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MESA, Ariz. — A’s pitcher Paul Blackburn should feel like his spot in the A’s rotation is secure. He should feel like his performance last season was enough. But that’s just not his style.
Blackburn threw his first bullpen session of the spring on Friday at the Lew Wolff Training Complex. After an impressive 10 starts as a rookie last season that saw him go 3-1 with a 3.22 ERA, Blackburn enters spring training with a good shot to enter the 2018 regular season as a starter, though he’s going about it as if he still has something to prove.
“I’m coming in like I need to earn a spot. That’s just kind of my aim, kind of my mentality,” Blackburn said. “I’m gonna go out there and compete every time and hopefully at the end of the day I earn a spot. But I’m not going in there thinking I have a spot just because of what I did last year. I’m fighting for a spot.”
Perhaps Blackburn’s feeling of needing to prove something comes from the way last season ended.
The Brentwood native was called up on July 1 and immediately became A’s manager Bob Melvin’s most reliable starter, pitching into the sixth or seventh inning on a consistent basis. But after tossing four shutout innings in his tenth start of the year in a game against the Baltimore Orioles, a line drive comebacker struck Blackburn’s right wrist and forced him to leave the game.
Video of Paul Blackburn getting hit with a comebacker on his right wrist. He was taken back to the clubhouse after pic.twitter.com/ttfYlbgYSX
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 23, 2017
X-rays revealed no broken bones, and Blackburn was only expected to miss a couple of starts. But after taking a longer time to recover and with the team already out of the playoff race, the A’s decided to shut Blackburn down for the remainder of the season.
“It’s not really like that motivated me to get back. I was just making sure that I got a hundred percent healthy,” Blackburn said. “Having something like that happen to your throwing hand could be a little scary, but the medical team did a good job with all my rehab and stuff.”
Now fully healthy, Blackburn, 24, will try to pick back up where he left off.
It was a quick rise to the majors for Blackburn, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a trade for Danny Valencia in 2016. Originally a first round pick by the Chicago Cubs out of Heritage High School in Brentwood, Blackburn entered 2017 spring training having never pitched above Double-A.
The A’s didn’t expect Blackburn to reach the majors for at least a couple of years, but after a slew of injuries to the big league rotation, the A’s called him up after just 14 starts at Triple-A Nashville.
Before Paul Blackburn throws his bullpen session today, A’s manager Bob Melvin on what impressed him about @PaulyB_34’s solid 10 starts with Oakland last year. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/5nqxeMDinS
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) February 16, 2018
“We had some plans for him, but as far as depth goes, he was probably down the depth chart some,” Melvin said. “We didn’t see much of him last spring, but when he got an opportunity, he ran with it. We found out what he was all about. He commands the baseball and lets you put it in play. Subtle movement on all his pitches, and conviction in what he’s doing. He quickly put himself on the map with us and put himself in the position he’s in right now.”
For a pitcher who went from never pitching past Double-A to the major leagues in the span of about nine months, Blackburn didn’t really show any signs of nervousness at any point.
Blackburn said he did a lot of visualization before making his first big league start, which helped calm the nerves.
He also singled out Triple-A Nashville pitching coach Rick Rodriguez for helping him learn different ways to add movement to his pitches, a key aspect to Blackburn’s game given his fastball that tops out around 91 miles per hour.
“He’s gotta be able to hit his spots with all his pitches. He can’t get too overly pumped up and try to match guys. He understands that and is able to take it no matter what the situation is,” Rodriguez said. “Stressful situation or not, he’s able to keep that emotional calmness and execute his pitches. He did a tremendous job in Oakland.”
In that short period they spent together in Nashville, Rodriguez said Blackburn arrived to Triple-A already equipped with an outstanding curveball. The two worked to add more movement on his changeup and two-seam fastball.
“After getting to know him a little bit and watching him, he’s a command guy. His mechanics were very good. He’s a guy that’s gonna be able to execute any pitch in any given count,” Rodriguez said. “We worked at kind of refining things and getting him ready to pitch at the major league level in terms of good routines and executing his pitches.”
Rodriguez has seen plenty of minor league pitchers who have the stuff to pitch at the big league level, but a lack of confidence holds them back. Confidence is something he sees in Blackburn, and that’s what he believes will help him battle against the adjustments hitters will make against him in his second year in the majors.
He’ll be in a tough battle with fellow teammates like Daniel Mengden, Jharel Cotton, Daniel Gossett, and Andrew Triggs throughout the spring as he looks to retain his spot in the rotation, but that confidence may give him the upper hand.
“That’s really big. Some guys that get to Triple-A are still trying to figure things out. He’s already done that,” Rodriguez said. “It’s more just refining his pitches and getting that consistency. I like Paul, I think he’s gonna be really good.”
