Pomeranz Is Ready To Kick Off His Career

Pomeranz has his sights set on the upcoming

2011 season (Photo: Tony Lastoria)

Pitchers and catchers report for the start of spring training in about four weeks. With that comes the start of another baseball season.

For Cleveland Indians left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz, it is the beginning of a career.

Pomeranz, 22, was the Indians’ first round pick in last year’s draft out of the University of Mississippi. Because he signed on the August 16th deadline he missed out on a chance to get his feet wet and pitch in short season ball last year. As a result, his first pro pitch came in Instructional League in the fall. His first official pitches will occur early on in the Cactus League schedule this spring, and when he makes his first start at his likely destination of High-A Kinston when the season starts.

There is no doubt with the start of spring training looming and the chance to finally get his career going that Pomeranz is chomping at the bit to get things going.

"Yes, I have pretty much lived in Oxford and am staying at Ole Miss pretty much the whole time working out, throwing, and doing what I need to do to get ready,” Pomeranz said in an interview on Friday with the IPI. “I am definitely ready to get to Arizona and get started. I am excited to get out there and throw my first pitch of the season as it is a little different when you are pitching for a team in the season than it is in college and Instructional League."

At the moment Pomeranz is living off campus at Ole Miss. He likes the arrangement as he has free use of the facilities to lift weights, run, and grab a catcher any time he needs to throw. When he is not working out or throwing he fills up a lot of his free time hunting and playing Halo on Xbox 360.

Pomeranz has worked out all offseason to keep in shape and has recently started a throwing program to get himself ready for the start of the upcoming season. He throws about every other day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and this week just started throwing flat grounds to a catcher. Very soon he is expected to start throwing bullpens, and then after that the February 15th report date for pitchers and catchers to arrive at spring training should arrive.

“They sent us home with a workout plan and throwing program for the whole offseason,” Pomeranz said. “It tells you everything you need to do with your workouts, running, and then throwing. I kind of do a little more than they say to do because I like lifting a little heavier and doing things a little different way. But it is basically the same workout that I do, I just do a little more than what they say and try and run more sprints and run a little different sometimes."

The start of baseball season will certainly be welcomed for Pomeranz as aside from a handful of Instructional League appearances he has pretty much been out of action since last May. He spent a lot of time last summer waiting around because of the negotiations process and the politics between Major League Baseball and teams with handing out overslot signing bonuses.

The signing process was nothing new for Pomeranz as he had been through it before when he was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 12th round of the 2007 Draft. He actually came very close to signing then with Texas out of high school as he was dead set on signing, but had a last minute change of heart.

"To be perfectly honest I was dead set on signing with the Rangers,” Pomeranz said. “Even before the draft I didn't want to go to college and I just wanted to take that route of signing. At the end of the day I don't know what happened as the money that I wanted was close, but I was just like 'oh, I will go to college'. It turns out that was the best decision I ever made as I got to go to college for three years, got better, bigger and stronger and became a better pitcher and jumped about 300 draft picks."

Pomeranz earned a $2.65 million signing bonus by going to school, so his decision paid off indeed. He is quick to note that he was fortunate.

"It doesn't work out for everybody as it can go the other way,” Pomeranz said. “For me I am just really happy I made that decision."

Pomeranz’s father, Mike, and his father’s brother, Pat, both played professionally in the minor leagues in the 80s, but never made it to the big leagues. Both Mike and Pat have connections to Drew’s area scout Chuck Bartlett as former classmates in college or adversaries on the diamond.

In addition to that, Drew’s brother Stuart is four years older and went through the signing process back when Drew was just entering high school, so Drew got a great firsthand look at the signing process and was prepared when the 2007 Draft came long.

"I was pretty much prepared for it as my brother is four years older than me and he was a 2nd round pick out of high school [in 2003 by the St. Louis Cardinals],” Pomeranz said. “I sat through every meeting with every scout that came to the house, so I kind of knew how those meetings went and how to handle them and what to say. So it made it easier for me."

Pomeranz’s exposure to scouts at a young age helped many of them to develop a longer history with him.

