Mariners prospect Ryan Sloan exudes confidence in another stellar live BP

PEORIA, Ariz. – The four-seam fastball – with a 97-mph velocity – exited Ryan Sloan’s right hand and rocketed toward the plate. The natural movement – a cut/ride – kept it on plane to be roughly belt high to the left-handed hitter in the box while it darted from the middle to the inner half of the plate.

Brendan Donovan watched it go by. It was a pitcher’s pitch, perfectly executed to get ahead immediately and he wanted no part of it.

“Ball!” yelled a Mariners staffer running the trackman system on the field.

Sloan paused on the mound for a second and looked around with an expression that said, “What?”

Meanwhile, in the mass of coaches and analysts piled into the “gazebo” beyond the backstop, pitching coach Pete Woodworth said, “Good, give this kid a little adversity.”

Asked about the comment later, Woodworth said it was good to make things difficult for Sloan in these controlled situations against big-league hitters.

“It’s better than going out and carving up a bunch of 18- and 19-year-olds with no challenges,” he said. “It should’ve been a strike, so let’s see how he reacts to getting behind even if he executed the pitch.”

After a brief moment of disbelief from not getting the call, Sloan went back to attack Donovan. He missed with a two-seam fastball at 97 mph – a pitch he added this offseason – to fall behind 2-0.

Undaunted, he came back with a cutter in a fastball count, coaxing Donovan to swing at a pitch moving out of the zone. At 2-1, Sloan went to the two-seam again. The pitch started out looking middle of the plate, but started sinking and tailing away from Donovan, who swung and hit a soft ground ball off the end of the bat.

“Way to come back,” Woodworth said in encouragement.

A day after Kade Anderson wowed fans and staff with his second live batting practice session, it was Sloan’s turn to do the same Sunday afternoon on the back fields of the Peoria Sports Complex.

Facing Donovan and Mitch Garver a combined eight times, he allowed one hard-hit ball to Donovan – a shot to the fence on a slider low and in – and struck out Garver swinging with a nasty slider.

“I was just trying to go out and compete,” he said. “I believe I can throw all my pitches for strikes, so it’s just executing that mentality. If I do that, good things are going to happen.”

Obviously, Sloan didn’t throw strikes on every pitch. His first two sliders of the outing – both to Garver after a first-pitch fastball for a strike – weren’t close to the expected location. He didn’t put the pitch in his pocket, he knew it would be fine with a small adjustment.

“I have a lot of confidence in my stuff,” he said. “And like (NBA star) Steph Curry says, ‘When you miss a 3, it’s usually not your fault, so just keep doing the same thing.’ I knew I had to make a little adjustment to make that happen and just try to get the pitch away. I know if I do, it’s a really good pitch.”

The Mariners asked Sloan to start working on throwing a two-seam fastball this offseason. They let him just pitch with his usual repertoire last season.

“We knew he could throw it,” said Trent Blank, director of pitching strategy. “It was just something to play off his four-seam.”

Nearly all the Mariners pitchers have adopted the two-fastball approach. Sloan got ground-ball outs and called strikes with the pitch.

“For me, it’s just a weapon against righties,” he said. “I think it makes my arsenal that much more diverse. Obviously, sinkers play really good against righties, so if I’m able to throw a sinker right down the middle, and if it’s a one-pitch out, awesome. And then if not, it’s an 0-1 count and that’s where I start using my other pitches.”

Like Anderson, he wants to get ahead and sit hitters down himself.

“My goal is to punch tickets, honestly,” he said. “But with that, you have to get ahead. You can’t punch a guy out on 0-0. So, if they want to swing early and swing 0-0, and I make a good pitch, I’m A-OK with that. I think I have swing-and-miss stuff. So, more often than not, if I’m throwing strikes early, I’m going to get to two strikes and be able to punch guys out.”

Given the Mariners’ pitching progression in the spring, Sloan and Anderson are likely ready to move to Cactus League games. They’ve both thrown two live batting practice sessions. So they would logically have a between-start bullpen and then be ready for games.