Brooklyn’s Professor of Pitching — Hector Berrios — spends his most effective hours toiling out-of-sight before games in the right-field bullpen, teaching his pupils in one-on-one sessions.
When his students take their “test” in a game a few days later, they usually perform well; the Cyclones are, after all, third in the league in earned run average (3.01) and opponents’ batting average (.246) and lead the lead in shutouts with 10.
That the Cyclones even had a shot of making the playoffs (at presstime, it was still up in the air), despite being next to last in runs scored, is a tribute to their pitching coach.
But Berrios wasn’t always a pitching instructor — first he was a player.
Born in Puerto Rico, he spent most of his youth in the Bronx, where he was a pitcher, outfielder and first-baseman while playing in youth leagues at Crotona Park. Later, he was an all-city pitcher/outfielder for James Monroe High School.
At Connors (Oklahoma) State College, he was exclusively an outfielder. So naturally, he was drafted by Kansas City as a pitcher. In a career that took him through five major-league organizations, he got as high as the Triple-A level for several teams. An arm injury limited his career — on the field, at least.
“Because I can speak both English and Spanish, I was always being asked to translate instruction for players, and as my pitching career faded, I was almost becoming a coach while I was still playing,” Berrios said.
Berrios was the Cyclones’ pitching coach in 2003–4, and returned to the role this season.
On Labor Day, two of Berrios’ students, right-hander Tobi Stoner and left-hander Todd Privett, were scheduled to start the crucial day/night doubleheader against Lowell.
But their tutorials were days earlier. While Stoner got ready for his outing, Berrios began a noon bullpen session with Jake Ruckle, who would be starting two days later.
“This year, I’ve been emphasizing that the kids come to the park ready to focus 100 percent on every single program we have, from the running, to the bullpen throwing, to playing catch,” said Berrios.
He explained his emphasis on making his pitchers concentrate, even while playing catch.
“The difference between the major leagues and the minor leagues,” he continued, “Is that those guys [major leaguers] are a lot more consistent, and thus avoid the mental lapses that we see in the minors.”
Berrios walks to the bullpen, where Ruckle was warming up.
As Ruckle throws, Berrios stands near him, offering advice and then sometimes taking Ruckle’s hand and placing it on the baseball with just the correct pressure from each finger that Ruckle would need for each of his pitches.
In the bullpen, Berrios emphasizes that Ruckle pitch to the catcher’s shin guards and below, so that the hitter only sees the top half of the ball.
But even pitching to the catcher’s glove is not precise enough for Berrios.
“I have them try to pick out a lace in the catcher’s glove and throw to that. The more precise the target, the more command a pitcher will have,” he said later.
Next, Berrios works on Ruckle’s balance.
Ruckle has a big, windmill wind-up, so Berrios demonstrates how Ruckle must not lean his head back in the windup because that will throw of his balance.
At one point, Berrios stands in front of Ruckle and leans into Ruckle’s front (left) thigh, forcing him to maintain his balance without leaning forward.
Berrios works with Ruckle’s wrist motion on his slider, making sure that Ruckle breaks the pitch off hard rather than with a sweeping motion that will make the pitch easier to hit.
After about 20 minutes, Ruckle’s bullpen session is done.
Now Berrios can focus on the games at hand, first assessing Stoner, then Privett, for The Brooklyn Papers.
“Stoner is too competitive, I have to get him to calm down,” says Berrios. “Privett’s working on getting the ball deeper in his hand, where the fingers are stronger, and he’s working on not slowing up his arm motion and telegraphing the change-up.”
The Cyclones won both games of the doubleheader, each by a 3–2 score, so Berrios must be doing something right.
Stoner pitched the complete seven-inning Game One, not allowing an earned run.
In Game Two, Privett threw six innings, not allowing an earned run. Reliever Jose De La Torre pitched three scoreless innings to get the win.
The Cyclones thus allowed no earned runs for the day over 16 innings and squeezed out two wins to stay in the playoff race.
Every game, the Cyclones draw a big crowd. But how many of the thousands sitting in the stands know that some of the hardest work behind the night’s win took place outside of view two days earlier?
