FORT MYERS, Fla. — Tanner Houck has been a terrible spring training pitcher.
“I know it,” Houck said.
The 27-year-old righty entered this spring with a 6.88 ERA (52 ⅓ innings, 40 earned runs) and 38 walks in 17 Grapefruit League outings (2020-23).
But this spring has been much different. Houck — who is competing for a spot in the starting rotation — has a 2.40 ERA (15 innings, four runs). He has given up just three walks while striking out 16. Opponents are batting .189 against him.
What accounts for the difference?
“I’m not really sure, honestly,” Houck said. “I’ve come into camp every year feeling really good about myself, really good about where my delivery is at, where my pitches are at. But always something has come up and derailed the situation. But this year, I was finally able to put it all together and really build off that. Now it’s just building that momentum and continuing to take it into the regular season.”
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Spring training is a time of experimentation because stats don’t matter. Houck added a cutter during the 2022-23 offseason, then used it frequently in spring training 2023 so he would be comfortable with it once the regular season began.
“You have an offseason of tinkering and trying out new things and trying to design new pitches. Your first time to really try them is spring training in a true game situation,” Houck said. “So I guess that is part of it. Like last year I threw a lot of cutters. I threw a lot of splitters early on because I knew those were two pitches I really kind of needed to get dialed in. And now this year I feel a little bit more confident with them and I feel like I’m working on more pitch sequencing. It’s not so much worrying about the shapes anymore. It’s more worrying about placing it where I want to.”
Houck has done a nice job of repeating his delivery this spring. His mechanics are in a good spot. He said it’s important to let his “lower half work and keep his upper half as still as possible.” Earlier in camp, he compared it to shooting a bow and arrow.
“Wherever your sight is, that’s where it’s going,” he explained. “I’m treating my left shoulder as my sight, pointing it toward home. … As long as I keep that in line, keep my head still going towards home plate, I like the chances of getting it over the plate.”
But Houck isn’t expecting to go through an entire season without any mechanical issues.
“You’re not going to go a whole season without something going awry (with mechanics), something not feeling 100%,” he said. “You feel like your glove side is flying off. Your arm is in the wrong position. There’s not one thing you can point at and say, ‘This is going to be a problem down the line’ because if it was, I’d nip it in the bud right now. With that being said, it’s just about continuing to understand your body and understand what you need to do in order to get through a full season and to go from outing to outing and be as consistent as possible.”
Better mechanics lead to better control. But Houck also said it helps feeling 100% this year. He gave up 22 runs, 27 hits (nine homers) and 12 walks in six Grapefruit League starts last spring after undergoing back surgery in September 2022.
“I definitely think it (mechanics) helps,” Houck said. “I think being 100% with the body definitely helps as well. Last year … I was definitely battling with some stuff that was some underlying stuff from the back surgery. But now I’ve had a year to kind of push that all behind me. I feel really good with where I’m at and I’m going to continue this momentum going into the season.”
Houck was limited to 21 starts last year after suffering a facial fracture. He got struck in the face by an 89.7 mph batted ball June 16 and had a plate inserted into his face during a surgical procedure June 27.
“It’s unfortunate that the injury happened last year,” Houck said. “God has a plan for everyone. It made me take a step back and realize how lucky I am really to be here every day and get to play this game. With that being said, I want to put 30 full starts together this year and go out there and throw 150-180 innings and put this team in the best position to win.”
