Frosty Microbrews: Hernandez, Bettinger Overcome Tough Conditions
Arizona has its strengths and its drawbacks as a place to play baseball. For pitchers who spent the 2017 season with Helena the desert has a couple of major advantages, however: The parks are much larger and the elevation is much lower.The average Pioneer League ballpark is located 3988 feet
Arizona has its strengths and its drawbacks as a place to play baseball. For pitchers who spent the 2017 season with Helena the desert has a couple of major advantages, however: The parks are much larger and the elevation is much lower.
The average Pioneer League ballpark is located 3988 feet above sea level, nearly 3000 feet higher than Phoenix and almost 3200 feet above Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. That difference is part of the reason Pioneer League batters hit .293 with a .370 on-base percentage and .457 slugging as a league in 2017. Three of the league's eight teams allowed more than seven runs per game on average. To put it mildly, it's a difficult place to pitch.
Without taking those facts into account, it would be easy to disregard or look down upon
"I had an opportunity to make it there and it was something special. I had never done that before, and I was very impressed with the environment," Hernandez said via translator and Helena pitching coach Rolando Valles.
The Pioneer League's midseason All Star team faces the All Stars from the Short-Season A-level Northwest League each season and Hernandez pitched a scoreless inning in the game. He walked a batter in that contest, which was somewhat unusual for him: Over his professional career he's allowed just 1.6 bases on balls per nine innings of work.
"I thought that the key to my success this year was commanding the strike zone, filling the zone with my fastball," Hernandez said. "I took a simple approach and it worked for the majority of the season: trying to get people out with three pitches or less."
One of Hernandez's teammates with Helena was 2017 tenth round pick
Between 21 games out of the bullpen for Virginia and his time with Helena, Bettinger threw 113 2/3 regular season innings in 2017. Despite a long season and a heavy workload, however, he was happy for an opportunity to come to Instructional League camp to work on his changeup.
"I just haven't had a chance to throw it in the last four years. I'm just trying to get repetitions with that," Bettinger said.
In addition to putting the changeup back into his arsenal, Valles and the other pitching coaches in camp were working with Bettinger on mechanical changes.
"Alec is making an adjustment with his delivery, he's trying to improve his direction to the plate to improve what we call his glove-side execution to get to the far side. Mostly when we're talking about the 'far side' it's when he's facing right-handed batters, working the bottom of the zone away," Valles said.
Valles noted that it takes time for a mechanical adjustment or a new pitch to become comfortable, which makes Instructional League a good place to introduce either or both.
"That's why we brought him to this type of environment, in order to give him enough time to prepare for next season," Valles said.
Bettinger noticed the difference between a grueling Pioneer League schedule and Instructional League, where the players in Brewers camp played just four games each week and spent much more time focused on individual instruction.
"It's been very useful, just been working on some things that you really can't work on in game situations. I really didn't have the chance in Helena, because I was out there just trying to compete and get guys out. But here they kind of allow you to work on whatever you need to to get ready for the next season," Bettinger said.
When asked about adjusting to pitching at elevation in Helena, Bettinger said the change between the college and professional routine was a bigger challenge.
"You're just trying to get through the grind, playing a full season or even 74 games in Helena. At times it can get a little methodical, it can kind of feel like Groundhog Day, but you find ways to work through that," Bettinger said. "I think the hardest part was just throwing every day. In college you get days off and stuff like that. But I think throwing every day was the hardest part for me, personally."
Meanwhile, Hernandez said he tried to keep the challenging conditions in Helena from impacting the way he pitched or his mental approach.
"I didn't try to think about it that much," Hernandez said. "I tried to keep the ball down due to the circumstances: the fields are small and the ball kind of flies since we're elevated above the norm, the ball will fly a little more. But I tried as much as I could to not think about it and to take the approach of trying to stay at the bottom of the strike zone."
As pitchers who experienced a relative level of success with Helena in 2017, both Hernandez and Bettinger appear to be likely candidates to pitch for Wisconsin in 2018. One of Hernandez's goals for Instructional League and beyond was to be ready to pitch in a full season league for the first time next year.
"There are a few things that he needs to work on with his delivery, but the main thing is to become stronger for next year so he can put up with a longer season," Valles said of Hernandez. "He'll try to have the same approach. He does believe that establishing a routine is going to be important, then he's going to try to maintain his routine as much as he can to last longer through the season."
Instructional League is one of the few times when players from across multiple levels of minor league baseball are together and able to discuss their experiences in various locations. So far, the things Bettinger had heard about Wisconsin were largely positive.
"I hear it's a great place with a great fan base," Bettinger said. "Obviously they're pretty close to Milwaukee, a lot of Brewers fans out there. I'm excited if I get the opportunity to go play, I think it would be an awesome experience."
If Bettinger makes the leap to Wisconsin for 2018, he said he wants the fans to know he "likes to have fun out there."
"I don't take myself too seriously. When I'm successful it's when I'm having fun, out there smiling and not really worrying about anything and just kind of competing," Bettinger said.