MILWAUKEE -- The circumstances that have kept Roger Clemens out of the Hall of Fame are for others to sort through. For pitchers inside the Brewers' clubhouse over the weekend in Houston, he was The Rocket, owner of a record seven Cy Young Awards. And they lined up to meet him.
Clemens is a former Astros teammate of Brewers offense and strategy coordinator Jason Lane and an old acquaintance of Brewers manager Pat Murphy in the sort of multilayered, Notre Dame-related way in which Murphy has built a legendary list of contacts. Murphy had hoped to have Clemens address the Brewers during Spring Training, but schedules conflicted. A weekend series in Houston offered another chance.
“First time I’ve met him,” said Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff. “He’s the guy I always see on YouTube because I’ve watched so much of his video. It was the coolest thing ever. I mean, that’s the eighth-highest WAR in the history of baseball right there, hitters and pitchers. You’re kind of in awe. This dude is the epitome of starting pitching.”
Clemens visited Friday and spoke to the team before batting practice. He also had a series of more private conversations with Brewers pitchers, including Woodruff, who is on the precipice of returning from a bout of shoulder inflammation, and young pitchers like right-hander Brandon Sproat, who is still trying to gain a foothold in the big leagues.
The Brewers love Sproat’s stuff but need better results. Murphy said so in a very frank, public way after Sproat’s outing against the Astros on Saturday. But they have zero questions about the effort he’s putting in to get there.
“He’s really conscientious about being good, and that’s a huge thing,” Murphy said. “He’s open, he wants to listen. Clemens was in here, and [Sproat] came in and made himself part of it. It’s a beautiful thing.”
“That was honestly really, really cool to get to hear him talk and meet him,” Sproat said. “He’s one of the, if not the best pitcher to ever do it. For him to take the time to come talk to us, that’s super special. I listened to him and how he went about his business physically, mentally. It was special.”
It was also special for Brewers righty reliever Grant Anderson, who grew up in Texas and wore No. 22 as a kid because of Clemens. And for infielder David Hamilton, who has gotten to know Clemens over the years because he shared an infield at the University of Texas with Clemens’ son, Kody.
Woodruff would never compare himself to one of the most decorated pitchers in history, but he found that the two do have a lot in common in terms of how they see the game.
“He came from an era where there wasn’t video. You learned with your eyes,” Woodruff said. “The way he thought about the game and pitching and the mentality. Meeting him in person was a cool experience for me. I got to talk with him in Murph’s office and get a ball signed.
“The way he thought about pitching mechanics -- everything was super simple, but the answers to it were super complex, if that makes any sense. But the way he broke down the game was super simple. He’s talking about reading hitters and lineups and this and that. Preparation. It’s all top notch. It was a treat. He would just start telling stories, and that was the fun part,” Woodruff said. “I was sitting over there in the corner, just smiling.”
Does Woodruff plan to implement anything from Clemens’ talk?
“Am I going to start to throw a splitter?” he said, smiling. “I don’t know. He did show me his grip, though.”