My Interview With Justin Masterson, Part III |

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My Interview With Justin Masterson, Part III

By Administrator | February 18, 2009

Coming into the 2006 draft, Justin Masterson didn’t have a lot of expectations. Some scouts had questioned his commitment to baseball and had wondered aloud if he might quit baseball after a year or two to pursue a religious calling.

He was drafted by the Red Sox in the second round and given a half million dollar signing bonus… in a matter of weeks he was pitching for the Lowell Spinners (Low-A ball). In 2007, he split the season between Lancaster (High-A) and Portland (Double-A).

Last year, he made a meteoric ascension from Double-A to the major leagues. He had hoped to get a September call-up… but by September he had already established himself as a key member of the big league bullpen.

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Justin made himself an indispensible part of the Red Sox relief corps after being moved to the bullpen in July… AP photo

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S1F: Clear Channel Stadium in Lancaster (CA) is known as ‘The Launching Pad’… how did pitching there affect your development?

JM: It was great. I’ve actually talked to (Director of Player Development) Mike Hazen about that. I think it was an excellent experience – as a physical test, and as a mental test. The thing that made it easier was that the organization understood what was taking place – the effect of the wind, the inflation of ERAs. So I knew going into it that I didn’t have to worry if the numbers looked bad.

Mike told me that in the first game he went to (in Lancaster) he saw a ball hit that he thought was a popup between the third baseman and the left fielder… it went for a three-run home run. His reaction was, “What? Are you serious?” The organization gave me the sense that I could make a good pitch and even if it didn’t work out, I could focus on making a good pitch on the next pitch without worrying about what had happened on that last pitch. And that’s the mindset you have to have no matter where you are. It can be tough (in Lancaster)… you know, if you don’t keep the ball down it can go quite a ways. But that can help you refine the type of pitcher you are.

So I thought it was great. I mean, I wouldn’t want to go back out there, but from the standpoint of development I thought it was good. And then, like I said, we have an organization that understands the numbers and is looking at the reports, not just reacting to the numbers.

S1F: Every player seems to have a favorite story about Clear Channel Stadium… do you have one?

JM: Yeah. I’ve never see a ball hit down into the dirt in front of the plate and then go so high into the air so that the slowest guy could run to first base and beat it out. Even with your busted hip, you could go from home to first before it would come down and land in the glove. It was unreal.

Another time, one of the guys hit a foul ball over the right field stands and (he made the sound effect of the wind and gestured with his hand) the wind brought it back into play and it landed for a double.

It was unbelievable. Those are the kinds of things that you remember from Lancaster, things you won’t see anywhere else.

S1F: Were you surprised the Sox ended their affiliation with Lancaster?

JM: No, not at all. The biggest reason is because Lancaster is on the west coast. The Sox like proximity… they like to be able to make moves and move guys from here to there. You just can’t say we need a guy up here tonight (when he’s coming from Lancaster) because he’s not coming in from Lancaster for tonight. So that was always the game plan… at the time (they signed the agreement with Lancaster) they were in a crunch and (Lancaster) was the last open location. Salem is a lot closer, so they can use it more like they want to use it.

S1F: You’ve put up amazing numbers no matter where you’ve been, owing in large part to your sinker. I read that you were at Bethel playing catch one day when you started doing something different and the sinker came. Was it intentional? Was it accidental?

JM: I think it was more accidental. I was just throwing, and whether the arm got to a certain spot or the hand went a particular way and I just remembered what I had done, it was like “okay, let me see if I can do that again”.

S1F: Did you change the arm slot? I mean, what was it that you did differently to get that incredible sink on you ball?

JM: Maybe a slight change… maybe there was a time when I was a little more over top. Even when I was little, I was always fighting about whether to come from the side or from a little more over the top, but it may have just been a little change that gave me the chance to come through it.

I don’t know. I have a good understanding (of what I’m doing to the ball) but I don’t have a total understanding of why the ball does what it does. So, even now, it’s still a work in progress because I haven’t figured it out exactly. I mean, I pretty much know what’s working. I pretty much know when it’s not going to work, as well, and sometimes I cant take it from not being good to being good. At those times, I just use other pitches to (compensate).

Slowly but surely, I’m learning. It’s kind of a work in progress. I mean, it’s kind of crazy… one day I’m playing catch and it came, and I went to the Cape and it got better

S1F: Speaking of the Cape, I understand you learned your slider while pitching for Wareham… who taught it to you?

JM: Ryan Beggs, he’s now the pitching coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He was the pitching coach for us on the Cape. I tried to throw a curveball because I needed something else, and he said, “Why don’t you try this?” There was a guy who went to Bethel and played a little bit of pro ball, and he showed me one of his sliders and I toyed with it… and I went to him and showed him the slider and I said the movement wasn’t really what I wanted. So we just worked at it and we came close to what I’ve got today.

S1F: How close are your slider and changeup to here you want them to be?

JM: The slider’s very close, but not the changeup. When I came to Lowell my first year and when I went to (the instructional league) I had a nasty changeup; but I can’t remember how I threw it. I’ve been trying to figure out how (to get it back). I mean, nine of every ten pitches I was throwing would be changeups, and it would have this great movement, you know the movement of a sinker. And now the movement is decent, but it’s not exactly where I want it to be.

