A chat with Tribe pitching coach Carl Willis

I had an opportunity to visit with Cleveland Indians pitching coach Carl Willis during the Tribe's annual press tour stop in and around Holmes County. Willis and relief pitcher Jensen Lewis and utililty man Jamey Carroll were part of the tour that stopped in Strasburg, Ohio a few weeks back.
I was curious to see how much credit Willis gives himself for the successful development of the Indians' pitching staff over the past few years, including back-to-back Cy Young award winners C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, and the meteoric start to the career of Fausto Carmona, along with the rapid rise Lewis through the ranks.
Willis claims little responsibility for the success of the Tribe’s pitchers.
“Those guys have done it. The one thing I try and pride myself in is I want our guys to be comfortable,” Willis said. “It’s a hard game to play. If you’re out there trying to impress a coach or earn a coach’s respect, or worrying about what someone in the dugout thinks, it’s going to be difficult.
“While we work on deliveries and talk about how we’re going to attack hitters,” he continued. “At the same time, my job is to develop that relationship, so that there’s trust, and when they get the baseball during the game, they are relaxed and focused on the job at hand, which is getting hitters out. They shouldn‘t be worrying about what I think.”
Willis says his coaching style is reflective of three former Major League pitchers who served as his pitching coaches during his big league career.
“My first pitching coach was Roger Craig with Detroit. Then Jim Kaat was with the Reds for a brief period of time. I spent the most time with Dick Such in Minnesota. Personality-wise, they were all pretty much under control, laid back, you never saw any panic out of them; and they all had a respect for the fact that pitching is not easy,” Willis said. “As far as my style, I’d say I modeled myself after all three of them.”
The coaching philosophy utilized in Cleveland is simple: Work ahead of the hitters.
“We stress strike throwing, especially first-pitch strikes,” Willis said. “We want one of the first two pitches in an at-bat to be a strike. We want to put the pressure on the hitter ands establish the fact that we‘re going to come right after them.
“Come opening day, we’ll have 12 pitchers, and my job is to have 12 philosophies,” Willis said. “Every one of these guys is different. What works for Cliff Lee is not necessarily going to work for Aaron Laffey. And what works for Fausto Carmona is not necessarily going to work for Carl Pavano. You have to get to know each individual pitcher; their strengths and limitations, and what makes them tick. It’s about them, it’s not about the coaches or the manager.”
Much of the planning and a pitcher’s approach for a game comes from scouting reports on the opponents.
“Scouting reports tell you what hitters are very aggressive and who swings at first pitches,” Willis said. “More times than not, tried and tested approaches won’t change for one night or three games, because you have to be successful over the long haul. In Minnesota, for example, they have a huge emphasis on strike one. You know that it’s going to be a strike, but if it’s still not the pitch the hitter is looking for, (they don’t want to make an out on the first pitch), it’s not just a strike; it’s a well-located pitch.
“We’re not going to throw it at the belt, down the middle,” he continued. “We’re going to work down and away or however the scouting report tells us to work a particular guy.”
Willis feels the Indians have added a new dimension in their new closer, Kerry Wood.
“Kerry gives us something we haven’t had since I’ve been here, and that’s a true power guy, a guy at the back of the bullpen who can come in and slam the door; really dominate at the end of the game,” the coach said. “Bob Wickman and Joe Borowski had 45 saves in ‘05 and ‘07, so we’ve had successful guys in the closer role. But I think a guy like Kerry who can come in and dominate the inning, takes so much pressure off the club offensively to not have to add a run, and the other bullpen guys who know they just have to protect a lead because Kerry can come in and dominate.
“I think the experience we got last year with guys like Jensen (Lewis) and Rafael Betancourt pitching the ninth inning because we had our struggles there, makes our bullpen a lot deeper,” Willis continued. “Once we ge to the seventh and eighth inning, we have viable options where we don’t have to run Betancourt out there 75-80 times as we did in ‘07. It will help us keep our bullpen fresher and more consistent.”
Jensen Lewis, who was with Willis and utility infielder Jamey Carroll on the team’s press tour stop in Strasburg last week, was a topic of discussion for the coach.
“For whatever reason, early in the season, his velocity was down, and when he didn’t really command the baseball, he got hurt, leaving the ball up over the plate,” Willis said. “The year before, he had enough on the baseball to still beat the hitters. This game is such that it only takes a couple of inches or a couple miles per hour to make a great pitch a not-so-great pitch.”
After a brief stint in the minors to work out the kinks, Lewis came back to Cleveland and finished last season as the team’s closer, only to lose the job this off-season with the acquisition of free agent Kerry Wood.
“We don’t look at this year as a demotion,” Willis said. “When you can add that veteran guy, and add that depth, that’s a plus for the team.
“Last year, after he was named closer, he went 13-for-13. That should be a tremendous confidence boost when he works the eighth inning, knowing he’s already done it in the ninth,” Willis added. “While we are committed to Kerry as our closer, the nights he’s going to need off, we have viable options to go to, and Jensen is one of them.”
Wedge and Willis have been together since 2000 in Akron when they first worked together as manager and pitching coach. Willis began coaching with the Cleveland organization in 1997 and Wedge came on board in ’98.
“Eric and I have a tremendous amount of respect for each other,” Willis said. “Our entire staff realizes that the game is about the players. We all at some point in time played, and that’s what we grew up wanting to do as kids. But that’s over, and our job now is to use these players and put them in situations where they can have success.
“When you have the best interest of the player and are trying to what’s best for the player, it leaves only a couple of options and one right thing to do,” he said. “I think it’s that attitude of respect for the game and respect for the player that allows that to happen. And we certainly do respect each other.”