Dick Bosman is the minor league pitching coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays, rated the best young organization in the game. \u00c2\u00a0Much of that is derived from the unbelievable pitching talent Dick has the pleasure to work with. \u00c2\u00a0Here are his thoughts on his pupils.<\/p>\n
TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0The Rays have the lowest runs per game allowed in the American League. \u00c2\u00a0You have to be proud of the pitching staff you helped bring through the system. \u00c2\u00a0How does that feel?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0You work with these kids day in and day out you get pretty close to them and you really feel great when they do well. \u00c2\u00a0You go through the ups and downs of their time in the minor leagues, so yeah, it feels good to see so many of them doing well, especially the guys that no one thought would ever make it past Double-A ball. \u00c2\u00a0But when they go out and compete like some of these kids are doing right now, it is great. \u00c2\u00a0Of course we have some fine talent. \u00c2\u00a0When the talent is not there to work with it’s hard to look good. \u00c2\u00a0But right now things are definitely looking up.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0David Price is looking this year like the pitcher everyone thought he would be coming out of Vanderbilt. \u00c2\u00a0What has gotten him to this point so quickly?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0Well first he is a big talent, but also he is a really intense competitor and a smart guy who, when he crosses that white line, puts it all together, all of the training and mental stuff that goes into pitching. \u00c2\u00a0When he is on the mound he has the ability to remember all of the things he needs to do. \u00c2\u00a0When he is in trouble on the mound he can think his way through a lot of it to find a solution. \u00c2\u00a0Last night he walked five guys, but he worked through that and pitched a great game for us anyway, battling through it all. \u00c2\u00a0The Rangers have one of the best lineups in the game and David kept us in that game even when he was not hitting his spots all the time. \u00c2\u00a0We were able to pull that game out because he competes so hard and puts everything out there.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0How good can Price be?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0He has the ability to be one of the best, but he has to locate his fastball better than he does some times now. \u00c2\u00a0That is what he works off, his fastball and he has great location with it now, but it will get better. \u00c2\u00a0But he has a great curve, change and cutter. \u00c2\u00a0They will all get better with time.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0Jeff Nieman is just a tick behind Price, but he turned it around in the Rays organization. \u00c2\u00a0What did you and the other coaches in Tampa do to get him back on track?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0We just helped see him through the physical problems he was having. \u00c2\u00a0With him that was a lot of it. \u00c2\u00a0Heck, I ask these kids every time they go out, “How do you feel?” \u00c2\u00a0They always say, “Great Coach.” \u00c2\u00a0Well I say, “Enjoy it, cause it won’t last.” \u00c2\u00a0They will not always feel good when they take the mound and that it a big part of the game, what you do when you don’t have that feeling.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0Jeremy Hellickson has come up twice now and been lights out every time. \u00c2\u00a0What is his future?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0We call him the silent assassin because he sneaks up on you with his stuff. \u00c2\u00a0He has all the pitches. \u00c2\u00a0Its all about staying away from the sweet spot of the bat, and he has the stuff to do that. \u00c2\u00a0He is going to be very good.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0You had a great slider when you pitched in the majors, tight with a lot of tilt. \u00c2\u00a0Do you teach that to the pitchers in the Rays’ organization?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0Yes I did, and of course I teach them that as well as I can. \u00c2\u00a0That was one of the reasons I got along so well with Ted Williams. \u00c2\u00a0He thought the slider was about the hardest pitch to hit and I had a good one. \u00c2\u00a0He was always encouraging me to throw it and it worked well for me when I pitched for him.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0A lot of pitchers have arm or shoulder surgery these days. \u00c2\u00a0It almost seems a right of passage it has become so routine. \u00c2\u00a0What is adding so much physical stress to young pitchers these days?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t know. \u00c2\u00a0If I did I would be making a lot more money than I am. \u00c2\u00a0But I think the wide assortment of pitches they have to throw to get the modern batter out is part of it. \u00c2\u00a0But they all have agents to watch out for them, and of course the owners want to guard their investment. \u00c2\u00a0Everyone takes great care with them, but I don’t really know what the problem is.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0I recently spoke to your old team mate Dave Baldwin who takes a more scientific approach to pitching and batters these days, and I found his article on how to set up batters very interesting. \u00c2\u00a0Do you see a day when science takes a bigger role in the game?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0I know there is value in some of that stuff, but these kids have so much on their minds when they take the mound today already, I can’t really see how much more we can ask them to remember. \u00c2\u00a0I know that sports psychology is really important and I have a call later today with Bob Rotella about some stuff. \u00c2\u00a0He is a sports psychologist who works with golfers, but pitching and golf are so similar. Hitting for that matter is too.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0The Rays are in a tight race with the Yankees this year. \u00c2\u00a0The great pitching is part of that. \u00c2\u00a0You have five incredible talents with Garza, Shields–one of those guys no one thought would pitch beyond Double-A, Price, Nieman and now Hellickson. \u00c2\u00a0You still have Wade Davis when comes back. \u00c2\u00a0Is that enough for you guys to catch New York?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0You bet we can. \u00c2\u00a0We have some fine talent. \u00c2\u00a0You can never have enough of it of course. \u00c2\u00a0We just had three pitchers go down in Durham within a week. \u00c2\u00a0One week and we lose three pitchers. \u00c2\u00a0It’s August for Pete’s sake. \u00c2\u00a0Where are you going to find three pitchers who can pitch at that level at this point in the year? \u00c2\u00a0 You can only stretch so much. \u00c2\u00a0So we are looking at the independent leagues. \u00c2\u00a0You may get a scoop out of this one, but I think Ramon Ortiz is going to pitch for us in a couple of days in Durham. \u00c2\u00a0But you can never have enough pitching. \u00c2\u00a0We have some of the best, but there is never enough.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0With the talent you guys have can you keep hanging around the top of the AL East for a while?<\/p>\n DB<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0We cannot go out and buy talent. \u00c2\u00a0We cannot bring in a Sabathia like the Yankees can so we have to develop it. \u00c2\u00a0I think we have done a pretty good job of that and we have a great organization from top to bottom to do it. \u00c2\u00a0Our scouts are great. \u00c2\u00a0I work very closely with Mitch Lukevics, our director of player development. \u00c2\u00a0I am on the phone with him almost every day.<\/p>\n TL<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0Thank you so much, Dick. \u00c2\u00a0It’s a great organization and I wish you the best of luck down the stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dick Bosman is the minor league pitching coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays, rated the best young organization in the game. \u00c2\u00a0Much of that is derived from the unbelievable pitching talent Dick has the pleasure to work with. \u00c2\u00a0Here are his thoughts on his pupils. TL. \u00c2\u00a0The Rays have the lowest runs per game allowed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,78,20],"tags":[2373,9209,9978,8307,9979,120,118,9982,5797,595,9977,9272,9980,2257,3459,3520,5516],"class_list":["post-7447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-minors","category-touring-the-bases-with","tag-david-price","tag-dick-bosman","tag-dogs","tag-great-game","tag-intense-competitor","tag-minor-league","tag-minor-leagues","tag-nam","tag-organization","tag-pleasure","tag-pupils","tag-rangers","tag-smart-guy","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-ups","tag-ups-and-downs","tag-vanderbilt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}