Baseball Beginnings

By John Klima
August 18, 2009

Tyler Lyons confirmed first to Baseball Beginnings Monday night that he has not signed with the New York Yankees and will return to Oklahoma State for his senior year.

When Baseball Beginnings first saw the left-hander, he was gutting it out on a frigid night in Palm Springs in March, essentially surviving on curveballs and change-ups. Lyons was a wasp without a stinger for the first few months of his junior season at Oklahoma State. He was only throwing between 84-87 that night and he managed to survive with command of his change-up and control of his curveball. Despite lacking his best velocity, Lyons still showed a lot of reasons to like him in that game, but it wasn’t until the second half of the college season and his summer pitching for Chatham that he put to rest any concerns about his arm speed, health or effectiveness.

This summer, Lyons performed like he believes he is capable of. Drafted in the 10^th round by the Yankees, Lyons decided to pitch the summer on the Cape to re-establish his velocity and value. Pitching with his stinger again, Lyons worked 89-91 when I saw him in July, with the same plus curveball and change-up. The ball was coming out of his hand much better and his arm speed was where it needed to be. On the photo on the right, Lyons is on top of the ball and he’s creating power. Lyons progressed past the dead arm period that hindered him for most of the 2009 college season, in which he battled for each of his seven wins and finished 7-6, 4.07. He gave up 114 hits in 97 1/3 innings, walked 25 and struck out only 77.

I have come to believe that scouts derived the term “pitch ability” from the beer commercial advertising, “drink ability.” I often wonder how much some younger scouts drink on the Cape and how much they work. In the case of Lyons, he was pretty hard to miss. You don’t exactly see left-handers with three pitches, closed mechanics, routine 89-90s and savvy. And let’s face it. Contrary to popular belief, 89-91 from right-handers is becoming the industry norm. It’s a dark and dirty secret I hate to share with the world and it comes to me from deep inside baseball’s crusty walls. When you get a left-hander with that velocity plus a second and third pitch, you might want to consider that the radar gun is a crutch and a left-hander with a curveball and a change-up can get right-handers out. Somewhere in the process, changing speeds has become marginalized.

In either case, Lyons pitched well at Chatham. He should have been a Cape Cod League All-Star. Lyons went 2-4 with a 1.77 ERA. In 45 2/3 innings, he struck out 44, walked eight and allowed 35 hits. He allowed only one home run and hit six batters, which is an indication that he’s fighting for the inner half.

Baseball Beginnings caught up with Lyons before a recent start to talk about what went wrong, what has gone right, the odds of signing with the Yankees, and why pitch ability is all about smooth and refreshing outs.

Baseball Beginnings: Describe why 2009 was a challenging college season for you.

Lyons: It was kind of a shaky year. I had the MRI and everything checked out OK, so I came back and they decided to take it real slow and shut me down in the Fall. I started a throwing program at the end of December and the beginning of January. It took a while. It was a very slow developing program. It led up to right before the season and we were still pushing it a little then just to try to get ready for the season. I was on the mound one time before my first start. I wasn’t really in very good throwing shape at all. I wasn’t where I needed to be. I went six innings my first start, and because we jumped right into it, it took a really long time for my arm to recover. It wasn’t any injury.

Baseball Beginnings: It was just a dead arm period?

Lyons: It was just dead arm. I’d throw on Saturday and the rest of the week I wouldn’t throw because I was sore from overdoing it. I didn’t long toss or throw bullpens for the first five or six weeks of the season. Then I started feeling better and starting getting in better shape. I started throwing bullpens and long toss between starts. It wasn’t until halfway through the college season that I started feeling good again. I wouldn’t be sore. I started getting a little life back in my arm. It was just a very slow developing process.

Baseball Beginnings: The night I saw you in Palm Springs you were living off the breaking ball and change-up.

Lyons: Yes.

Baseball Beginnings: I kept wondering where the fastball was.

Lyons: Yeah, it just wasn’t there yet. The velocity wasn’t there and the arm speed wasn’t there. It didn’t even hurt, it’s just that I wasn’t in throwing shape yet when the season started. I wasn’t doing those normal things between starts to help me get there faster.

Baseball Beginnings: That sounds like it had to be very frustrating to be, in your draft year, pitching for the draft when you knew physically you were not hurt but were playing catch-up in live games. 

Lyons: Yeah, it was frustrating. It took a really long time for it to start coming back. Thankfully, it did come back and it did start feeling good. I got the velocity back. It was all about arm speed. The breaking balls were a little better. It made my change-up more effective because it’s hard to have a really good change-up when you don’t have your fastball. It was a frustrating time.

Baseball Beginnings: So I’m sure you feel that it had to hurt how you were scouted and where you ended up falling to?

Lyons: For sure. At the same time, I started getting it back at the end of the year. I went to a workout with the Yankees right before the draft. I knew that I was going to scare some teams off. We kind of came to understanding that I wanted to keep my price tag high, so I would go out and throw this summer and see how it plays out. 

Baseball Beginnings: So it goes without saying that this was a huge summer for you and sounds like it would probably be your last amateur summer?

Lyons: This was the opportunity to go back and try to get the money I wanted, because I didn’t feel how I wanted to all year. This was an opportunity to go out and get back to where I wanted to be.

Baseball Beginnings: This summer sounds like it hasn’t been a waste for you.

Lyons: Oh, no, not at all. I needed to get back to throwing the way I want to throw for a good period of time and hopefully it works out.

Baseball Beginnings: Describe yourself, stuff-wise.

Lyons: Last summer I was 90-92 coming out of the bullpen. I’m usually more around 89-90 over six or seven innings.

Baseball Beginnings: One thing I could tell about you in Palm Springs is that you have a lot of confidence in your curveball and change-up and you are not afraid to pitch with those weapons if that is what you have on a given night.  Do you think you have an advanced idea of how to pitch entering pro ball? Do you think that having to pitch with less this spring furthered that grasp?

Lyons: I think I do. I think I have the ability to pitch with what I got. On some days it’s better than others, but that’s what it is to be a pitcher, it’s what you got that day. You work with what you have. Some days I have my fastball and it has a lot of life and I can pitch off that. Some days you have to mix it up and do the best with what you’ve got.

Read updated Tyler Lyons Scouting Report
Watch Tyler Lyons Cape Cod League bullpen video
Watch Tyler Lyons Cape Cod League game video
Watch Tyler Lyons vs. Cory Vaughn
Read Tyler Lyons scouting report from March in Palm Springs
Watch Tyler Lyons video from March in Palm Springs

Categories: '09 Meet the Player, '10 Meet the Player, Baseball Beginnings Exclusives
Tags: New York Yankees, Oklahoma State, Tyler Lyons