Jose Mercedes: Riding High

Jose Mercedes reached the All-Star break with a 3-4 record, a 6.25 ERA and the sobering realization that he wouldn’t be in the major leagues much longer if he didn’t improve in a hurry.

The right-hander had just emerged from a lengthy banishment to the bullpen, but appeared destined for a trip to the minors after he yielded nine runs in three innings against Philadelphia during his final start of the first half. Mercedes, 29, did plenty of soul searching during the break.

“I knew I had to take everything I have and bring it into the second half. I know it’s my career. It's my life, it's my job,” he recalls. “I decided to really focus on my game, pitch by pitch, hitter by hitter. I don’t care who's on deck, I’m just going to get the guy at the plate. That’s the whole key.”

There was plenty more to it than just that. Mercedes improved his control, relied more on an improved changeup and switched speeds more often than a professional cyclist on a hilly course.

As a result, he became the Orioles’ winningest starter in 2000 and the only one with a winning record. He also turned out be one of the most effective pitchers in baseball during the second half.

In the process, Mercedes revived a career that had stagnated since he underwent rotator cuff surgery in July 1998 while with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Mercedes opened the second half with a win over Florida, allowing only three runs on seven hits in seven innings. He didn't walk a better, either. That started a roll in which he went 9-1, including a career-high five-game winning streak. With two weeks to go in the season, he was tops in the AL with Andy Pettitte in most wins since the break (nine) and fourth in ERA.

“To pitch at this level, you've got to have good velocity, locate, change speeds and have movement on the ball. He's had all four of those going for him,” Orioles pitching coach Sammy Ellis said.

Opposing batters simply didn't know what to look for with Mercedes on the mound.

“Ever since he got on this roll, he's got two fastballs, a sinking-type fastba ll that he throws high 80s, low 90s, and he's got a four-seamer he can throw anywhere from 93 to 96,” Ellis says. “He’s used his slider, he's used his changeup. And he gets all those pitches over. That's basically what pitching is all about.

“He’s had some games here that were just like a clinic. When they’re thinking hard, he’s throwing soft. And when they're thinking soft, he's throwing it by them,” Ellis notes. “When you have that much of a variation of speed, you don't have to be as letter-sharp as a [Mike] Mussina or a [Greg] Maddux.”

The key facet was the changeup, a pitch that Mercedes struggled with until July. It had always been an important part of his repertoire, but he didn't utilize the pitch with confidence until after the break.

“All my career I had a good changeup. But sometime it comes and goes,” he says. “If it’s not too good, I tend to go hard, hard, hard. I use a lot of pitches. When I have all that stuff together, it's tough to beat me.”

Mercedes did little to foreshadow his outstanding second half in April, when he was 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA. He was sent to the bullpen after yielding four runs, five hits and three walks in 1 2-3 innings of a 13-4 loss to Oakland on April 27. Things didn't get immediately better. In his first relief appearance, Mercedes was tagged for four runs and took the loss in a game against Boston.

“In the beginning, I won’t lie, emotionally I got down a little bit,” he recalls. “I don’t belong in the bullpen. All my career I pitch as a starter.” The in relief was bad enough, but Mercedes was on the brink of being sent to the minors, or even released, after he allowed his distaste for the bullpen to effect his performance.

By mid-June, he had a 7.45 ERA and was badly in need of an attitude adjustment.

“When they almost sent me down, I sat down in my house and realized that I was almost out of baseball. I was angry,” he said. “At one point, [manager Mike] Hargrove and I talked for 15, 20 minutes. I got it out of my system.”

Mercedes blanked Anaheim over three innings on June 18 and earned another shot at the starting rotation with four scoreless innings of relief against Toronto on July 3. After the debacle in Philadelphia five days later, he turned the corner and became a pitcher, not just a thrower.

“We didn't give him a chance,” Ellis says, retrospectively. “He came out of spring training and did OK, then he went through a dead arm stage or something, he wasn't throwing very well. So we put him in the bullpen. Then he did well in a couple of long relief roles. I think that's when he got his rhythm together.

“After he got into the bullpen and used his pitches, threw the ball hard and soft, all of a sudden we saw a pitcher we hadn't seen. Then we had a chance to start him, he did well, and he's pitched well ever since.”

A lot can happen between October and April, but for now Hargrove considers Mercedes to be part of the five-man rotation the Orioles will employ when next season gets underway. That’s certainly more Baltimore bargained for when they signed Mercedes as a minor league free agent in December.

The signing completed a strange circle for Mercedes, who was secured by the Orioles as a non-drafted free agent in 1989. He spent the '90s in four different organizations before flourishing this season, recording more major-league wins in 2000 than in all his previous years combined.

“What really made him effective is he's thrown his breaking ball over for strikes when he's behind in the count, changes speeds and doesn't give in,” Hargrove says. “He really pitches. There are times when he tries to be too fine, and that’s when he gets himself in trouble. But on the whole he's thrown strikes, and very controlled with his emotions. The guy has guts. He’s not afraid to fail.”