Smyly Steps Up

In 1940, the Tigers and Reds made the case that a team doesn’t need a left-handed starting pitcher to succeed. They met in that year’s World Series, and in the seven-game affair won by the Reds, each team started a right-hander in every game.

The Tigers and Reds also have used recent seasons to bolster the case that left-handers are hardly mandatory.

As researched through Baseball-Reference.com, they are the only two big-league teams who haven’t had a left-hander start at least 20 games in any season in the last five years.

Yet in those five years, the Tigers and Reds have each made the playoffs three times. The Reds might have joined the Tigers in the 2012 World Series if they hadn’t let a two-game lead in the division series get away at home against San Francisco.

So maybe it seems irrelevant that the Tigers haven’t had a left-hander start at least 20 games since Kenny Rogers and Nate Robertson each did so in 2008. Irrelevant, except for maybe one thing.

By not having a left-hander in their rotation, the Tigers haven’t taken advantage of what is literally their largest home-field advantage: the hugeness of left-center field at Comerica Park.

The most prominent threat to a left-hander pitcher is generally a right-handed power hitter.

At Comerica, a right-handed slugger can pull a ball to deep left-center that would be a homer almost anywhere else but that settles into the glove of Tigers centerfielder Austin Jackson on or near the warning track.

And it might be stretching the point all the way to the left-center fence, but here goes: If the Tigers had had a steady lefty starter in the last few years, they might have won a few more home games and might have gained the home-field advantage for the 2011 or 2013 championship series (both of which they wound up losing on the road in Game 6).

If all goes as planned, the Tigers’ streak without a steady left-handed starter will end this season.

When the Tigers traded Doug Fister to Washington early December, president and general manager Dave Dombrowski announced that left-hander Drew Smyly would replace him in the rotation.

A few days later, manager Brad Ausmus phoned Smyly about the promotion.

“Brad said, ‘We didn’t ask if you wanted to go back to the rotation,’ ” Smyly said. “I told him, ‘I’m eager to fill that spot.’ I’m excited to get back in that role.”

Smyly had been a starter until last season, when he lost a competition for the final rotation spot to his friend Rick Porcello. Smyly pitched in 63 games last season, all in relief.

The year before that, as a rookie, Smyly performed a preface to this season: He started 18 games. That makes him one of only two lefties to start at least 10 games for the Tigers in the last five years. The other was Phil Coke, who had 14 starts in 2011 until he returned to the bullpen.

Now Smyly can try to become the most effective Tigers left-hander over a full season since Rogers in his Tigers’ debut year of 2006. In the season of that surprising Tigers’ pennant, Rogers built a case as the team’s MVP. He won 17 games, and his home-away splits show he certainly knew how to use his big home field:

Rogers at Comerica in 2006: six homers allowed, 3.26 ERA.

Rogers on the road in 2006: 17 homers allowed, 4.41 ERA.

Smyly said he won’t try to make right-handed sluggers hit the ball to left-center.

“You can’t make them try to hit it to left-center or right-center,” he said. “You have to go right after guys.

“Comerica is great when they hit it 400 feet and it gets caught. There has been more than one time I’ve had someone fly out to the warning track in centerfield. It’s fun pitching at Comerica Park, that’s for sure

.”

■ HAIR-RAISING QUESTION: Ausmus indicated he won’t have any policy about beards, mustaches or length of hair. When he was asked Saturday about the current mane of outfielder Andy Dirks, Ausmus said, “If he plays well, he can grow it to his feet.”

A new beginning for Bruce

Bruce Rondon reported to training camp with the Tigers last week weighing about 30 pounds lighter.

The weight might not be the only thing that Rondon shed from his rookie season.

It appears that Rondon has also rid himself of any burden he might have previously felt about being the team’s closer of the present and future.

“One of the big things I learned last year, every role on the team is important,” Rondon said this week, through translator Aileen Villarreal, outside the clubhouse at Joker Marchant Stadium. “However I can help, that’s what I will do.”

Rondon came to camp last season with no previous major league experience and the unenviable task of trying to meet expectations of being the closer on a team with World Series aspirations.

Though he wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility, he wound up with a contributing role in a productive bullpen — before suffering a flexor strain in his right elbow.

“I’m more calm coming in, but not still fully confident,” Rondon said about starting his second spring training with the Tigers. “I know I have to work hard to earn a spot on the team.”

Rondon, 23, has already shown the Tigers how much he’s willing to work this off-season. Since he was shut down for the remainder of the season last September, Rondon has spent a lot of time in Lakeland. He threw on Saturday with no issues.

