Mental side critical for Mariners' closer candidates

PEORIA, Ariz. — One of the biggest games going in Mariners spring training is taking place inside relief pitchers' heads.

More specifically, the pitchers are vying for a closer's role left vacant in December by the trade of J.J. Putz. Competition for the job should be fierce, and the winner will likely be whoever gets his mental game as sharp as the "stuff" he throws.

Miguel Batista — published author, Spanish-language blogger and full-time closer — believes he has the mindset to unseat odds-on favorite Mark Lowe. Some critics feel that Batista, who turned 38 on Thursday, bottomed out as a starting pitcher last year and that the only thing keeping him around as a reliever is a $9 million guaranteed salary.

But Batista insists there are two things wrong with that thinking — two broken bones in his back that he says derailed his 2008 season before he even got out of spring training.

"After I pitched in New York [in June] we had X-rays on it and they found that I had two fractures," said Batista on Thursday as the Mariners worked out at the Peoria Sports Complex. "One on my right side and one on my left side."

Batista says the pain threw him off.

"There were days when I couldn't walk in the morning," he said.

When healthy, he boasts a mid-90s fastball that served him well as a closer for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2005.

"I might be the only guy, who, when he's healthy, can pitch every day," Batista said. "That's because physically, I don't stress my body that much. And mentally, I'm tough enough to be willing to take the ball every day."

For Lowe — as well as closer candidates Tyler Walker, David Aardsma and Roy Corcoran — the mental side of pitching has presented different challenges. Late in 2006 Lowe underwent career-threatening microfracture surgery. A doctor poked small holes in the bone in his elbow, drawing blood to stimulate tissue growth that could replace missing cartilage.

Such surgery takes months, even years, to recover from. Lowe spent most of 2007 learning how to uncork pitches without fearing his arm would explode. Last year, his first full season back in the majors, he began getting his fastball back up to the mid- to high-90s.

But Lowe now does more than simply throw his fastball and slider as hard as he can, something he did when breaking into the majors in 2006 before the surgery. Instead, he worked on developing a change-up to keep hitters off balance on days his slider deserted him.

"I think in the past it's been a case of knowing what my body could handle coming off the surgery," said Lowe, who the Mariners appeared to be leaning toward heading into camp. "Knowing I could handle a lot of work. Going through last year and throwing a lot, it's not even a question any more.

Lowe is focused on the mental side, too.

"Baseball's one of those games where you play 162 games and one bad outing's not going to kill you," he said. "Even two, three in a row, you can still redeem yourself down the road. It's nothing to get caught up in."

New Mariners bullpen coach John Wetteland, a World Series champion with the Yankees in 1996, admits it took him years to master the mental side.

Wetteland used to summon words or phrases as "mental mechanisms" to help him avoid being overcome by nerves.

"If I felt like I really needed to throw a great fastball, what's the first thing that most people do? They try to throw hard," he said. "Sandy Koufax told me something when I was very young. The line was 'See how easy you can throw the ball hard.' And so, I just kind of said that to myself and it made me relax."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com