Hard-throwing pitcher adjusting to new role

ST. LOUIS -- Catcher Willson Contreras dialed up a sinker on his PitchCom device, set up in his normal spot for the 2-2 pitch and had his target aligned with the point of the plate.

However, he never could have anticipated what was about to come next.

Not only did the pitch thrown to Contreras come in at 101.1 mph, but it had so much dynamic horizontal break to the left -- a whopping 16 inches, to be exact -- that it fooled both D-Backs hitter Josh Rojas and the veteran Cardinals catcher. Rojas took a feeble swing for strike three, while Contreras chased the pitch that ended up four inches off the plate with his mitt. Ultimately, it deflected away, and Contreras had to scurry after it before throwing to first to complete the strikeout.

“That was a heavy, heavy sinker,” Contreras raved. “I was expecting [sinker], but not with that much movement. If [the pitcher] keeps making adjustments like that, he’s going to be really good for this team.”

The hurler who threw that devastating strikeout pitch -- one that Cardinals manager Oli Marmol later referred to as “nasty” and “legit” -- was none other than Jordan Hicks, a pitcher whose massive struggles have been something of a microcosm of the Cardinals early-season woes. The last time Hicks was on the mound before Tuesday’s dazzling three-strikeout performance was a three-run disaster in a 10-inning loss to the Pirates. In that outing, Hicks had so little faith in being able to land the 100-plus-mph sinker that he threw seven straight sliders to Andrew McCutchen and the veteran predictably hit the final one for a two-run home run that was the difference in the game.

Hicks left that outing with a ballooning 12.71 ERA and eight walks and two home runs allowed in 5 2/3 innings pitched, and it left the Cardinals in quite the quandary. Because he has five years of service time, Hicks could only be sent to the Minor Leagues with his consent. The Cardinals never asked Hicks to accept a Minor League assignment, a source close to the negotiations told MLB.com.

However, continuing to send Hicks out to pitch with games on the line would have been deemed downright reckless. Instead of demoting Hicks -- or satisfying the demand of upset fans to DFA the struggling reliever -- the Cards shifted him into low-leverage spots in hopes of helping him relocate his command and confidence. After all, pitching coaches can’t teach 103-plus-mph stuff and the Cardinals knew 29 other teams would have anxiously claimed the flamethrower had they designated him for assignment.

Even though it put a bullpen that hasn’t been at full strength in many games further in a bind, the Cardinals rolled with the strategy of shifting Hicks into low-leverage situations. Their hope is that an outing like the one on Tuesday in a loss -- three strikeouts and the five fastest pitches of the night (102.3, 102.1, 101.9, 101.7 and 101.6 mph) -- can help Hicks get right again. He even followed it up with another solid two-strikeout, one-walk performance in Wednesday’s one-sided win.

“I just felt like I wasn’t sharp, and I wasn’t giving it everything,” Hicks said of his shaky start to the season. “Not that I wasn’t here on the day-to-day or not putting in my work, it was just [consistent] effort level. I had a few conversations with a couple people and now I’m ready to go.

“I’m trying to stay positive and stay away from negativity in all aspects of my life,” added Hicks, who as recently as a month ago hit 104.6 mph in a Spring Training game. “I have to stick with what I know and get better at my craft. There are going to be ups and downs -- I started on a down this year, so now it’s time to go up.”

The Cardinals were wise to ignore the angry chatter to summarily rid themselves of Hicks, a pitcher far too talented to ever give up on. After all, it’s as much the job of the team as it is on Hicks to find ways to make the flame-throwing righty effective again. One change instituted by the pitching staff this week -- getting Hicks back to pitching from the first-base side of the rubber -- has helped him better locate his devastating 100-plus-mph sinker.

“We have to figure out how to get Hicks back,” Marmol said of the young pitcher, who still hopes to be an MLB starting pitcher someday. “That’s our jobs, that's what we get paid to do. Part of is to evaluate and pick and choose what guys to use, but another part is getting guys to perform better. We take that as our responsibility -- how do we get this guy back to being usable? We spend tons of hours trying to figure that out and we’ll do it with [Hicks].”