TEMPE, Ariz. — Zach Plesac is trying to get back his old self, with a new repertoire.
Plesac spent part of his winter remaking himself at Driveline, the high-tech baseball training center.
Plesac, 29, said he’s replaced his four-seam fastball with a two-seamer, and he’s changed his slider into more of a sweeper, which he hopes will help induce more swings and misses.
If it works, the Angels could get a steal for the $1 million, one-year deal they gave Plesac last month.
Plesac had a 3.32 ERA in his first two big-league seasons with Cleveland. The past three years, though, saw him post a 4.72 ERA, including a 7.59 ERA in a nightmarish five-start season in 2023. He spent the second half in Triple-A.
Despite the recent struggles, Plesac clings to the positives within those forgettable seasons.
As recently as 2022, for example, Plesac’s ERA was 4.31, which included 11 quality starts. His 46% quality start rate was higher than the major-league average of 35%. Angels starters had quality starts in just 30% of their outings in 2023.
Last season, Plesac had two starts in which he gave up at least five runs and three in which he allowed three or fewer.
The numbers from his past few years tell a story of a pitcher who is sometimes very good, and sometimes very bad, which offers just enough hope for him and the Angels.
“It could have looked different on paper, but that’s just the mind game that this game is,” Plesac said. “You have to just continue to be confident in yourself. As soon as you lose that confidence, it’s way harder.”
Plesac said he’s viewing this spring as a “fresh start” with a new team, and a chance to reclaim who he was in 2019 and 2020.
“It’s really just remaining confident and just knowing that my stuff is good and not trying to do too much,” Plesac said. “It’s not like I’m far off from being the dominant pitcher in the league that I was.”
Angels manager Ron Washington said he likes what he’s seen so far…
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