Popham Working Hard To Make It

Short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley almost had a season for the ages. They won a franchise record 49 games this year, but fell just short of the NY-Penn League Championship losing a lead in the late innings of their decisive Game 3 matchup with Staten Island.

The key to Mahoning Valley’s success this season was their starting pitching as all five of their regular starters finished ranked in the top 25 for ERA, with four of them ranked in the top 13 of the 14-team league.

With a starting rotation filled mostly with 2009 college draft picks and one young, inexperienced pitcher, the Indians turned to Marty Popham to be the staff ace and he more than lived up to that designation. The 2008 20th round pick out of Union College (KY) went 6-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 14 starts, and in 75.0 innings allowed 75 hits, 10 walks and piled up 83 strikeouts. He finished 11th in the league in ERA (2.76), tied for 8th in wins (6), 2nd in strikeouts (83), and 13th in WHIP (1.13).

Popham, 22, had a brilliant professional debut with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Indians in 2008 going 1-1 with a 0.78 ERA in 14 appearances out of the bullpen (23.0 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 25 K). But even though the right-hander was tabbed the staff ace and had some good performances under his belt coming into the season, he was still learning.

"I am still learning a lot,” said Popham in a recent interview. “I am still working on things, and I am still new. I have only been here for a year, but it feels like I have been here for two or three. I am just learning so much and there is only so much you can take in at one time. I work on everything daily."

One of the things he has worked on and become more experienced with his understanding of handling different pitching situations and what to do when they come up. The Indians work with their pitchers not only with fielding in just about every situation imaginable, but also on how to pitch in certain situations. It is something Popham worked a lot on this year in spring training and extended spring training, and he carried it over into the games he pitched in with Mahoning Valley this season.

"I would say I worked a lot with situations,” said Popham. “When we were in sim games in spring training they would put us in situations with bases loaded and no outs, and the first game I pitched here it was bases loaded and no outs. You gotta keep thinking when you are on the mound. After you get done throwing a pitch you have to know what you are throwing on the next pitch before that ball even gets to the plate. It all just comes back to you, and you learn everything before you are actually in that situation in a game. Once you get in that situation you know what you have to do: you have to throw strikes, get the ball down in the zone, get the groundball, or get a couple strikeouts. I think I did a pretty good job of that with getting in certain situations and knowing what to do and working my way out of it."

In spring training Popham tried to learn to pitch while wearing a cup. It was something he had never done before, and he had trouble learning to pitch with one on due to his very high leg kick so he quit wearing it. In addition to that, he also had to get used to all the throwing he had to do this year, something that recent college and high school picks are not accustomed to when they start their professional career.

"I had six months off after last season, so that is kind of hard and a long time away from baseball when you go into spring training and do all that throwing,” said Popham. “I didn't really have a good arm slot out in spring training in Arizona. It felt like every time I would throw my arm would be in a different position, whether it was three quarters or over the top, it was everywhere."

Throughout the season, Popham showed much improvement with his secondary stuff, namely his changeup. The improvement of his slider and changeup is important as it should keep him as a starting pitching option at least for next year.

"The changeup [worked] really well, and I [got] a lot of batters off balance with that pitch,” said Popham. “It probably sits at 80 MPH, and my fastball [was] more at 89-91 MPH. I need to get a little more velocity on my slider, and I [was] wrapping it a little bit. If I stay on top of it and go straight through it, it will get that bite at the end and drop straight down. My changeup and slider are coming along, and I worked on all that this season and in extended spring training. Out of college I actually did not have a good changeup, so [Lower Level Minor League Pitching Coordinator] Steve Lyons started working with me on that. You keep the same motion as your fastball and don't change anything as you want to have the same arm speed so batters can’t pick anything up. I worked on that a whole lot and [the results showed]."

Popham has established himself as an interesting starting pitching prospect in the Indians organization. It is possible he could skip Low-A Lake County next year because of his age and recent performance and go right to High-A Kinston, but in either case it looks like he has shown more than enough to remain in the rotation at one of the two levels next year.

Whatever happens next year is fine with Popham as he feels he learned a lot about himself as a player this season, and the experience he gained will help him as he prepares for next season.

"I am just trying to get my bearings right now as this was my first season starting for the Indians,” said Popham. “I am trying to get my body back to where it needs to be and just trying to get better. You have to take it one pitch at a time, one batter at a time, one inning at a time, and so on. Don't get too high or too low, just be the same guy everyday and keep working trying to make it."

Photo courtesy of Christina Marion of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers

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