Atlantic League.
“The Texas State pitching coach remembered me from playing against him in college and he kind of reached out to some people for me and that’s when Winnipeg got in touch with me and I went there for about a month, two months, just trying to get myself back in the door. I was throwing well (out of the bullpen). I was throwing pretty hard. And then ended up getting traded to Gary in the American Association around the middle of August (2017). They gave me the opportunity to be a starter. I had a really, really good month with them. We ended up making the playoffs.
“Then I went back to Gary the following year (2018). Pitched really, really well for two months, two and a half months. And then that’s when I got in touch with a Mexican team and signed and went down to play there. Played there the rest of the year. Finished down there in September. I pitched well there. And Omar Lopez (then an Astros minor league Manager) reached out to me about coming to Venezuela. That’s when I went down to Venezuela last winter and played. That was a really cool experience, getting to play in another country and see their culture and how they go about things. It was a really cool experience getting to play there.”
On playing in Mexico, Minor told me, “It was different. Just the culture, the fans. You have drumlines in the stands. People yelling. It was a really, really cool experience playing down there. They’re very, very, very passionate. In all honesty, the games are more exciting there or in Venezuela because the fans are more into it. Not like here in America where people are looking at their phones, not fully knowing what’s going on. They’re just very into the game and aware of the in-game situations of what’s going on. It was very good competition. The majority of places are actually higher elevation than the Colorado stadium. So it’s a big hitter-friendly league which I don’t think people realize. It was unbelievable watching people hit (because of the thin air and low humidity). So you had to learn how to pitch there. Down there, you make a mistake and it gets hit, you don’t even have to hit it hard for it to go a long ways.”
And despite all of the reported trouble in Venezuela, Minor never felt particularly concerned for his safety when playing there. He had to be careful (no “wandering around”), but the constant presence of security was more than enough to allay any concerns that he had. “I never really had a moment where I was worried or scared, but they definitely do a good job of making you feel like that by taking care of you and making sure that if something were to happen, there’s more than enough resources to where you’re going to be OK.”
As to the playing experience in Venezuela, Minor said, “Probably the most fun I’ve ever had. Stands were usually decently full, and the fans were just unbelievable. They were just into it because that’s one of the few positives they have in their country. They really take that stuff serious. It was very cool, going to different cities and people recognize you as a foreign player.”
As a side note, although it is highly dependent on the team, player experience and other factors, playing in Mexico and Venezuela can be much more lucrative than playing in minor league affiliated ball and independent league ball in the United States. It isn’t unusual to see players making almost $10,000 to $20,000 a month with more established players making even more.
After Minor played winter league ball in Venezuela during the 2018-2019 season, he wanted to head back to the States, though, despite an offer to play for more money in Mexico so he would have the opportunity to continue working toward finishing up his degree, and he ended up playing for the York (PA) Revolution in the Atlantic League. The Atlantic League has a three-year deal with MLB to experiment with different potential rule changes that started in 2019 and according to Minor and others that I have spoken with, those experiments did not always go smoothly. I went through each of these rule changes with Minor in order to get a better idea of how these changes affected the players who had to implement them. I found his thoughts on the matter both educational and elucidating. [Please note that the following commentary includes my personal observations and characterizations regarding the rules and may not necessarily be Minor’s opinions.]
Robo Ump
The rule change getting the most notice is the use of TrackMan data to determine balls and strikes a.k.a. the “Robo Ump.” Simply explained, a TrackMan system (basically Doppler technology) is set up to determine balls and strikes with the call being conveyed to the home plate umpire via earpiece; the umpire then signals the transmitted call on the field. Everybody should love Robo Ump, right? I mean who doesn’t want to have the umpire get the call right? So, I went to several Atlantic League games in the second half of the season last year and I can tell you from personal experience exactly who doesn’t like it. The pitchers. The hitters. The umpires. The fans. None of them like it. And there are a lot of reasons, depending upon who you talk with. Read on for Minor’s take on some of those reasons as well as my take from both personal observation and talking with Minor and other players involved in all of these rule changes.
One of the biggest issues is the inability to make adjustments. “If you take a ball and put it right on the edge (the corner of the plate) and you take it a millimeter off, that’s a ball. But then you take the ball and you move it over a millimeter, it’s a strike on TrackMan. So the computer can see that, but when you are a pitcher or a catcher or a hitter, you can’t physically see the difference in that. The catcher can have his mitt there, I throw it into his mitt and it can be a ball. He can set up in the same exact spot and I throw it into his mitt again and he doesn’t move and it can be a strike. But (that small difference on TrackMan), we as humans can’t see that. At least with an umpire, you can turn around and ask how much did that miss by? ‘Oh about an inch.’ And then you have an idea. Well then I’m going to move in by a little more than an inch and the catcher will give you a better target. So the catcher is having to put their mitt, earlier in the count, directly over the plate because you’re trying to make sure you’re throwing strikes because you can’t physically see where the edge of that zone is. And with up and down, it’s the same idea but again you don’t know looking where it’s crossing for the strike zone. You can see it over the plate but again, it could be a millimeter high and it can be a ball. It moves down a millimeter and you really don’t know what to swing at and what not to swing at. Again, with a regular umpire you can at least turn and get instant feedback,” said Minor.