S1F: I’d like to play a little word association… I’ll say the name of a teammate and you say the first word that comes to mind…

JM: Okay.

S1F: Michael Bowden.

JM: A rock. That’s what I think of with him, in all aspects, he’s just a rock. And he’s got a great family — I love his mom and his sisters.

S1F: Jacoby Ellsbury.

JM: FAST! That’s the first thing that comes to mind – how quick he is. And he can be weird sometimes, too, he’s got a really off-beat sense of humor.

S1F: Dustin Pedroia.

JM: A fighter. I’d want him in battle with me at all times… because he’ll be the first person to get your back whenever something arises.

S1F: Jason Varitek

JM: Intelligent… he’s just so intelligent. I’ve never seen a guy who puts forth so much effort behind the plate, who knows what’s going on with the hitters and also knows how (his pitchers) work. He knows what you like and what you want to do… because every guy is different. He’ll come out sometimes and say, “Hey, just smile!”… then he’d just go back and get behind the plate, but it would work. He’s great.

S1F: What is the first word you would like people to think about when they hear your name?

JM: Quality. I want them to think I’m a quality person, a quality individual, a quality ballplayer. I don’t necessarily need to be the guy that brightens a room, but if they just say that I represent myself well, that’s what I like to hear.

S1F: What’s the most important lesson you learned in 2008?

JM: I learned the game is very similar… that the game I played in the minor leagues is very similar to the game I played in the major leagues. It’s such a simple concept, but I think it’s one of the hardest. As a guy coming up, it’s like you feel you need to do something different because you’re at a different level and there are different hitters… better hitters. But you have to remember that they have their weaknesses and you have your strengths. So you stick to your strengths, you stick to the things that you do well and that got you to where you’re at. It’s so easy intuitively, but when you’re out there and you’re somewhere new you think you have to be this new guy. But you have to be the same player you have always been because that’s how you got to where you are…

S1F: Did Theo or Tito or John Farrell talk to you at the end of the season and tell you something that you needed to work on, or was it more a request to refine the mechanics because you are pretty well where they want you to be?

JM: There was no real talk of anything. They were just pleasantly surprised. I mean, like everyone, they knew I had it in me, but they just didn’t necessarily expect it. They wanted good things, but maybe didn’t expect exactly what I did and that it would come so quickly.

S1F: Tell me a little about your winter workout regimen…

JM: It’s been a lot of core… a lot of legs…

S1F: What is ‘core’?

JM: Your abs, your back, things like that.

I have a plan that the Red Sox have given me. I’ve manipulated it myself a little bit to tailor it for me. I go over to Cardinal Fitness, a nice little place to workout in the Indianapolis area, and just try to do (the plan).

I do a lot of shoulder work to keep the rotator cuff and that area strong… and some upper body to keep it strong… but not too much so that I take away my flexibility because you see my delivery – it’s a lot of loosey-goosey whip action and I don’t want to lose any of that. I go six days a week for an hour-and-a-half or two hours at a time. I’ll do cardio every day… Monday – Wednesday – Friday will be upper body, and Tuesday – Thursday – Saturday will be lower body. And Sunday is a day to rest and give the body a chance to recuperate.

S1F: What is your routine like in-season?

JM: I like to get there early, especially when I’m not pitching, to get my workout in. It usually consists of an overall body type workout… but things are different as a starter than they are as a reliever.

As a starter things are more set – on the day after a game it’s more running and lower body… on the second day its more upper body… the third day is kind of an in-between… the fourth day is the day before you pitch and for me its all about getting the blood flowing, getting the body moving, getting a light workout in.

On game day, its all about getting the blood moving, and then about fifteen minutes before the game I’ll go out and start my warm-ups because it’s nice and quick. I don’t want to think about it more than I have to, so I go out just about when its time.

In the bullpen my routine is about the same every day. There’s more overall body, getting running in every day and throwing every day because there is a chance you can pitch almost every day.

S1F: In the movie, “For the Love of the Game”, Kevin Costner’s character goes through a process he calls “clearing the mechanism”. Do you have a routine you use to clear the mechanism? Something you do to minimize distractions — so that it’s just you and the catcher playing catch?

JM: I wish I did but… well, in one respect when I go out to the mound, that’s what happens for me.

When I step on the mound and look for the signal, that’s when my mind starts working… that’s when I start locking in on what I want to do. Before I step on the rubber, I think “I want to throw a fastball” or “I want to throw this pitch…” and I step on. Maybe Tek puts something else down and that’s when you start wondering why he wants to throw that particular pitch. It’s more like I’m locked in on the catcher so that everything else just fades from view.

It’s not like you’re trying to get rid of everything else that’s around, it’s like you’re already there — so everything else is already gone. My mind just takes over and blocks it all out. It’s like the mind is at work so the ears shut off… and then it’s time to (throw). That’s how it goes for me. And so I lock in and take a deep breath, but that comes more from an understanding that I have control of the game at that point. And that’s what helps me to zone in.

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Masterson Interview Part I

Masterson Interview Part II

Masterson Interview Part IV

Masterson Interview Part V

Topics: Sox Player Interviews, Sox Players |