CSUN’s Pitchman Delivers : Once-Shaky Staff Sold on Cowgill’s Concepts

Dan Cowgill treated Robert Crabtree like a feared hitter, making his pitches carefully, picking his spots, avoiding mistakes.

In his first days as the Cal State Northridge pitching coach last fall, Cowgill focused on selling his ideas to younger pitchers. He made sure not to crowd Crabtree, a senior and the resident ace.

Soon curiosity got the best of the pitcher. Crabtree approached Cowgill and asked him to bring on his best stuff.

Coach, tell me about those European flexibility exercises everyone is doing, those are interesting. And that book I see all over the clubhouse, I want to know about the trigger words, the visualization, the focal point, all that stuff.

Crabtree was on board, and any pitcher with doubts about Cowgill needed only note that the staff veteran was hanging on every word like a Little Leaguer at his first camp.

The player on the receiving end of the pitches was the first to notice. At a team meeting, catcher Robert Fick turned to Crabtree and said: “You’re the man on this staff. Coach Cowgill is new and you didn’t have to do a single thing he said, but you did and you are better for it.”

As is the entire staff. Reasons for Northridge’s blazing 22-6 start on the heels of a 28-29 campaign are several, but begin with the transformation of the guys standing on the mound.

Crabtree, who at 8-7 with a 4.43 earned-run average last season posted the best numbers of any Matador pitcher, has become dominant. The right-hander with a wide assortment of pitches is 8-1 with a 1.78 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 55 2/3 innings.

“This is all so new,” Crabtree said. “Last year we were basically on our own. This year, since Day One, we’ve had a full calendar from conditioning, to defense, to bullpens, all spelled out. Coach Cowgill made it easy for us.”

The team ERA has shrunk to half, plummeting from last year’s 6.39 to 3.10. Hits and walks are down and strikeouts are up. Pitchers consistently start hitters with strikes and retire the leadoff batter most innings.

Sophomore left-hander Erasmo Ramirez is 5-1 with a 2.87 ERA after going 0-1 with an 8.27 ERA last year. Benny Flores, another sophomore left-hander, has improved his ERA from 8.60 to 2.14. Right-handed reliever Juan Velazquez, second on the staff last year with a 5.19 ERA, holds a much-improved 3.54 that ranks seventh on this staff.

Accolades have gone to first-year Coach Mike Batesole, and deservedly so, for the Matadors’ turnaround. But when it comes to the pitchers, he makes it clear Dan is the man.

“The staff has been handled almost entirely by Dan Cowgill,” Batesole said. “He’s put so much into it and is getting so much out of them. The kids have bought into what he’s doing.”

Cowgill, 41, is 10 years older than Batesole and was a head coach for 14 seasons at several junior colleges, including L.A. City, El Camino, Santa Monica and Consumnes River.

This isn’t his program, but it is his pitching staff, and he has never been happier.

“This is tremendous because the guys have been so eager to work,” Cowgill said. “In the fall, I introduced a lot of things in a short period of time, and they’ve hung in there and learned.”

Lesson No. 1: Cowgill’s willingness to go to bat for the pitchers, who had felt like second-class citizens in recent years, playing in a hitter’s park and praying to hold the opposition to fewer than 10 runs.

One day in fall practice Crabtree failed four times to retire the side in fewer than 15 pitches, the object of the drill. The next day Cowgill asked if anyone had phoned the pitcher and consoled him. No one had.

“I made it clear that pitchers were a priority in this program,” Cowgill said. “From that day on things changed.”

Pitchers stand tall on the mound and are surrounded by teammates taking pride in their defense under the direction of assistant coach Chris Stevens. The result is a well-rounded team that can win with arms, gloves or its trademark, bats.

Lesson No. 2 came in a classroom setting. Cowgill and Batesole are advocates of a book called “Heads-Up Baseball” by Ken Ravizza, a Cal State Fullerton sports psychology professor and consultant to the California Angels, Long Beach State and Fullerton. Batesole holds a master’s degree from Fullerton and has taken four classes from Ravizza.

Sentence by sentence, the Matadors studied the book, which provides a road map through the thicket of distractions and small failures inherent in baseball. The players learned a common vocabulary, which comes in particularly handy for Fick, who can remind pitchers of specific mental tools.

“Robert comes to the mound and speaks the language we learned,” Crabtree said.

Cowgill also introduced a highly structured pregame plan that begins with time for the pitchers to engage in deep-breathing exercises while quietly visualizing their pitches traveling the last three feet to the plate, with plenty of movement and total control.

Next is taking a ball and working through the various grips used for a two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball, split-finger, slider, curve, changeup--whatever a particular pitcher employs. Then comes shadow pitching without a ball, with attention to balance and the path of the throwing arm.

The pitcher then takes three jogs to the outfield wall, and begins to develop what Ravizza calls a mental circle that cannot be penetrated.

“If a fire engine goes by, we don’t hear it,” Crabtree said.

Finally it is time to throw in the bullpen, first 50 feet from the catcher and concentrating on ball movement. The catcher scoots back to 60 feet 6 inches and the pitcher throws for control. Then the catcher moves back to 70 feet and the pitcher increases his velocity.

With the game minutes away, the catcher moves back to regulation distance and the pitcher bears down, in his mind throwing his first inning in the bullpen.

“It’s like they are in a funnel heading for the first pitch,” Batesole said. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel they are working toward. They are very prepared by the time they get to the mound.”

The more-experienced pitchers have improved the most rapidly. Others have been slower to catch on, including three junior college transfers who are roommates--Jason Cole, Gary Stephenson and Jesse Yeomans. All have had solid outings yet have struggled at other times.

“The mental stuff has made us stronger; I can see that it works,” Yeomans said. “A perfect example is [Ramirez]. I’ve got to stay with it. The best thing is that the coaches are very positive.”

Learning new concepts sometimes involves an incubation period. Cowgill believes that even pitchers whose progress has been slow eventually will shine.

“Some guys have had to take four steps backward to take one step forward,” he said. “I’ve flooded them with three years’ worth of stuff in one year, but they have been willing to make changes.

“As long as they are open, they will improve.”

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A Language of Their Own

Glossary of terms addressing the mental aspects of baseball used by Cal State Northridge players:

* Take Responsibility: Choosing what to think and how to act rather than blindly reacting to events.

* Take Control: Realizing you can’t control what happens around you, but can control how you respond.

* Focal Point: Something in the ballpark--the flagpole for example--that when looked at reminds you it is time to perform.

* Release: A physical action such as taking off your cap or glove that helps you turn negative thoughts into positive ones.

* Circle of Focus: A psychological barrier that cannot be penetrated by distractions.

* Triggers: Words or objects that trigger your focus and enable you to stop thinking and begin performing.

* One Pitch at a Time: Living in the moment, not looking back or ahead.