Putz has become bullpen's "old guy"

A breakfast excursion last week in Kansas City by members of the Mariners bullpen led to J.J. Putz having his first senior moment.

Putz was still absorbing the news of his All-Star Game selection and being named the American League's Pitcher of the Month for June when he glanced down the table at his fellow relievers munching on their eggs and pancakes. The dominant closer, in just his third full season in the majors, promptly nudged bullpen coach Jim Slaton, who was seated opposite him.

"I told him, 'Turn to your right and look down the table at how young we've gotten in the bullpen,' " Putz said. "The only guy who wasn't there, because his family was in town, was George [Sherrill]. And he's the other old guy."

Putz indeed has become the "old guy" in a hurry to a blossoming bullpen that looks to him for veteran presence on and off the field. On it, he has been as good as any reliever in the game, converting all 24 save opportunities, posting a 0.88 earned-run average and holding opponents to a .129 batting average. Off the field, he has been a friend, mentor and unquestioned leader to a group of young arms that has largely carried the Mariners toward some stunning first-half results.

"He's absolutely a veteran leader," Slaton said. "And he doesn't have that much experience. Him and Sherrill and now you've got [Chris] Reitsma back — he's got some time in — but the rest of the guys, you've got four or five guys who have zero major-league experience."

None of the other Seattle relievers — Brandon Morrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Sean Green, Eric O'Flaherty, or the injured Jon Huber, Sean White and Mark Lowe — have even one full season behind them. Putz is the eldest of the group at age 30, and at 6 feet 5, 250 pounds, has the physical characteristics to lead a pack of Alpha-male types.

But it's the way he carries that size, with a humble manner and approach to each workday, that causes others to respect and want to emulate him. Putz has learned the added responsibility of fatherhood, with 2-year-old twin daughters, Lauren and Kaelyn, and his wife, Kelsey, now in San Francisco with him for his first All-Star Game tonight. He wasn't always as mature as he can seem at times now, and there are still occasions when the kid inside him slips out long enough to pull clubhouse pranks.

The difference is, he's all business when he has to be.

It's the kind of thing he learned under onetime Seattle closer Eddie Guardado, whose relationship with Putz has been well-documented. Putz still has weekly telephone conversations with Guardado, who helped shape much of his daily routine and ideas on how to interact with the rest of the bullpen.

"The biggest thing he was trying to instill in all the young guys out there was to have a plan," Putz said. "Find a routine and don't vary from it. The plan comes into effect once you come to the ballpark. Knowing what you want to accomplish before the game, whether it's running or lifting or throwing. A routine as far as your stretching. And then, when you get out to the bullpen, a routine for getting loose."

The University of Michigan alumnus is zealous about his routine. On a weightlifting day, he'll arrive at the ballpark, go outside with a strength trainer and do some football passes for conditioning. He'll then go indoors for a weight-training circuit and, when that's done, head back outside to play catch.

There's down time after that until Putz joins the team for pregame stretching. Once the game begins, he'll watch the first inning from the dugout, then go into the clubhouse, get changed, have heat applied to his arm and get it rubbed down by a trainer. He'll go back to the dugout to watch the game in the fifth inning, then head to the bullpen for the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, he starts to loosen up with more stretches and a heavy ball.

"Then you just kind of sit and wait."

Putz won't use those down moments to get himself fired up. Even when he starts his warmup throws a half-inning before he's needed, he'll fight to stay relaxed and not think about the score and game situation.

"I like to be in a real relaxed mental state," he said. "Until I get out on the mound. That's usually when the adrenaline starts pumping. If you're trying to maintain that adrenaline level from the sixth inning on, you get pretty burned out."

But once he's fired up, there's no turning back. Putz is a fiery guy when he's pitching, but also not one to break concentration.

"I think the biggest thing with him, and also what makes most closers successful, is his attitude," said Mariners utility man Willie Bloomquist, who rose through the minors with Putz and is perhaps his closest friend on the team. "His attitude the past few years has been, 'No one's going to touch me.' He's been pretty consistent with that. That's the biggest difference I've seen in him."

Bloomquist said a lot of that can be attributed to confidence, experience, and also to Putz's offseason workouts.

"He puts a lot of effort into it," he said. "He pushes himself to the max."

Mariners rookie Morrow got to see that firsthand when he and Putz trained together in Arizona last winter. They both live near the team's Peoria complex and Morrow met Putz shortly after arriving there to begin working out ahead of his first spring training as the team's No. 1 draft pick.

"We just started working out at the same time and got to know each other a little more," Morrow said. "He's a hell of a guy. Just awesome."

Putz took the 22-year-old flamethrower under his wing, trying to educate him about the finer details of training and being in the major leagues.

"He helped me with everything," Morrow said. "He was the only person I knew going in to spring training. Just watching him work out and stuff helped me. He works out hard. We'd run every day, lift, throw. Then, heading into the season, he was always talking about getting a routine and staying with it every day."

Putz said he benefited greatly from watching Jeff Nelson, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Guardado, Ron Villone and other veterans while he was coming up. He wants to make sure the young pitchers on this team have someone they can lean on for experience — even if it has to be just a third-year regular.

"More so with a guy like Brandon," Putz said. "I just wanted to make sure he wasn't overwhelmed at all. And to push him. With a young guy it's always a fine line. But I felt like, yeah, it was my job. As a young guy, I had plenty of guys who helped me."

Bullpen lefty Sherrill, 30, just a few months younger than Putz, says, "He's the closer, so most everybody's going to be looking to him for guidance, or game plan, or whatever. If someone's got a question for him, he'll answer it.

"Questions like, 'If that happens off the field, how should I approach it?' Like a young kid that may not know the ropes of certain aspects of the game or the baseball world. If there's a question, he'll offer his input."

The one thing Putz hesitates to offer input on is the swarm of personal accolades pouring in. He just had DHL Delivery Man of the Month for June honors added to his résumé and feels somewhat uneasy about the attention.

"He's more reserved, workmanlike," Bloomquist said. "He'd rather keep baseball as baseball and that's it."

It will be about baseball tonight as Putz takes the field with the American League All-Stars. And about baseball after that, as the Mariners attempt a run at the playoffs, leaning heavily on a bullpen and its anchor — most of whom are equally inexperienced at dealing with the pressure of such a race.

"We've all pretty much been taking the collective approach," Putz said. "When the phone rings and it's your turn, get out there, then get out of there as quick as you can."

None of the bullpen arms have been quicker than their "elder" statesman. And none expect anything less.

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

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners