Larry Jewell

1, 2, 3. We're talking with Bruce Hurst of. Do you call yourselves a Bristol Red Sox like the rest of them? Yeah, with our nicknames, the Bry Sox. Bry Sox, yeah, Like the bull socks and all through the minor league system, they just give you like the Paw Sox, the Triple A. We were the Hay Sox in Winter Haven. How's the atmosphere changed now? You're this close to Boston. Boston, Pawtucket and Bristol are right close together. There's a different culture up there, if that's what you mean. It's New England atmosphere and things like that is where people are a lot smarter, a lot of education up there. These are some high institutions, but you can see a different level in baseball from where I was last year. It's a lot more experienced and better player and you start to meet some big leaguers on their way down as you're on your way up. So it's quite a change. Big jump with being a double A ball. Do you find yourself and being that close physically to Boston, do you find yourself in contact quite a bit with many of the coaches on the major league team? Not so much the coaches. You get a lot of the minor league instructors and stuff more. In Florida, they were so far away. They come down maybe once or twice a year, but now you get to see them more. They live up in there. So I get to see a lot of the minor league instructors and hitting instructors more, but not the big league coaches. They were really busy with the big league teams in spring training. I get to see them more, talk to them a little bit. A lot of the people are wondering how come you're in town now if it's the middle of the season. A lot of people think I quit, but I heard my shoulder from just throwing the ball incorrectly. It's a type of injury that the doctors explained to me is youth related. Because I'm young and I'm still maturing physically. It's a thing that won't last a long time. I just have to give it time to heal and it'll be just like a broken bone that I can just continue to play instead of. Won't ever be anything that's long lasting or really hurt me in the long run. You mentioned you were throwing the ball incorrectly. What were you doing wrong and what was the specific injury? What I was doing wrong is I was so scared of hurting my elbow because I had problems with that last year that I was just stiffening up and saying what they call in baseball, aiming the ball and really was tight with My motion and wasn't being as loose and relaxed on the ball and I just put too much strain on my shoulder. And so I've never had problems with my shoulder before. Never. It's always been elbow. I've been really healthy and fortunate with my shoulder. The injury has been described to me as an impingement of the rotator cuff. And that's. It's Greek to me. But I'm learning a lot more about it as I research more about what's wrong with my shoulder. Do you find yourself finding out more about the human body that's your business is to use your body? Yeah, I've learned a lot. These two injuries have given me a real insight on what my arm should do when I throw instead of always before. It's just been natural and it's kind of almost habit. I haven't really understood what my arm does when I throw, but with these injuries, I understand better the motion that I'm supposed to have to throw the ball correctly and be able to put it, throw strikes with it and put it in spots to where I want to throw the ball. You start having mental problems with this, thinking that maybe you're injury prone. Oh, brother. That's probably the biggest thing. Because if I had a healthy year last year, I could have probably finished up in AA last year and would have helped me a great deal. So I keep thinking, if I'm going to be injury prone all this time, how long is it going to delay my career in the big leagues? Am I going to be one of those pitchers that pitch 150innings or maybe even a 7inn pitcher instead of a complete game pitcher? And it gives you a lot of questions you raise in your mind, what's my future? And I just wish I knew a little bit more about what I was going to do. It would be a lot more relaxing to me. You find yourself finding solace with other pitchers, not with hitters. Hitters really don't know how much an arm means to a pitcher, do they? No, they can't understand. They feel like they pull a hamstring. They're back in the lineup in a week. They feel they play with a little pain and stuff like that. It really doesn't bother their swing that much. They really don't rely on their body as much as a pitcher does because a pitcher goes through his arm, especially he goes through a great deal of strain during a game. After a game, you pack your arm in ice for half an hour, 45 minutes to slow down the bleeding inside and to quicken the healing so you can get back in rotation sooner and the hitter doesn't have to go through those things. Pitcher's body is a lot more important, I think, than the hitter's body. That's only a recent thing. It seems to have come about in the Koufax era, the packing of the arm and eyes. What about the old time pitchers? Do you ever get any feedback from them of what they went through between stars? Oh yeah. You get a lot from the older guys around that come down and instruct you and things like that. They say let your arm heal naturally. Just hang it under a hot shower. He'll come around and give the Satchel Page story play till he's 100 almost or whatever and how he'd take care of his arm. But I feel that, I think the baseball players today are a lot better than they were years ago. They throw the ball harder, they swing the bat better and your arm just goes through, I think a little bit more pounding and a little more strain than they did years ago. You have to have these type of things to be in better shape. What about your team specifically? You're at AA ball in the Red Sox organization. That's pretty high. What about the people on the team with you? Is it a hitting ball club, a pitching ball club? What it's more. It's a pitching defense ball club. Our hitting is very inconsistent and streaky. Sometimes we'll come out and break out 16, 18 hits a game and win 102 and the next night we'll come out, we won't get a hit for seven, two, three or something like that. Our defense is outstanding. Our hitting will improve as time goes on. We have minimum power. We're more of a double singles hitters with average speed. Our defense is outstanding. We make good plays. We're strong at the corners and up the middle, have a good double play combination. Our outfielders are. They are average speed with fair arms, but they are really smart and play the game pretty well. Plus we got some outstanding catching too. That helps a lot. How much does a catcher grow with the pitcher through the minor league system? Are you keeping the same catchers with you as you go up? I five different catcher every year. The first year when I broke in in 76, I played with a guy named Ronnie Harrington and then he went to Winston Salem last year and I went to Winter Haven and now he's back with me in Bristol. And then the guy I played with last year, Gary Allison from asu, he's in Triple A and the Guy that played in Bristol last year, Michael Berry, is still in Bristol. So I've had three different catchers for the three different years as far as the Red Sox are concerned. Now you mentioned that you didn't have much of a hitting ball club. What do they do? Take it all to the big club? It's funny like that. The Red Sox are such a powerful club and then they come down and Triple A is not hitting the ball that well. And neither is our Double A club, but our pitching is really strong in both AAA and aa. I guess they do take a lot of their hitters and maybe they don't redraft them or scout for outstanding hitters because they've got so many young, good hitters in the big clubs that they're looking for. They're scouting for weaker points like their pitching staff has been weak in the past. So they go out and get all the good pitchers they can, the premium prospects and leave the hitters to other clubs. You mentioned the competition is tougher at aa. What about competition on the ball club? From the time you started, there are a lot of kids that are no longer playing baseball that you had as teammates. What about now? Is the attitude a little different now that you're a double A baller? More experience and the players understand more about the game and the little idiosyncrasies that go on through. You know, what are the openings? What are my possibilities? How old am I before when I first broke in, you know, we're all going to make the big leagues. We're all 18, 19 years old and all have these bright futures. But as time goes on, you start to see you get the players that aren't as good. They start getting weeded out, released and go their separate ways. The attitude, I think, on the club is one of just give me my shot right now. They all feel they're ready for the big leagues or real close and all they're waiting for is their shot where before. They just want to get the experience and get in the big leagues and the lights and glory and things like that. What about the coaches and the managers? How do they work with guys at AA level? Well, players in aa, like I say again, are more experienced and they can talk more in detail with them. The players know the game a lot better. And so it's more of a conversation instead of talking over the weaknesses, instead of the hitting instructor just lecturing them and coaching them, it's more of a two way conversation of what they're doing wrong. The atmosphere like that is A lot better. The players are improving a lot better like that. What about you specifically as a pitcher? What are some of the things that you've learned since you started pro ball or do we have enough time? You could take two weeks to tell the things I've learned. I've learned to keep the ball down more and I've learned to think as I pitch. I have a purpose for each time I throw a ball. Where before I just want to throw it down the middle and dare them to hit it. Now everybody can swing the bat. I have to put the ball in corners, have to put it high, low. I have to be able to throw a good curve ball when I need it and change speeds better. I've learned an awful lot. There's a lot more to pitching than just throwing the ball. It's a mental part of the game. That's the most mental part, I think, is to pitch the ball, to throw the ball. Because you face nine different guys three or four different times and each time will be a different situation. And you have to learn to adjust each situation to be able to field your position, to know where to go with each pitch and just be able to understand what's going on around you. At double A ball, do you start picking up books on hitters, finding out a little bit what the idiot secrecies are of these hitters? More so the hitters are a little better, they're more selective, they swing at better pitches, they still swing at bad pitches. A lot of the guys you played against for three or four years, and so you know them a little better and you understand whether they're a singles hitter, a power hitter, whether they hit the left or they hit the right, Are they fastball hitter, are they a curve ball hitter? You understand a little better and you play them a couple times, it's easier to pick it up than before. You really didn't understand what was going on, but now you understand that this guy, you always look for their weaknesses now where before you really didn't. There's an old axiom that says good pitching will beat good hitting. And yet the good hitters will sometimes hit the excellent pitch and drive it pretty well. Have you had that experience at double A ball? Sometimes you have a pitcher or hitter 02 and you throw a good fastball or a good curveball outside, lone, away, you know, the hall of Fame pitch and they'll crank it to the wall and the next time up you'll have the same situation. You'll throw a fat pitch right down the middle. And they'll swing right through it. So it's a funny game. You never can really tell what's going to happen. You mentioned before that a young man by the name of Tommy Hur, an infielder of the Cardinals organization, used to own you. Is there anybody this year that seems to hit you? Well, I really haven't thrown that much to have anybody, so to speak, own me. I still have nightmares about her. I haven't. I haven't met anybody this year that's hit me really well. Although there's one hitter that really scares me to death. He hit me hard when my first year I played against him in Elmira, New York. His name's Gary Holley. He's back his second year in the league. He had 30 home runs last year. Really strong and powerful and hit a ball farther than just about anybody I've ever seen. He's got, I think, eight home runs this year, but he scares me more than any hitter in the league. What about. I'm not going to ask you about the evaluation of your teammates. Who do you think will reach the majors, but are there outstanding prospects in the Eastern League among those teams that you face? Oh, yeah. I know as a catcher for the Yankees that I've heard from people on their team and from other players and other instructors that he's the best catcher in a Yankee organization. That includes Thurman Munson. I watched him throw a ball one night. A guy was stealing. We were playing him in West Haven. That's where they're from. And I've never seen a ball thrown so hard, and it was right on a dime. And the guy hits, really swings the bat really good. He's got good power and he's got a good arm. He's a good defensive catcher, and I feel that he's got a real good shot at the big leagues. His name's Mike Heath, really a good catcher. What about some of the other guys that you faced? Well, I guess the best hitting club I faced is Holyoke, and I really don't know if any of them are prospects. They say Gary Hawley is, again, that guy I was talking about, but he got a steel glove. He really doesn't catch, you know, he's not that good defensively, but a great hitter. He hit 30 home runs on our team. We have an outstanding shortstop. He's 21 years old from Puerto Rico. His name's Julio Valdez. I don't think he's even touched his potential. And he pulls plays out of his. It seems like out of his hip pocket sometimes that people can't even get to ballet. He'll reach and throw a guy out, and I think he has a real good shot. It's like I say, the Red Sox are so strong up top that there's really not that much room as a pitcher. How much more can you or how much better can you pitch with a good defense behind you? Oh, it makes all the difference in the world. I know this year, the last game I threw before I hurt my arm. If I would have had a playmate, I could have finished the game instead of I went six and two thirds innings, and if the guy would have made the play, I had two outs and a ground ball. All I had to do was throw it to first. But he booted it and made an error, and that cost me a complete game. So you look at it that way. If I would have had a good defense or had to be able to make the play at the right time, then I could have had a complete game and a win. Instead, I had no decision and I didn't get a complete game. People are wondering, what about your record right now? How does it stand? I'm 13 right now. I haven't thrown the ball that well. My fastball, I've. I think I went on a weight program in the winter and improved my strength and stamina. I feel I'm throwing the ball harder. My ball's a lot lighter, yet. I'm really having problems with my breaking stuff. I'm really inconsistent. I hang it a lot. I can't get a consistent breaking pitch, and that's really hurt me a lot. They don't. The Red Sox organization, they don't look at records as much as how you're performing individually, do they? They look mostly the ratio they look at. They don't even look at era, that much earned run average. They look at how many innings you have and how many strikeouts per inning, the ratio there, and how many base on balls per innings. Like, If I had 30 innings and 26 strikeouts, that's a good ratio. But what if he had 24 base on balls? And that would be a poor ratio. So that means he's throwing the ball hard, striking out a lot of guys, but walking a lot of guys. And that's mostly what they look at anything specifically. I know they had you working on a change up last year. Anything specifically they want you to work on this year? They told me that. They said the thing that you need most of all is just experience. They want me to get a lot of work in and throw a lot of innings, and that's what I want, that's what I need the most. I'm still really inconsistent with my change up, but yet at times, if I really get to spend the time with it, it would be an effective pitch for me. And they're not teaching me the fourth pitch. They said maybe later on they'll talk to me about a slider as a fourth pitch for me. Last standing. Taisaw Bristol is in third place in the league. Do you think he can win it? I really do. I think we have the best club there. We have a good depth. We have a lot of injuries, but when everybody gets healthy, we've got good depth. All the teams that I've seen, we've seen them all now. I think we have the best team. I think us, Bristol and Jersey City have the best pitching staff, and I think Holyoke has the best hitters. But I think we have the overall, you know, the best team overall in the league. Bruce Hurst, thank you. Thank you.