The Zambrano Factor

By: Chicago Sports Review

Saturday, August 07, 2004

SPECIAL FROM MAGAZINE - AUGUST 2004

Carlos Zambrano sprints out onto the field during the Cubs’ family game day. Wearing a batting helmet, he laughs and smiles as he throws batting practice to several of his teammates’ children.

It’s a far cry from his demeanor on the mound while pitching for the Cubs, where a fiery persona plumes forth.

Last year, in his first full season as a starter, Zambrano finished seventh in the National League in ERA (3.11), while compiling a 13-11 record. This year, he made the All-Star team for the first time.

“For him to be an All-Star this year, really makes me proud,” Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said.

“I thank God that he gave me the privilege to be there,” Zambrano said of his All-Star appearance. “That’s just an unbelievable thing.”

Zambrano has devastating stuff, nobody doubts that. He throws a slider, a split-fingered fastball, an occasional cut fastball and a heavy sinker. The stuff between his ears is typically of more concern.

“In terms of ability, I’ve yet to catch a guy with that great of stuff. I really haven’t,” Barrett said. “Zambrano’s sinker’s unmatched. It’s unmatched. There’s nothing you can compare it to.”

It’s not just Zambrano’s teammates who rave about his stuff.

“He’s got electric stuff,” Milwaukee Brewers reliever/pinch-hitter Brooks Kieschnick said. “He’s got a hard sinker anywhere from 93-97 [mph]. He’s definitely got No. 1 starter stuff.”

He also has amazing drive and desire. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild calls him a bulldog. Barrett says that he craves being a workhorse. Last year, in his first full season as a starter, Zambrano finished eighth in the National League in innings pitched with 214. Already this season, Zambrano has multiple starts in which he has thrown more than 120 pitches, much to the consternation of some, and, according to Cubs manager Dusty Baker, he’s trying to get permission to throw 140-150 pitches per start if need be.

“I can throw 120 pitches,” Zambrano said confidently. “I know that [my] arm will get tired when [I] throw a lot of pitches like that, but I work hard [in the off-season] for the reason that, if you put yourself together in the off-season, everything will go well during the season.

“When you get to the big leagues, you have to keep in mind that you have to do everything. This is the big leagues, and so you have to do everything. You have to be capable and available to do everything.

“I can do anything that the Cubs need me to do. I will be there for the team.”

Despite his obvious talents and desire, Zambrano’s on-field antics often allow them to take back seat in media mentions. His emotional displays are not legendary-they’re simply a part of his game.

In a July 7 game in Milwaukee, Zambrano, who is actually quite soft-spoken off the field, almost got thrown out of the game in the second inning when he got upset at himself. In the top of the third of that same game, he broke his bat over his knee.

So what does he say to himself while he’s out there?

“‘Let’s go. Let’s go. You can do the job. Don’t worry about anything. You can do the job. Let’s go,’” Zambrano revealed. “That’s basically what I’m saying every time - ‘let’s go, let’s go; you know you can do better than you’re doing right now, so let’s go’; if I’m wild, let’s pitch strikes. That’s everything that I’m saying.”

“It’s very simple stuff,” Barrett said. “It’s not like he’s delusional or anything like that. He’s focused and he knows what he wants to do. When he doesn’t get the ball down, he’ll say, ‘Get the ball down.’ He’s had things instilled in him and imbedded in him coming up through the minor leagues and he knows what he has to do and sometimes he just likes to remind himself verbally.”

While critics charge that his histrionics aren’t old school and he should just shut up and play the game the right way, several current players believe it’s okay when Zambrano talks to himself or makes gestures because he’s mad at himself.

“I think he’s just a real intense player and he’s probably a perfectionist, so he’s out there and, when he gets emotional, it’s because he wants to do so well,” Kieschnick said.

“You may make a gesture or whatever, but it’s just when you take it overboard, take it too far,” Cardinals reliever Ray King said.

That’s when the opposition begins to have a problem with Zambrano’s tactics.

On July 19 in a game against the Cardinals, Zambrano nearly incited a bench-clearing brawl when he yelled at Cardinals slugger Jim Edmonds as he rounded the bases after hitting a home run. Zambrano clearly thought Edmonds had spent a split-second too long admiring his handiwork before beginning his trot. Later in that game, Zambrano pumped his fist after striking out Edmonds just as Edmonds had pumped his first after hitting the home run. Then, after giving up the eventually game-winning home run to Scott Rolen in the eighth inning of that game, Zambrano hit Edmonds with the next pitch, the last one he threw before being ejected.

“Some of his antics on the mound need to be, I guess, camouflaged a little bit. You don’t show up another team. You don’t strike a guy out and clutch your fingers,” King said the day after Zambrano’s meltdown against the Cardinals. “Some of his tactics - when he strikes somebody out pointing to the sky; when they hit a home run, he’s yelling at the guy - you don’t do that, because, in this game, it comes back and bites you.”