“When you get to the lower part of the zone, you’re seeing balls bounce (in the dirt and still be called strikes). You can throw a nasty changeup. I’d see other people throwing curveballs that would just clip that very front of the zone, right at the front of the plate and then end up in the dirt and (the hitter) gets punched out. I enjoyed having the higher strike actually finally called because by the rule book it is a strike, but you don’t really see umpires call it up there at the major league level. But then you start getting the lower strikes too that you know crossed the zone but into the dirt. But we’re all with the same understanding that if it hits the dirt, you’re not going to call it a strike. But now with the TrackMan, if it hits the dirt, you can just be out of luck and you just struck out. I felt bad for hitters on the up and down, especially the down. Up they can make an adjustment. Down, that was just way too tough for them,” continued Minor.
Minor felt that the zone up and down overall benefited the pitcher and was tough for the hitter, and vice versa for the zone side to side. “As a pitcher, you like trying to nibble and see how much you can get off the plate, but then that just goes away completely because there is no nibbling. You’ve got to throw it to where you think the edge of that zone is to clip it.”
And according to multiple sources, there was a lot of confusion as to how the zone was actually determined and whether or not it was being programmed consistently throughout the league. The player’s height apparently factored into setting up the zone, but so did TrackMan data on players from their time in MLB (if applicable). One source said that the system was recalibrated for the playoffs and the players were discouraged from complaining about the change.
Minor confirmed some of this confusion, “I still do not know to this day what the parameters were for the strike zone. I heard it was the hitters (listed height). Well, if that’s the case, they can just go and lie about it. You’d have to have someone come in and measure them and then put it into the system. And then I also heard it was a set zone so the shorter people had a bigger zone and the taller people had a smaller zone. Then I also heard that people who had played in the major league had a smaller zone than people who hadn’t played in the major leagues. So we never really got a true answer about what the zone actually was.”
To complicate matters, human umpires are supposed to be able to override TrackMan on things like balls in the dirt and absurdly high strikes, but my understanding is that the umpires were discouraged from doing this so that the system could truly be tested and the league could get accurate data on how TrackMan worked. This may make sense from a viewpoint of testing the system, but my feeling is that it is hardly fair to those players in the Atlantic League who are working toward either getting back to the big leagues or getting there in the first place to be used as guinea pigs. In any event, I never saw one ball or strike call overruled by an umpire in the games I watched last season.
The biggest frustration for most of the players I talked with was just not knowing exactly where the strike zone was from day to day, hitter to hitter and ballpark to ballpark. Some players still benefited from the system with hitters getting more of the inside and outside calls to go their way and pitchers getting the high strike and balls in the dirt called. But for most players it was a mixed bag. Minor admits that the high strike zone helped him, but he was hurt when trying to establish the outside corners, but overall he was able to make adjustments to the system for the most part. His biggest concern with the system was the lack of communication and the inconsistency of the system. Robo Umps may be (and probably are) the future, but there are still many kinks to be worked out.
But there were several other rules being tested that, in my opinion, made little sense in an environment in which MLB’s stated goal is to speed up the game. The result of some of these rules was to increase offense. More runners on base = a longer game, something that I personally encountered in a late season 10-inning game that clocked in at over 4-1/2 hours. I asked Minor to weigh in on some of these rules and their real world results.
Stepping off the rubber to attempt a pickoff
This was, to me, the absolute worst experiment attempted in the Atlantic League in the second half. If a player had any speed whatsoever and got on base in any way, they just ran willy-nilly. It was absurd how many stolen bases I saw in one game. Minor described the situation, “If someone got on base from a walk, a single, a hit by pitch, you could expect them to be at second and third within a couple of pitches. Especially the fast guys, first to second, first pitch, second to third, pitch after that. I’m coming set and I’m just looking at them and they’re looking at me and I’m looking back at them like ‘I know you’re going to go’ and they’re, ‘yep, you know I’m going to go.’ They were taking huge leads because they knew the pitcher couldn’t do anything.”
One foul bunt with two strikes
This rule did nothing to speed up the game. As Minor aptly put it, “That literally adds another pitch to a hitter” and slows down the game.
Stealing first base
A player can “steal” first base on a wild pitch or passed ball if there is no one on first base. According to Minor, he really didn’t see this rule factor in much, if at all. But in any event, an extra runner getting on base due to this rule does nothing to speed up the game.
Eliminating the shift
A chalk line appears on the field at second base and the rule requires two infielders to be on either side of that line at the time the pitch is thrown. Minor didn’t really notice an appreciable difference one way or the other due to this rule, but again, it is a rule that favors the offense and which does nothing to speed up the game.
