How Pitchers Think: Inside the Mind of Orel Hershiser

Right-handed pitcher Orel Hershiser achieved a 204-150 record over 18 years (1983-2000), the first 12 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

His best year was 1988: 23-8, 2-0 in the World Series against Oakland, Cy Young Award winner and World Series MVP.

In 1995 he switched to the American League, and worked in two more World Series with the Cleveland Indians, before returning to the National for his last three years.

In May of 1995, I met him before a game in Baltimore and asked him about the differences he found between the leagues and what it was like to adjust to unfamiliar hitters.

Bare in mind that he was talking about hitters and the game as it was played 30 years ago. - Norman L. Macht  

Ballpark Differences

So far I’ve seen the ballparks in Texas, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, Anaheim and Oakland. I think there’s a definite difference in the offensive abilities of the American League ballparks compared to the National. The ball carried well in Detroit and Texas.

What I’ve noticed so far is the borderline National home run hitters and the ground ball and singles hitters in the American are trying to drive the balls because the ballparks will reward their warning track power in the National.  The warning track fly ball in the NL will get them out of baseball.

They’ll hit .180, .220 and lose their job. They have to become line-drive hitters, get walks or hit the ball on the ground and try to beat it out or use the Astroturf.

Orel Hershiser played his first 12 years with the LA Dodgers

In the AL these same warning track fly balls are home runs. So those guys continue to try to drive the ball.  In the AL they are trying to hit the ball in the air more, they don’t rely on speed as much, they sit around waiting for the 3-run inning.

In three games so far I’ve only been hit-and-run off once. In the NL they would try it 2 or 3 times a game.  I’ve only seen a sacrifice bunt used once in our first 12 games. In the NL you see it used 2 or 3 times a game, with other batters as well as the pitchers.

What Scouts Look For

I think the scouts look for different players depending on the teams.  Guys seem bigger and stronger in the AL. In the NL you need fast outfielders who can cover ground.

There are way more symmetrical parks in the NL. NL outfield walls are away from the foul lines. In the AL they go straight across on an angle.  Park makeup affects your scouting.

In the NL they will say I can put that power hitter out in right field but if I do I’m going to be hurt defensively, where in the AL they can put that same guy in right and say it doesn’t matter because there isn’t a gap and I can just get a speedy center fielder.

In the AL they can live with that guy even if they see a ball drop in front of him every day. In the NL they say we can’t live with that guy. They’ll see 2 or 3 drop in every game and he maybe hits a home run every fifth day.

So you go from a singles guy who walks in right field in the NL to a guy who’s going to wait around for the 3-run homer in the AL.

So I work on getting more ground balls now. I gave up two fly balls in Detroit; the worst they would be in the NL was doubles, and they were home runs.

When they were hit I thought, okay maybe a double, probably an out and they went ten rows in the stands in the 350-foot area.  That was a shock. I had to learn when a ball off the bat is a home run again.

You throw so many pitches and give up so many hits that usually when the ball leaves the bat you know whether it’s in or out. You see the angle of the ball coming off the bat, you know where your outfielders are, so pretty much when you see the ball hit the bat most pitchers can say, hit or out.

They don’t ever turn and watch. On both of those in Detroit, left-handed batters hitting to the opposite field, I said, “He hit that one pretty good; probably an out.”

Learning the Hitters

Now I have to compile a whole new book on AL hitters. It’s a lot easier when other NL players come over.  It’s a lot different from seeing scouting reports on paper than if you’re living it.

I get as much as I can off paper and talking to guys on the staff and catchers, but I don’t think I’ll really get a grasp on it until I’ve physically faced the guys. You’ll read a scouting report that says, “Good breaking ball hitter.”

He hasn’t really seen my particular breaking ball, so maybe mine throws him off a little bit. Or maybe a guy is a bad breaking ball hitter, but mine is one he really sees well, so it works both ways. I haven’t seen them and they haven’t seen me. 

Orel Hershiser also played for the Cleveland Guardians

Some pitchers have a certain rhythm that fits the rhythm of a certain hitter. So all of a sudden they hit .400 off him because they like the guy’s mechanics, they see the ball well off him. There’s other pitchers who can mess with those guys. 

If they’ve never seen you pitch, they don’t know –does he throw a breaking ball behind in the count; does he have confidence in his changeup 3 and 2; when there’s men on base does he go to a certain pitch? All that information comes into the whole picture. You can get the tendencies.

You can’t sit there and figure him out exactly, but you can get the tendencies. Big league hitters see something different from ordinary people. All-Star hitters see something different from regular big league hitters, and I think Hall of Famers see something different from all the rest.

Pitchers’ Memories

I can remember whole ball games – every pitch – not so much when I’m sitting in the clubhouse  afterwards as when I’m back on the mound, in that same situation against the same lineup.

Like when I pitch against a team at home and then we go to that city and I pitch against them again, it’ll come back to me. As each batter comes up I’ll remember what I got him out on, what he hit, how when I knocked him down, then came back away, he was still on the pitch.

Like Bill Madlock or Paul Molitor: I’d remember: ‘see ball hit ball; quick hands, short quick swing barely moving their feet, wait as long as they can.’ But in the clubhouse before the game I might not remember it all. 

Of course the hitter’s doing the same thing. That’s the funny thing about the game. They know exactly what they got a hit on, what they made an out on. It’s a guessing game, but it’s also about execution.