Earlier this year, the Pittsburgh Pirates coaching staff approached Anthony Banda with two images. The first one showed Detroit Tigers reliever Gregory Soto at the ‘release point’ portion of his delivery. The second photo was of Banda at the same spot in his motion.
The purpose of the exercise was to encourage Banda to examine the different spine angles between himself and the fire-balling left-hander. Pittsburgh wanted Banda to tilt his spine more towards first base and allow his arm action to whip towards the plate, creating a three-quarters motion.
“It felt natural,” Banda said. “It felt like I was just slinging it.”
In a perfect world, this adjustment would steer the 28-year-old lefty away from his four-seam fastball and towards his sinker, which has held batters to a .200 batting average this season.
The Blue Jays are hoping that tweak, along with a few others changes, can help them mine some solid innings—or even a consistent bullpen role—out of Banda.
So far, the Jays haven’t seen a ton of success. Banda has a 5.06 ERA and 1.69 WHIP in six appearances with Toronto, but the club is cooking something up. The Blue Jays’ pitching coaches are mapping out a breaking ball for Banda, a pitch that’s eluded him since he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018.
“After I had my TJ, I think my development of my wrist angle got to the point where it's gone to the side of the ball or behind the ball,” Banda said. “And so I think me being able to climb over the ball with a changeup became easier and more natural for me.”
It’s common for pitchers to return from elbow surgery with less faith in their stuff, said Blue Jays bullpen coach Matt Buschmann.
“I think guys go through a lot of different trust issues, I would say, with their arm,” Buschmann said. “So I imagine there's a little bit of that there. So just trying to find something that puts [Banda] in a good headspace when he's gripping it and knowing you can rip it without feeling worried about it.”
Buschmann explained the Blue Jays aren’t expecting Banda to magically conjure a wipeout slider. The club just wants him to complement his mid-90s fastball and solid changeup with another weapon to get left-handed hitters out.
From a front office perspective, it’s worthwhile to take a few gambles a year on guys like Banda, the fixer-uppers with high upside. There’s no linear path to constructing a competitive bullpen, which opens the door for creativity.
The Rays have made a living by frankensteining random relief arms and coming out with a functional bullpen. We’ve recently seen Toronto accumulate a similar type of pitching depth via the additions of Foster Griffin, Matt Peacock, and Banda.
For Banda, who's played for five clubs since he entered the league in 2017, all that team hopping has taken an emotional toll. He’s learned to manage all the input he gets from different organizations without getting overwhelmed, recognizing that he moves around so much because clubs see something special in him.
Ultimately, his major-league journey has been one giant balancing act, teetering between a commitment to what’s gotten him here and a willingness to mix things up in order to stay in The Show.
“I don't want to shy away from who I am,” Banda said. “I feel like I could still be successful at the top, but I think we're right now in the short span of the season.”
This isn’t spring training anymore; it’s late July and the Jays are calculating how their bullpen will play in the postseason. Now it’s up to Banda to prove he belongs in that mix.
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