Rocker Shooting to the Top
ATLANTA -- How could something other than a radar gun come so close to measuring John Rocker, the Atlanta Braves' left-handed relief pitcher, whose 100 mph fastball has helped him become the hottest young closer in the National League?
Especially three years ago, when Rocker was just another starter in the Braves' minor-league organization, trying to figure a way up. And maybe even out.
In his hometown of Macon, a counselor friend of Jake and Judy Rocker who was trying to become certified in temperament therapy was looking for guinea pigs for a case study. She had no idea how close she had come to pegging John Rocker. But it's clear now.
In the past two years, Rocker has moved from starter to reliever,
minor-leaguer to major-leaguer, set-up man to pressure-cooking closer after taking over for the ineffective Mark Wohlers and injured Kerry Ligtenberg. It's obvious why: Rocker's fastball regularly flashes 97 and 98 on the Turner Field speed-of-pitch indicator. But the answer to how it happened can be found in Rocker's personal research into his own temperament.
Rocker had to take care of the hot head and the perpetual knot in his stomach before he discovered what his arm could do.
``I would get so nervous before games,'' Rocker said. ``Because
subconsciously and consciously, I would know that if I pitched bad I was going to live (mad) for the next five days. If I pitched good, I'd get to be happy for five days. My whole life revolved around how I played. ... I guess I finally decided to adopt (a new) attitude before I had a nervous breakdown.''
A change of mindset.
After being drafted by the Braves as an 18th-round pick in 1993, John Rocker was looking for perfection during the 1995 season in Class A Macon.
He found frustration.
Rocker put on a regular show for teammates with his bullpen antics. Biting balls. Letting the throw back from a catcher hit him in the chest. Flinging balls over the bullpen fence. And that was just warming up.
He was cracking under the pressure of trying to develop in his hometown and was sent to the Braves' short-season rookie-league team in Eugene, Ore., in the middle of the season. It wasn't until two years later, as a starter in AA Greenville, that Rocker started to rethink his approach.
``I was having a relatively good year, but there were a lot of guys who were getting a lot more attention than I was,'' Rocker said. ``I've never doubted my ability, but I was confused as to why I was always overlooked. I just realized that I had a lot going for me other than baseball. I had my school paid for. I
came from a good family and would be all right if baseball never panned out. I quit putting so much pressure on myself.''
At the end of that season in Greenville, Rocker discovered how well he could pitch when he relaxed, winning his last start of the regular season and his only start in the playoffs.He almost was untouchable, with only one bad outing late in the season, and had been invited to pitch in the Arizona Fall League.
``For the first time since high school, I could go out and just enjoy playing,'' Rocker said. ``I started to carry that same aggressiveness and enjoyment for playing, rather than trying to play well out of fear _ `If I don't play well, what's going to happen to me?' ... I'd still lose it when I would have a bad game, but my head would be cleared a lot quicker.
``I learned to play more under control. If a guy hit a double off the wall and I walked somebody, I wasn't fearful of, `If I give these runs up, I'm going to have a 5 ERA.' You'd look at it as a challenge, `Let's see if I can get myself out of this.''
Proving he belongs.
Rocker drew on that experience one month ago in San Francisco. He'd just blown his second save in five chances and had a 1-2 record with a 4.35 ERA. He entered an 8-8 game in the 10th inning, pitched two scoreless innings and got the win. Since then, he hasn't allowed a run in 16 appearances. He's 2-2 with a 1.69 ERA and is fifth in the National League with 13 saves.
``I just said I'd go out and pitch aggressively, be determined to have confidence in everything I did and just enjoy the competition, rather than being out there so scared of screwing up,'' Rocker said. ``I pitched well there and then had another pretty good outing against Chicago, and next thing you know
I have confidence from good outings. ... I know the performance I've had the last month has proved to everybody I can do this job. It takes some of the edge off.''
Bringing the heat.
When he's throwing strikes, Rocker combines a dominant fastball with a good slider that makes him devastating.
``When somebody throws the ball 98, you've got to gear up for that (on) every pitch,'' fellow reliever Russ Springer said. ``When he throws something else, you got no chance.''
Rocker was named National League pitcher of the month in May after saving nine of 10 opportunities. With every good outing, he has quieted questions about whether he could handle the job, including those by Braves general manager John Schuerholz.
``You'd feel better if there was somebody who'd been there a longer period of time and was more veteran at it, but it doesn't concern me,'' Schuerholz said. ``There are a lot of clubs who would take this inexperienced, young 95-mph closer we have and put him on their club right now.''
Springer, who has set up Billy Wagner in Houston, Ricky Bottalico in Philadelphia and Lee Smith and Troy Percival in California, agrees.
``I've set up for some of the premier closers in baseball, and he's legit,'' Springer said. ``He's got the mentality, and he's certainly got the stuff. He's just now learning the reliever role, and he's doing a heck of a job.''
And that just might be it for Rocker, who finally has figured out that pitching is just his job.
``I treat it just like what it is, just being a game, a segment of life,'' Rocker said. ``I try not to get so wrapped up in every little facet of the game that I let it consume me and control me, and that if anything on the field goes wrong I
let it carry over into the way I live the rest of my life and let it ruin that, too. Now, it bothers me when I give up a lead, but I don't let it eat at me.''
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