“I am from Memphis and Oxford is an hour away, so most of the area scouts that I had in high school who scouted me were the same in college,” Pomeranz said. “I think it helped them because they have seen me since, I don't know, maybe my freshmen year in high school as I was playing varsity then. Most of these scouts, Chuck included, have probably seen me seven years by the time I was drafted [this year]. I feel like they got to know me and got a pretty good background on me by all that."

Pomeranz saw his brother go right to pro ball out of high school where he spent several years in rookie ball trying to develop his skills while all his friends went to college and were having a lot of fun doing what college kids do. He also saw his brother suffer a serious shoulder injury in 2006 which pretty much halted his career, and he knows of his father’s shoulder injury in 1992 which ended his career.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but Pomeranz realizes now he was not as ready as he thought he was to go pro out of high school.0

“I thought I was ready out of high school,” Pomeranz said. “But I showed up on campus here in Oxford and I realized had I signed that I wasn't ready. You come here for three years and grow up a little bit and make some good friends. It definitely helped me become a way better pitcher than I was my senior year in high school as I am much more prepared for pro ball now. Plus it is an easier road coming out of college as you are a little bit older and you don't have to start out in rookie ball and stuff like that."

Fast forward three years and Pomeranz is a near finished product who came out of the 2010 Draft. Sure, he has several things he needs to fine tune, but he has a lot of the skills and abilities already in place and just needs some refinement.  Because of that he should move quickly through the Indians’ minor league system provided he is healthy and performing well. He will likely follow the same path that 2009 first rounder right-handed pitcher Alex White had in 2010 as he made his pro debut at High-A Kinston to open the season and then by June was in Double-A Akron where he finished the year.

While Pomeranz will look to put up big numbers this season, the true indicator of his success will be the development of his changeup and fastball command.

"The Indians have mostly just told me to pitch and not worry about anything,” Pomeranz said. “It is mostly about just working on my changeup and throwing my secondary stuff more. I threw a lot of fastballs in Instructs which is very effective, but they would like me to throw more offspeed and develop that this year."

Pomeranz throws a fastball that sits at 91-94 MPH and has touched 95 MPH, and he complements it with an excellent knuckle curveball. He currently lacks a quality third pitch as his changeup needs a lot of work to become at least an average offering. It has potential to be an above average pitch for him, which if it does would give him three quality pitches in his arsenal to attack major league hitters.

"For me my changeup is a feel pitch as I can throw it in games if I have a feel for it, but I just don't know where it is going,” Pomeranz said. “I really didn't have a need for it in college as I just lived off of fastball-curveball. I started out in college with a good feel for it because I would throw it in a lot in practices and in bullpens, but then once the season came around I did not really throw it in games much so I lost my feel for it. So that is the big thing, just being able to feel it coming out of my hand and my release point."

Pomeranz has been a pretty durable starter throughout his college career as he has never really missed a start. He has had some minor injuries which have not caused him to miss any time but have affected his performance. He had bicep tendonitis his freshman year and a pectoral strain this past March which affected his performance and his velocity.

“A little strain is not going to keep me from throwing,” Pomeranz said. “Once I knew [the pec strain in March] was something that was not going to get any worse and that I wasn't hurt I went out the next week. I had to dial down my velocity a little bit, but I still pitched. I don't like taking time off like that."

Pomeranz is coming into the 2011 season with a blank canvas and unlimited potential. What he does over the course of the 2011 season will help paint a better picture of where his career is going and what kind of pitcher he may ultimately be.

"I am just kind of going with it right now to see how everything turns out when I get there in Arizona,” Pomeranz said. “I have no idea where they are sending me and I have no idea what is going to happen. One of my goals right now is to be as prepared as I can when I show up to Arizona and to be ready for anything.”

You can follow Drew Pomeranz on Twitter @DrewPomeranz.

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. His latest book the 2010 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is also available for purchase on his site for a special year end closeout sale of $10.00 (including shipping and handling stateside).  His new 2011 book will be available soon.

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