FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox non-roster invitee Austin Adams still has the Roger Clemens pitch trainer ball that he used to learn a slider when he was a kid.
It’s one of those baseballs that shows the grip of Clemens’ pitches using different colors (blue, green and red) for each pitch as finger placement marks.
“I’ve just kept it,” he said. “I don’t use it anymore but it’s kind of a cool little story.”
His uncle gave him the ball when he was around 10-11 years old. He felt comfortable with the slider grip right away.
“I started throwing that in the backyard with my dad,” Adams said at Red Sox camp here at JetBlue Park. “And yeah, I’ve always been able to spin a baseball.”
The 33-year-old’s slider has turned into his nastiest and most often used pitch. He threw it 73.8% of the time in 56 relief outings for Oakland last season and opponents had a .199 expected batting average against it.
Hitters have gone just 82-for-475 (.173 batting average) against his slider in 188 big league appearances.
Adams called Clemens “his favorite pitcher of all-time.”
“My dad grew up in Texas,” Adams said. “So my dad is a huge University of Texas fan.”
Clemens pitched for the University of Texas in 1982-83.
“Later when he was with the Yankees, it was like Pedro (Martinez)-Roger Clemens showdowns on Sunday Night Baseball and things like that as a kid, watching those,” Adams said. “But it all stemmed from my dad being from Texas and just showing me this is the greatest pitcher — him and Nolan Ryan.“
Adams said he appreciates Clemens’ career more the older he gets.
“Seven Cy Youngs. I mean, he was incredible,” Adams said. “I also really enjoyed seeing his competitiveness. It kind of almost reminds me of Max Scherzer. Like very aggressive on the mound.”
Adams explained why his slider has been so effective.
“I think early on in my career, it was the velocity,” Adams said. “It was a harder slider. But now I think it’s like the variance between the different shapes. So sometimes it gets really depthy.”
Other times it has vertical break.
“It’s still decently hard,” Adams said. “I think it’s above average velo-wise.”
His slider averaged 87.7 mph in 2024. He has averaged as high as 89.4 mph with it (2019).
“So (hitters) kind of have to make their mind of like, ‘Is this going to almost make a turn left or this going to be kind of a two-plan slider that they are typically, I’d say, more accustomed to seeing,” Adams said.
Adams limited hard contact last year (85.1 mph average exit velocity, 4.9% barrel percentage and 31.4% hard hit percentage).
He posted a 3.92 ERA in his 56 outings (41 ⅓ innings) for the Athletics. But his season got cut short in August because of right forearm tendinitis.
“Physically I feel good,” Adams said. “Ready to get games started. I’ve thrown two lives here. I have one more and then should be in games coming up here soon.”
The Red Sox’ Grapefruit League schedule begins Saturday.
“I’m trying to make a team. Break with the big league team first and foremost,” Adams said about what he’s trying to accomplish here in camp. “When I had the opportunity to sign here, talking to (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey and the pitching development side here, there were some things that they pointed out that I could get better at.”
He said it was nice to hear that the Red Sox didn’t view him as a finished product at 33. He’s glad they told him he has more work and can be significantly better.
“Because I’ve had stretches in the big leagues that were really dominant but still at the end of the season, the last month and a half, I’m on the shelf,” Adams said. “So I have yet to put together that full healthy season. I’ve had stretches where you see I have the ability to do it. But it’s like, can I put together a full 162 (games) with the playoffs? So I think just the verbiage they use here, the technology they use and just the thought-process. I agree with their thought-process here. I don’t have to sacrifice anything that I already believe in to fit in here. It’s a good relationship.”
He has a career 31.6% strikeout percentage but he has struggled with control (13.9% walk percentage, 5.7 walks per nine innings). He hit 24 batters in 52 ⅔ innings in 2021, leading the league.
“After tearing my ACL in 2019, it’s been kind of tough stabilizing my front leg,” Adams said. “So that’s been like a work in progress since 2019. It is what it is. You try not to do it (hit batters). Sometimes the breaking ball just doesn’t move or it moves too much.”
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