Check swing rule
There was also a check swing rule that was poorly defined, but which was intended to be more hitter-friendly. Since it was so poorly defined, it didn’t appear to be much of a factor.
However, there were a few rules implemented which were specifically intended to speed up the game.
Time between innings and pitching changes reduced
The time was reduced from 2:05 to 1:45. The time savings was more than offset by the extra offense in the games I saw. They were certainly not shorter and, anecdotally, I was told that the average game times increased 20 minutes under the new rules. I have no data to back that up, but I saw several very long games in the second half of the Atlantic League season.
Three-batter minimum
This is one change that should serve to speed up the game if only slightly, but lefty specialists may become an endangered species as a result (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). I think this is probably the least controversial of all the rules that were tried out which is probably why it is being adopted by MLB this season.
No Mound Visits
The rule prohibited all mound visits from coaching staff and trainers with the exception of pitching changes and injuries. The catcher was not allowed to make a mound visit except to discuss signs and the umpire accompanied the catcher to the mound to confirm that signs were the only item discussed. My first instinct when seeing this rule was that there would suddenly be a lot of soccer-style fake injuries occurring to justify a mound visit (and that phenomenon could very well occur with the three-batter minimum as well). Apparently, there was some of that, but Minor had a really good take on another aspect of the mound visit that I hadn’t contemplated.
Minor said, “Actually if you have a struggling pitcher out there and he’s giving it up, giving it up, giving it up because he doesn’t have a second to talk to a pitching coach, he’s just going to keep continuing to struggle. That 30-second break can re-lock you in. How many times have you seen a pitcher, a coach go out and talk to them, and the next pitch he gets an out. It happens all the time. So that actual quick get-your-mind-right kind of thing actually benefits the pitcher, hitter, game speed because it allows you to refocus instead of just standing out there and just drowning and drowning and drowning.”
That inability to get a quick mound visit has, apparently, led to some phantom injuries and has resulted in catchers walking out to the mound just to say “same sign” so the pitcher can get a second to re-focus. Another consideration is that a quick mount visit could also eliminate the need for a new pitcher and that pitcher’s associated warm up time. So, although the no-mound-visit rule is intended to speed up the game, it may very well be having the opposite effect.
One final rule that I want to discuss is one that didn’t go into effect in 2019. Originally, the pitcher’s mound was supposed to be moved back from 60’6” to 62’6” at some point in 2019, but that change was delayed. I haven’t seen any updates on when (or if) it will be implemented. This is absolutely the most controversial of all the rule changes. The rule was originally proposed with the intention of cutting down on strikeouts, but the pitchers that I’ve talked with are adamantly opposed to the change. It is hard for me to see MLB players agreeing to such a major change to the game.
My first thoughts when this was proposed were a:) guys are going to try to throw even harder and are going to end up getting hurt, and b:) guys are going to be working against 20 years of mechanics and muscle memory and are going to end up getting hurt. Stop me if you sense a theme.
And that’s what Minor is hearing from pitchers he's talked with as well. “That’s what everybody was saying. We’re going to end up getting hurt. I’ve been practicing throwing my changeup for 20 years, my curveball for 20 years from 60’6” and I’m supposed to just on a dime reach in my body in a very small time period and throw that from further away. How many curveballs do you think bounce in the dirt already?”
Minor doesn’t think it’s going to be a walk in the park for hitters either. He asked a few players about it. “Isn’t it going to mess with ya’lls timing? You’re primed up to hit from 60’6”. You’re going to be early on everything now. If you swing early on my changeup, I’m going to throw you changeups all day and you’re never going to be able to stay back. And the second you try to stay back, I’m going to maybe throw, maybe sneak an 88 mph fastball past you because my velo's going to be lower because I’m going to be further back now.” It may be easier for hitters to catch up with a fastball with the new mound rules, but breaking balls could be even harder for them to hit. It is not a given that this will be to the hitter’s advantage.
And Minor added one other great point, “What happens to the guys who get signed (out of the Atlantic League) from 62’6”? And then they go to (affiliated ball) and they go back to 60’6”? You know how many hitters are just going to get blown away again? How many pitchers are going to have to readjust to getting the ball down?” It really isn’t fair to those players who are trying to get back into affiliated ball to be working from two separate sets of rules.
In any event, Minor won’t have to worry about the rules in the Atlantic League this coming season. He is working on finishing up his internship, the last step in finishing his Exercise and Sports Science Degree. The end of his internship coincides with the beginning of the American Association season so he will be headed to play with the St. Paul Saints in May with a degree in his pocket and a smile on his face (in addition to a brand new fiancé!).
I have always enjoyed talking with Minor and find his takes on different aspects of the game to be thoughtful and very, very smart. This time was no different. Thank you for your time, Daniel, and best of luck in 2020.
Also, check out my interview with long-time Astros Scout Jim Stevenson
