Simplicity in A.J. Minter's approach as he looks to build off dominant debut season
ATLANTA -- When A.J. Minter arrived at spring training sporting a bushy beard, the Braves reliever let slip that it did serve a purpose: to make him look just a bit more intimidating.
Not that the 24-year-old Texan needs any help with getting to batters. His numbers are doing more than enough to push that agenda.
This spring, Minter didn't allow a run in 8 1/3 innings, striking out 12 with one walk, and that comes on the heels of a debut season in which he had a 145 ERA+ and in fanning 26 and walking two in 15 innings over 16 games.
"Just trying to keep it super simple is what helped me the most," Minter said before Friday's game against the Phillies. "(I) caught myself last year, especially in Triple-A, where I was trying to do too much and trying to paint corners and really just trying to work on the inside part of the plate and the outside part of the plate, not really throwing strikes.
I just kind of learned when I got called up, I'm just going to throw it over the plate and see what happens."
The left-hander made his 2018 debut in Friday's, throwing a perfect 2/3 of an inning in the Braves' 5-4 loss to the Phillies in 11 innings, and he enters this season as one of the most intriguing arms in Atlanta's loaded system.
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Last season's 0.96 FIP was the best in the majors with a minimum of 10 innings pitched, and the only player with a higher strikeouts per nine innings than Minter's 15.6 was the Braves' all-time saves leader, and current Red Sox closer, Craig Kimbrel (16.43).
Minter has all the makings of one day following in Kimbrel's footsteps -- though that job currently belongs to Arodys Vizcaino, who struck out the side in the ninth Thursday on 16 pitches -- and he accelerated that thinking after his Aug. 23 call up last season.
If there was an area where Minter struggled in '17 it was when he fell behind in counts, with opponents hitting .375 against him in a mere 10 plate appearances when ahead of him. When they fell behind, Minter limited them to a mere .125 average and 19 of his Ks came in counts when he was up either 0-1 or 1-1.
"I just tell myself with that first pitch for each batter, 'Just get ahead early,'" he said. "I figure if I get ahead 0-1, 0-2, my chances of getting that guy out is going to increase ... it's just feeling confident in each and every pitch. I can throw that fastball for a strike. I throw my slider for a strike, whether that's 2-0 count or 1-0 count, 3-1, I feel like I can put that ball wherever I want to."
Maybe most importantly with Minter is after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015, he enters this season without restrictions. The Braves had been cautious with his workload, with appearances last July 23 and 24 for Triple-A Gwinnett marking the first time in his professional career he'd been used in consecutive games.
An obvious prerequisite to his one day -- potentially this season -- claiming the closer role, Minter sees his being able to throw in back-to-back games being not only a matter of the coaching staff believing it's time, but his being efficient enough to set the stage for it.
"You want to save yourself, try not go out there and go out there and throw 20, 20-something pitches an inning," he said. "I try to think on getting a guy out in four our less pitches. Whether he strikes out on three pitches or he hits it in one, it's perfectly fine. I try not to worry about the whole strikeouts. I'm either going to strike (a batter) out or you're going to get a hit. That's what my philosophy is."
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His books, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners.' are now available.
