Webb brings confidence to role of ace
02/28/2006
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Luis Gonzalez could tell the change in Brandon Webb as soon as he pulled into the players' parking lot for the first time this spring.
"He's parking his car in the front of the lot, and he never used to do that," Gonzalez said. "He feels like a mature veteran now."
Webb is also parked at the top of the Arizona rotation after a $19.5 million extension last month. When the Diamondbacks take the field against the Rockies on Opening Day, it'll be Webb who gets the ball.
"When he takes the hill on the first night, he's supposed to set the tone," veteran starter Miguel Batista said.
Webb is not your father's ace, the stereotypical hard thrower who overpowers hitters, but the list of those in baseball today is very short. Rather, he relies instead on a heavy, sinking fastball to get ground-ball out after ground-ball out.
But Webb does have something that a pitcher needs if he's to be an ace, and that is confidence in himself and the belief from the rest of the team that when he takes the mound they're going to win.
An abundance of confidence wasn't something with which Webb came to the big leagues in 2003, but he certainly has it now.
In 2003, he was on a staff that included Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. He kept his mouth shut and his ears open, soaked up the knowledge and pitched well enough to earn Rookie of the Year honors from Baseball America.
"When I saw him his first year I thought this kid had a chance to be a Hall of Famer," Batista said. "Why did I say that? Because he has two things that don't go away with age: movement and [smart] pitching. You can be 150 years old and if your ball moves and if you have your brain, you can pitch."
Webb indeed has movement on his pitches, usually downward, which allows him to get plenty of ground balls. But in order for those grounders to become outs, he needs good defense behind him, and he didn't have that in 2004.
As a result he tried to be too fine with his pitches and wound up leading the league in walks. It was a miserable year all the way around, as the Diamondbacks lost 111 games and Webb led the league in losses with 16, despite a 3.59 ERA.
In 2005, the Diamondbacks shored up their infield defense, signing Royce Clayton and Craig Counsell, and Webb flourished. He cut his walks total in half and wound up 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA.
"I had confidence in my infielders," Webb said. "Having Counsell back and having Royce behind me just allowed me to be really aggressive in the strike zone and let them play. That really worked out well because I was confident and throwing strikes and was making them hit my pitch early, which helped keep me in games later."
Ah, there's the word confidence again. As the season progressed last year and Webb had more and more success, his belief in himself went to another level. His pitches wound up exactly where he wanted them to go, and he at times marveled at the results.
"It makes it real fun to go out there and be able to pinpoint where the pitch goes and have the hitters hit what you want and have them chase balls out of the strike zone a lot," he said. "I know I did that last year. I'd get ahead and then I'd just work down and I'd be like, 'Are you kidding me? I don't know why you all are swinging at this.'"
For the first time in his career, Webb felt like every time he took the mound there was no question he was going to walk away with a win. It's the same attitude he plans to carry into this season.
"I had heard growing up that if you had confidence out there, people are going to see it, the other team is going to see it and it's going to help you," he said. "It was the first time I really understood."
There's a fine line between confidence and cockiness, and Webb has not stepped over it. He's still humble and respectful, but he's not afraid to share with some of the team's younger pitchers what he learned from veterans over the years.
His teammates have taken notice and now share his confidence when he takes the mound.
"He's always done well to earn that respect from his teammates," Gonzalez said. "We always give him a hard time and stuff, but I have the ultimate respect for this guy, the way he approaches the game and goes out there and prepares himself to be ready to pitch.
"And I think now that he's been thrust into that No. 1 he's going to step up to that challenge."
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Luis Gonzalez could tell the change in Brandon Webb as soon as he pulled into the players' parking lot for the first time this spring.
"He's parking his car in the front of the lot, and he never used to do that," Gonzalez said. "He feels like a mature veteran now."
Webb is also parked at the top of the Arizona rotation after a $19.5 million extension last month. When the Diamondbacks take the field against the Rockies on Opening Day, it'll be Webb who gets the ball.
"When he takes the hill on the first night, he's supposed to set the tone," veteran starter Miguel Batista said.
Webb is not your father's ace, the stereotypical hard thrower who overpowers hitters, but the list of those in baseball today is very short. Rather, he relies instead on a heavy, sinking fastball to get ground-ball out after ground-ball out.
But Webb does have something that a pitcher needs if he's to be an ace, and that is confidence in himself and the belief from the rest of the team that when he takes the mound they're going to win.
An abundance of confidence wasn't something with which Webb came to the big leagues in 2003, but he certainly has it now.
In 2003, he was on a staff that included Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. He kept his mouth shut and his ears open, soaked up the knowledge and pitched well enough to earn Rookie of the Year honors from Baseball America.
"When I saw him his first year I thought this kid had a chance to be a Hall of Famer," Batista said. "Why did I say that? Because he has two things that don't go away with age: movement and [smart] pitching. You can be 150 years old and if your ball moves and if you have your brain, you can pitch."
Webb indeed has movement on his pitches, usually downward, which allows him to get plenty of ground balls. But in order for those grounders to become outs, he needs good defense behind him, and he didn't have that in 2004.
As a result he tried to be too fine with his pitches and wound up leading the league in walks. It was a miserable year all the way around, as the Diamondbacks lost 111 games and Webb led the league in losses with 16, despite a 3.59 ERA.
In 2005, the Diamondbacks shored up their infield defense, signing Royce Clayton and Craig Counsell, and Webb flourished. He cut his walks total in half and wound up 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA.
"I had confidence in my infielders," Webb said. "Having Counsell back and having Royce behind me just allowed me to be really aggressive in the strike zone and let them play. That really worked out well because I was confident and throwing strikes and was making them hit my pitch early, which helped keep me in games later."
Ah, there's the word confidence again. As the season progressed last year and Webb had more and more success, his belief in himself went to another level. His pitches wound up exactly where he wanted them to go, and he at times marveled at the results.
"It makes it real fun to go out there and be able to pinpoint where the pitch goes and have the hitters hit what you want and have them chase balls out of the strike zone a lot," he said. "I know I did that last year. I'd get ahead and then I'd just work down and I'd be like, 'Are you kidding me? I don't know why you all are swinging at this.'"
For the first time in his career, Webb felt like every time he took the mound there was no question he was going to walk away with a win. It's the same attitude he plans to carry into this season.
"I had heard growing up that if you had confidence out there, people are going to see it, the other team is going to see it and it's going to help you," he said. "It was the first time I really understood."
There's a fine line between confidence and cockiness, and Webb has not stepped over it. He's still humble and respectful, but he's not afraid to share with some of the team's younger pitchers what he learned from veterans over the years.
His teammates have taken notice and now share his confidence when he takes the mound.
"He's always done well to earn that respect from his teammates," Gonzalez said. "We always give him a hard time and stuff, but I have the ultimate respect for this guy, the way he approaches the game and goes out there and prepares himself to be ready to pitch.
"And I think now that he's been thrust into that No. 1 he's going to step up to that challenge."
Source: http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/
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