Slimmer frame? Looser pants? New pitch? Robbie Ray reports to Mariners spring training ready for 2023

PEORIA, Ariz. – Robbie Ray wandered into the clubhouse early Thursday – the first day of official workouts for pitchers and catchers in spring training – with a facial expression that said, “I’m up two hours earlier than I want to be.”

He ditched the cap he’d been wearing to unveil a curly mess of bed-head hair, longer than any previous iteration of his hair styles, and there were many, from last season.

But perhaps what was most notable about Ray’s appearance was that his trademark light blue jorts (jean shorts), which are rumored to be custom made from his own scissors, didn’t seem quite as snug as last spring when they appeared tight enough to limit basic movement and potentially cause circulation issues.

“I got after it this offseason and worked really hard,” he said. “I came to camp in really good shape. I feel like the jean shorts are still tight.”

But as tight?

“Maybe not,” he said.

Who knows what that will mean for his preference of skintight baseball pants? The pair he wore Thursday seemed a little loose.

It’s not as if Ray was in awful shape last season. And there wasn’t any specific reason for him to focus on conditioning more this offseason. No “best shape of his life” memes here.

“It was having a normal offseason,” he said. “Last year with the lockout and the quick turnarounds, the fast spring training, it kind of sneaks up on. But this year, I was able to have my normal routine and through my normal progression of the offseason. I feel pretty good about it.”

If he needed motivation to carry him through his offseason workouts, Ray could’ve looked back on his first season with the Mariners to find moments to push him.

Coming off a brilliant 2021 season with the Blue Jays where he posted a 13-7 record with a 2.84 ERA, striking out 248 batters in 193⅓ innings and winning the American League Cy Young Award, Ray signed a five-year, $115 million free-agent contract with Seattle just before MLB instituted the lockout.

While not expecting a complete replication of his Cy Young-winning results, Ray, and by extension the Mariners, still hoped for more in what was still a decent-to-solid 2022 season.

In 32 starts, Ray posted a 12-12 record with a 3.71 ERA, striking out 212 hitters with 62 walks and 32 homers allowed.

Early in the season, Ray couldn’t seem to avoid the one costly inning that torpedoed several of his early outings. He never solved the riddle of the Astros’ potent lineup. But there was also a stretch of 15 starts – from June 12 to Sept. 3 – when he posted a 7-2 record and 2.27 ERA. The team went 11-4 in those outings. In 91 innings, he struck out 106 batters with just 26 walks. And that stretch included two losses to Houston, when he pitched a total of 5⅔ innings and gave up 10 runs on 15 hits.

“I felt like I did a really good job of making changes and adapting to what was going on during the year,” he said. “Adding the two-seam (fastball) was a big thing for me.

“I knew it was gonna turn around. It was just frustrating in the moment. Obviously, having the playoffs go the way they did was not ideal.”

The lasting memory of Ray’s first season in Seattle won’t be of any moment in the regular season.

Instead, it will be the forgettable scene in Game 1 of the American League Division Series when Ray walked off the mound amid bedlam at Minute Maid Park, having just served up a walkoff three-run homer to Yordan Alvarez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning for an 8-7 loss.

Brought in from the bullpen to face Alvarez and protect Seattle’s two-run lead with two outs, Ray became a part of one the indelible highlights of the postseason, giving up a mammoth blast.

Noticeably shaken in the aftermath, Ray said he moved on quickly from it.

“I have a good group of guys around me that helped me process it because I was in a situation that I’d never been in before – walking off the mound and the game’s over,” he said. “I leaned on those guys to help me process that. Once I was done processing, I was done with it. I didn’t think about it again. Guys give up walkoff homers all year. It happens. It just gets magnified because it was playoffs.”

It’s easy to forget that Ray recorded two key outs in the 18-inning marathon loss in Game 3.

To Ray, the disappointment of the defeat was one game. He’s had entire seasons of disappointment when he couldn’t consistently throw strikes or get outs.

“There’s been times where I thought I was out of baseball,” he said. “That’s definitely not the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.”

Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners president of baseball operations, believes the nonlinear trajectory of Ray’s career will allow him to move past it.

“We don’t have a player that is any more experienced in dealing with the ups and downs of the major league career than Robbie Ray,” Dipoto said. “He’s had incredibly high highs. He experienced some very low lows. And as a result, you get a guy who’s about as even-keel in the way he does things as any player I’ve ever been around.

“If I had to bet on a player being able to absorb the disappointment of the way the season ended, I will bet on Robbie.”

Part of Dipoto’s confidence comes from Ray’s level of professionalism and drive to improve. Beyond reporting to Arizona in better condition, Ray had thrown multiple bullpen sessions in the weeks before. He wanted to be more sound in his mechanics and was also tinkering with his pitch repertoire.

“I’m not going to give too many things away, but I am working on a new pitch,” he said.

Dipoto revealed the secret pitch during his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710, revealing that Ray and Logan Gilbert are both working on split-finger fastballs, labeling them in the “developmental” stage.

Why add a pitch now in his career?

“If you aren’t trying to get better, this game is going to leave you behind,” Ray said. “For me, there’s nothing wrong with in spring training or the offseason trying to add a new pitch and see if you can do it.”

A return to the postseason is expected for the Mariners. Will Ray get a chance to provide a different lasting memory?

“You just can’t make too much of it,” he said. “You can’t put too much pressure, too much thought on those expectations. There is outside noise. Everybody’s talking about: ‘Well, they broke the drought last year. So what are they going to do this year? How are they going to get better? Can they go further?’ For me, it’s just if we go out and play our brand of baseball … I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”