After stepping away for a year, re-energized Ernesto Frieri hopes to make Brewers' bullpen

Tom Haudricourt
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brewers relief pitcher Ernesto Frieri celebrates after recording the final out in an inning against the Chicago Cubs in a recent spring training game.

PHOENIX – Ernesto Frieri knew it was time to go home and regroup. If he had thrown his last pitch, so be it.

In the final days of the Philadelphia Phillies’ spring camp in 2016, the veteran reliever was still in the running for a roster spot. Instead, he asked for and was granted his release, returning to his native Colombia.

“They said I might make the team but I’m not that type of guy,” said Frieri, in the Milwaukee Brewers’ spring camp as a non-roster invitee. “I’m honest with myself and I’m honest with other people.

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“I didn’t pitch bad but I wasn’t feeling good. It wasn’t me. I was fighting with my delivery and concentrating too much on things on the mound. ... And everything was hurting.

“Many people thought it was because I was hurt. I wasn’t hurt. But I didn’t want to get to the point where I was going to get frustrated. Once that happens, it’s hard to get it back. So, I went home, shut it down and forgot about baseball a little bit.”

After a few weeks, Frieri reached out to Marcial Del Valle, the coach who taught him how to pitch as a youngster. The two met at a local baseball diamond, talked things over and decided to start over from scratch.

Frieri, now 32, went to various spots on the infield and Del Valle pounded one groundball after another at him.

“I just got the ball and threw it,” Frieri recalled. “Then he hit me fly balls. Same thing. I just threw it back in. I started from zero.”

That process continued for weeks before Del Valle allowed Frieri to step on a mound and begin throwing. Piece by piece, they put Frieri’s delivery back together. Later that year, when Colombia began assembling its roster for the World Baseball Classic, he told team officials he was ready to pitch again.

“I showed everybody I was healthy and could still throw hard,” Frieri said. “I got a chance with the Yankees, went to Triple-A. They released me but I signed with the Rangers and got back to the big leagues. Now, here I am.”

Throwing a baseball used to be easy for Frieri, who approached 100 mph with regularity. He broke through with San Diego in 2010, posting a 1.71 ERA over 33 outings, with 41 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings.

Frieri continued to flourish with the Padres until being traded to the Los Angeles Angels during the 2012 season. He took over as closer, posting 23 saves, and evolved into one of the best in the business the next year with 37 saves and 98 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings.

But Frieri also battled command issues at times, and mechanical changes were suggested to make it easier to repeat his delivery. Instead, opponents began to tee off on Frieri, who lost the closer’s job in 2014 and was traded to Pittsburgh.

The nightmare had begun, and there was no waking up. The Pirates released Frieri in September of that year. He signed with Tampa Bay, got dumped again after the 2015 season, then moved on to Philadelphia and the fateful spring of ’16.

“Somebody wanted me to change. I’ve always been a guy who respected everybody and followed orders, so I did,” he recalled. “They told me, ‘If you do this, it’s going to make you better.’ It didn’t work out.

“They wanted me to be quicker to home plate, and step straighter to home plate, so I did. But I lost some of my deception. I always had used deception — sneaky fastball, hiding the ball, stepping over my body. I lost a little of that when I changed my delivery. So, the last three years, I’ve been fighting to get back to what I was.

“I’ve done everything right in this game. I respect the game, I respect my teammates, I respect my coaches, and I follow orders. I take care of myself; I work hard. I don’t go out; I don’t drink. I’ve always been a good guy in that aspect. But I was kind of disappointed with baseball.”

Before stepping away from the game, Frieri went to a longtime friend, Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano, for advice. They were opponents on the field, but Frieri knew he could count on Cano to tell the truth.

“I said, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ ” Frieri recalled. “He said, ‘You’re not hiding the ball anymore. I see the ball coming out of your hand all day long. Before, I couldn’t see it out of your hand.’

“I knew something was different. ... My fastball didn’t have the same movement. It was pretty straight. My fastball used to rise a lot.”

Even with that advice, Frieri knew he had to do more than throw fastballs. Earlier in his career, when he could blow the ball past hitters, that pitch was enough (he threw 87% fastballs in ’13 with the Angels). But, without high 90s velocity, he worked on commanding two secondary pitches, a slider and changeup.

“You have to learn from all this stuff,” said Frieri, who has a 3.38 ERA in three spring appearances, with three hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. “Now, I feel better than I was when I was at my best, because I pitch now. I don’t just throw. Now, I don’t need to throw my fastball anymore. I throw sliders and changeups.

“You know why I’ve got a good changeup now? Because I changed my arm slot. Before, when they changed my delivery, it was tough to throw it. That’s one of the things I learned — how to throw a changeup. Same thing with the slider. I’m a pitcher now.”

Whether that will be enough to win a job with the Brewers remains to be seen. A large group of pitchers is vying for two openings in the bullpen, and it doesn’t help Frieri that he is older and not on the 40-man roster.

“I find myself interested in guys who have had dominant major-league seasons, and he had one. It's in there,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We thought there were some signs that things were coming back last year, and that's kind of where our interest lies in him.

“We're not trying to find something that's never happened before. Some things led him off that path, but we're hoping there are some signs that he's going back to that place.”

Frieri went home in 2016 but he didn’t give up. And he doesn’t plan on quitting now, no matter how this roster thing works out. His baseball spark has been reignited, and he doesn’t plan on letting it get doused anytime soon.

“I’m still wearing a baseball uniform,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “If you are wearing a uniform, you have a chance. I’m a grown man; things happen. So, I never quit. I love this game so much. In my heart, I know I can still pitch in this game. I was once an elite closer.

“The biggest thing is I have my confidence back. As a player, if you have that, you’re going to be able to play anywhere. Without confidence, it’s tough. I did lose my confidence; I’m going to be honest. I used to get guys out easily but now they were having solid contact against me. I knew something was wrong.

“I’m really thankful to the Milwaukee Brewers to bring me here. I’m going to do whatever it takes to show I can still pitch in the big leagues. ... I have always thought that I’m better than the guy at the plate. If you don’t believe in yourself, who’s going to do it?”