As King alluded to, it’s debatable whether Zambrano’s antics help or hurt his game.

Brewers manager Ned Yost witnessed Zambrano get emotional and saw how it helped his game.

“I watched him throw his first three pitches to Scott Posednick at 89 mph, and, when he got a little upset, he got up to 94 mph,” Yost said of Zambrano’s July 7 start.

According to Barrett, Zambrano’s tactics are just part of his do-whatever-it-takes-to-win approach.

“He’ll yell at himself. He’ll do a little bit of everything to maybe disrupt the hitter, maybe get the momentum going his way, and that’s one of his strengths,” Barrett said. “He’s unorthodox in his approach, but, I’ve had an opportunity to catch a lot of guys from Venezuela and that’s their style. They like to get emotional like that.

“You just have to take with a grain of salt if you’re his teammate, and, if you’re playing against him, if it helps you to go up against him, if it gives you more focus to find irritation in what he does, then fine. But, to me, he’s out there and he’s competing to win and he’s trying to do whatever it takes.”

While Barrett discounted it, according to King, in trying to pump his teammates and himself up, Zambrano might unnecessarily awaken sleeping giants on the opposition.

“Some guys are just laid back, don’t really take a lot of things seriously. So now you piss them off and they get a little more aggressive at the plate. Instead of just trying to get a base hit, they’re trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark,” he said.

And it’s not just the opposition that Zambrano has to worry about angering.

“Say you throw a pitch, you don’t get the call and there you go ranting and raving. All of a sudden, now, if that borderline pitch is over the plate, you’re not going to get that call,” King said. “Umpires are humans just like us. You don’t show them up, and they won’t show you up.”

After Zambrano’s blow-up against the Cardinals, King points out how, when Zambrano explodes, he runs the risk of hurting the Cubs in more ways than one.

“If he gets suspended for a start or two starts, who’s it hurting? He’s probably like, I’m missing a start. Oh, I feel bad about it. But it’s going to cost the team, a team that’s trying to fight to get back into the race or get into the wild card, and one of their top pitchers may have to miss a start,” King explained. “Maybe they’ve got to call up another pitcher, so somebody else who didn’t think they were going to get sent to AAA may have to go to AAA because a starter may have to come up. So you’re hurting everybody around you.”

While Zambrano’s still young-he turned 23 in June-he claims that he’s been this way all of his life.

“My dad and my mom and my brothers, the people who know me in Venezuela, they tell me I’ve been like [this] all my life; you know, an emotional guy,” he said.

Zambrano grew up playing soccer and baseball in the street with the other kids. While soccer is his No. 1 sport, he chose baseball because baseball scouts made more frequent trips to Venezuela than scouts looking for players to play soccer in Spain, Italy or England. Zambrano never drew a yellow or red card in soccer.

“I don’t think I ever yelled or played with that intensity in soccer,” he said.

Of course, he never played in formal tournaments or professionally. Again, off the mound, the right-hander, who grew up idolizing current Yankees sinkerballer Kevin Brown, is like a gentle giant, a big kid.

His battery mate claims he’s gotten better though at controlling his emotions on the mound.

“He’s come a long way,” Barrett said. “He’s really matured. I remember earlier in the season I would go out there [to the mound to calm Zambrano down] three, four times a game, and now I’m maybe down to one or two. I suspect by the end of the year I’ll be down to not having to go out there at all just because of how much he’s matured.”

Zambrano insists he’s never going to be a choirboy though on the mound.

“I like to put a little bit of intensity and emotion on the mound, because, if I don’t do that, I don’t feel good. I have to feel good. I have to feel comfortable to do what I’m capable of doing,” Zambrano said. “That’s the way Carlos Zambrano’s going to be the rest of his career. That’s the way that I know how to pitch.”

So far, his manager’s okay with that.

“That’s the best I’ve seen him throw the ball in two years,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said after the July 19 game against the Cardinals, in which Zambrano erupted and eventually took the loss, 5-4. “If that’s what he needs to throw the ball like that, so be it.”

King has a warning though for Zambrano.

“Sometimes, it [antics like Zambrano's] gets you out of the game, because, you have some players [who are like,] hey, I don’t want this guy on my pitching staff. I don’t want this guy in my clubhouse,” he said. “Some guys have the power to do that.”

It’s a fine line that Zambrano seems destined to walk the rest of his career.

“We knew he was a guy that pitches with a lot of emotion. He uses it to his advantage and balances it fine,” Yost said.

After the July 19 game, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa seemed a little less convinced.

“You need emotion to play this game, but you’ve got to keep yourself under control,” La Russa said. “There’s a professional line, and sometimes you go over the line. That’s the learning process.”

Zambrano has learned how to pitch. He’s also learned that regardless of his success, there will always be critics.

So be it.

E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format

Share This Article

No Comments

No comments yet.

Comment On This Article