“When we were in the playoffs, he was in Lakeland working out,” said assistant general manager Al Avila. “He was already working towards this year at that point. He was in Lakeland all the way up to the holidays. He went home (to Venezuela) and spent Christmas and New Year’s at home, and then came back to the States for the Caravan. And then he went back to Lakeland.”

Javair Gillett, the Tigers’ strength and conditioning coach, began talking to Rondon about an off-season program last August that centered around better nutrition and more cardiovascular activity. Rondon took the program to heart.

“It wasn’t difficult, because when you have a goal in mind, you want to accomplish it,” Rondon said.

Just as Rondon was learning to pitch in the big leagues last season, he was also learning more about his body. He learned what he needed to fuel him and what to kind of foods to avoid.

“I just looked back at 2012 and how much slimmer I was and how much better I felt,” Rondon said. “I wouldn’t get tired as quickly. I wanted to get back to that. Last season, I just got a little bit careless with what I was eating. At the end of the season, I realized and made it a goal to get back in better shape like in 2012.”

Catcher Alex Avila said he noticed right away how much trimmer Rondon was when he saw him for the first time this year.

The weight loss was one way Rondon showed the Tigers he wants to improve.

“It’s always easier not carrying around extra weight,” said pitching coach Jeff Jones. “I think it’s going to benefit him.”

Gaining confidence

Rondon got over the initial disappointment of not only not being the team’s closer in 2013, but also being sent back to Triple-A Toledo for more seasoning.

The Tigers used him in two games in late April, one in May and another couple in late June.

Each time he came back to the Tigers, he seemed to display more confidence.

“It happens with a lot of guys when they first come to the big leagues,” Jones said. “It’s a huge adjustment for some and I think it was for him. He wasn’t terrible, but I don’t think he was throwing the way he’s totally capable of throwing. It seemed to me each time he came to the big leagues, he was better, he was comfortable and that’s a lot of it, the comfort level you get and believing that you belong there.”

Rondon finished the season strong. Over his final 15 appearances, he allowed two earned runs, 11 hits, six walks and struck out 18 in 14²⁄₃ innings.

His final two appearances of the season might have been his most impressive. He got David Ortiz to strike out swinging in a 3-0 win at Boston on Sept. 2, but came up with a tender elbow.

He came back to pitch on Sept. 24 in Minnesota in a 4-2 victory over the Twins. He used 10 pitches as Trevor Plouffe, Josh Willingham and Josmil Pinto each struck out swinging.

But Rondon’s elbow wasn’t right the next day and he didn’t pitch again the rest of the season, missing the playoffs.

“I felt terrible once I got hurt because I couldn’t help the team,” he said. “I saw my teammates on the field contributing and I wasn’t able to do that.”

He left fans and teammates alike wanting more.

“When you see innings like that, it gets you excited about the opportunity to have him as a force in the pen,” said catcher Alex Avila.

He's adaptable

Although the Tigers signed Joe Nathan to be their closer this season, they still have high hopes for Rondon.

And Rondon appears to be open to whatever role he’s given.

“There’s one goal, to win the World Series at the end of the season,” he said. “I want to contribute in any way that I can.”

Does he see himself as a closer down the line?

“That’s not for me to decide,” he said.

Rondon leaned on Joaquin Benoit last season for advice. Benoit, now with the San Diego Padres, always spoke highly of Rondon and of the great potential he had.

Rondon said he wasn’t sure who would fill that void for him this season, but he’s excited about working with Nathan and Joba Chamberlain, two veterans.

Alex Avila said Rondon can lean on everybody.

“The thing about being on a team is if you need help, you’ll get it from whoever you ask,” Avila said. “He’s got a couple veteran guys in the pen he can talk to.

“The thing about any young guy, you have to figure it out on your own to a certain extent. Obviously, you want to talk to experienced players, guys who have been through it. But at the same time, you have to be able to learn it on your own. The way he’s been working the last few days, from what I’ve seen, he’s been putting a little more emphasis on figuring out what he needs to do.”

Rondon is known for his fastball, which can reach 103 m.p.h. But Avila said by the end of last season, Rondon was able to mix in his change-up and slider for three plus-pitches.

Rondon said he knows mixing up the three pitches is key to be successful and working on being more consistent with them.

Jones said Rondon has “tremendous upside.”

“He’s got a great arm,” Jones said. “It’s not like he’s working on this or that. He’s got three major league pitches, plus pitches, when he’s throwing them right.

“To me the next step, after getting comfortable last year, it’s just staying (up) here and just prospering.”