Jason Motte: From catcher to closer
After trimming down his repertoire and sticking to only three pitches last year, St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jason Motte put together a breakout season in 2010, slicing his ERA in half from the year before. It was hard to imagine him improving even more in 2011, but that’s exactly what he’s done.
Having already set a new career-high with 64.2 innings pitched this season, Motte has managed a tidy 1.81 ERA (2.26 FIP) and allowed just 48 hits. Add in the fact that he has issued only 13 walks and one home run all season as well, and it’s to no one’s surprise that he is quickly becoming the Cardinals’ most potent weapon out of the bullpen.
Whether it’s tossing a scoreless middle relief inning or bridging the gap to closer Fernando Salas in the eighth, Motte has done it all this season, while keeping the same mindset for any type of outing.
“I go out there and try to get the guy out at the plate; it doesn’t matter what inning I pitch or when they bring me in,” Motte told The Good Point. “I try to keep the same mentality no matter when I pitch, and try not to let the circumstances dictate how I’m going to go out there and pitch.”
In fact, Motte’s success this season has recently forced the Cardinals’ hand, into giving him a shot at being the organization’s full-time closer.
After pitching very well for the first three months of the season, Motte turned it up a notch over the summer and did not allow an earned run in July or August; a span of 22 innings. Plus, out of the 27 runners he inherited in those innings, only four scored, for a 15 percent rate.
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One reason for Motte’s dominance this season has been the emergence of his cutter. On top of nearly-tripling how often he’s used it since he first introduced it in 2009, the offering has been particularly devastating against right-handed hitters. Motte has limited righties to a meager .170 average, including only eight extra-base hits in 147 at-bats.
Motte himself agrees, but fully trusting the other pitches in his repertoire has played an equal part in his emergence as a shutdown reliever.
“I’ve been throwing a lot more cutters, a lot more two-seamers,” the Michigan native said. “But also I’d say not being afraid of the situation and being like ‘oh I don’t want to get beat with this pitch’ but going out there and having faith in my secondary stuff.”
Two teammates that have helped boost Motte’s confidence in his secondary pitches are catchers Yadier Molina and Gerald Laird. With Molina having spent his entire eight-year career catching Cardinals pitchers and Laird having played primarily a backup catching role for parts of nine seasons, both backstops have lent their experience to Motte, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the right-hander.
“Those guys have both been around the game a long time; they know the game and they know hitters,” Motte said. “[With] their input behind the plate, I pretty much just go out there and whatever they put down I have faith in it and I just try to execute my pitches.”
What makes Motte’s ascent to elite relief pitcher even more impressive is the fact that when he was a 19th-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2003, he was drafted as a catcher.
After a career minor league batting average of .191 and OPS of .453 in 366 games behind the plate, the Cardinals decided to convert him to a relief pitcher after realizing his potential on the mound. The rest, they say, is history.
After putting up solid numbers as a 24-year-old in his first season as a pitcher in 2006, Motte started to open eyes in 2007 after dominating Double-A hitters. It was more of the same in Triple-A the following year when Motte struck out a whopping 110 hitters over 66 innings (14.8 K/9) in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Now, Motte has limited opposing hitters to a .160 average and fashioned a microscopic 0.92 ERA since the All-Star break this season, nearly cementing his status as one of the best relievers in the National League.
After missing out on his first attempt to become the Cardinals’ closer in 2009, all of his hard work and perseverance over the years has virtually guaranteed him the role for the 2012 season.
“It would be cool, but it’s one of those things that’s not really up to me,” Motte said about shifting to the closer’s role next season. “It’s up to the manager and whenever he puts me in.”
“I just go in whenever the phone rings and whenever they tell me to go in.”
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