Thornburg makes it tough on Brewers front office

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: April 3, 2014

Thornburg makes it tough on Brewers front office

Pitcher capitalizes on opportunity

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

MILWAUKEE — Everything was going good for Tyler Thornburg.

He was knocking off batter after batter against what was supposed to be a tough Toronto Blue Jays lineup. Through five innings of his Major League Baseball debut June 19, 2012, at Miller Park, Thornburg had allowed just two runs on four hits, with no walks and two strikeouts.

Then the sixth inning happened.

After retiring Brett Lawrie to start the inning, the Blue Jays’ Colby Rasmus, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.

After the game, Thornburg was sent back to the minor leagues.

“It was a mix of good and bad,” Thornburg said about his Major League debut. “After five innings I had only given up two runs and, I think, maybe four baserunners against a very, very good lineup.

“I just started getting tired in the sixth inning,” he added. “I started getting hit a bit and trying to do too much.”

It was a valuable experience because he discovered he had the ability to pitch at the big-league level. He got a taste of the Major Leagues, which was a savory feeling.

Thornburg was one of five players who made their first Opening Day roster Monday against the Atlanta Braves, which the Brewers won 2-0. Pitchers Will Smith and Wei-Chung Wang, and infielders Jeff Bianchi and Scooter Gennett were the others.

“It was a little bit of a mix,” said Thornburg about his emotions of making the Brewers’ Opening Day roster. “I’d say I was more anxious than anything.”

In spring training, Thornburg was 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA in eight appearances, including two starts, and 17 innings pitched. The one statistic he was most proud of coming out of spring training was he walked just two batters out of the 74 he faced.

“He’s a guy with great stuff,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

“He’s got a really good makeup,” he added. “He’s a gamer. He wants to compete and be out there all the time. He wants to be on this team and he deserves to be on this team.”
Thornburg’s control was one reason the Brewers decided to have him on the Opening Day roster.

“We saw that last year when he was in the starting role and what kind of pitcher we had,” Roenicke said. “He did a tremendous job. ... He’s a guy we really like.”

Thornburg, 25, who will start the season in the bullpen, was drafted in the third round of the 2010 amateur draft by the Brewers out of Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. Once signed by the Brewers, Thornburg quickly ascended through the team’s farm system.

From 2010-12, he was 21-10 with a 2.77 ERA in the minor leagues.

“I always made sure I put the pressure on (the Brewers),” Thornburg said. “All I could do was do my best and put the pressure on them, make them feel like they’re a better team with me.”

At the time of his call up for his big-league debut, Thornburg was pitching for the Huntsville Stars. He was selected to pitch in the Southern League’s All-Star game. He was 8-1 with 3.00 ERA in 13 starts. He was called up to make an emergency start for the injured Shaun Marcum.

Going into the 2013 season, he was one of the top Brewers prospects with high hopes of getting a chance to make the roster. He didn’t make the roster and was optioned to Nashville. Things didn’t go to plan and he wondered if he’d get another chance. He started 0-7 with a 6.75 ERA in 12 starts for the Nashville Sounds. To his surprise, however, he was called up to replace injured Marco Estrada.

With the Brewers, he pitched well. He made two appearances and pitched four scoreless innings, including getting his first major league victory in relief June 8 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was sent back to Nashville after the game.

Back at Nashville, he stuck with his approach: Put the pressure on the Brewers to make them keep him on the roster. He may have tried too hard. He lost his next two decisions to drop to 0-9 with the Sounds.

“I was trying a bunch of new things,” Thornburg said. “I tinkered with a cutter, a sinker and it screwed with my other pitches.

“I just got away from things I do well.”

He at least knew the problem, which made it for a quick and easy fix.

Thornburg was looking to add a fourth pitch to his repertoire.

“When you’re a starter with three pitches, it can be difficult,” he said. “If certain guys hit off-speed pitches well or a certain lineup does, or hits a curveball well, you’re basically stuck with a fastball.”

It also didn’t hurt to have a little luck.

“I finally had some balls hit hard at guys, coupled with me throwing the ball a lot better,” Thornburg said. “It was getting my confidence up.”

However, he has learned how to put some movement onto his fourseam fastball.

On June 29, Thornburg was called back up to the Brewers to replace Caleb Gindl on the roster.

“When I got called up, I said I was just going to stick with my strengths and just get better at that,” he said.

“I just stuck with what I was most confident with,” Thornburg added.

He’s stuck around since for the Brewers.

Thornburg went on to have a solid second-half of the season for Milwaukee, finishing the 2013 season with a 3-1 record and a 2.03 ERA in 18 appearances, including seven starts, and 66 2/3 innings pitched. He allowed just one home run.

“I realized what kind of opportunity it was for me, career wise,” Thornburg said. “I really put pressure on myself to perform well in those situations.”

And knowing he wasn’t having a good season in the minors and because the window in professional sports is so small, Thornburg wasn’t going to waste the opportunity, even if he was in his mid-20s.

“If I had struggled (with the Brewers), then all of a sudden you’re not one of those go-to guys,” Thornburg said. “It was a situation where I needed to make the next step in my career and really try to run away with it.”