When the Astros arrived in Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon ahead of a three-game series against the Twins, catcher Martín Maldonado went to his hotel room, opened his laptop, and went to work. The game was still a day away, but Maldonado had a couple of hours of homework ahead of him.
That’s the routine for the Astros’ veteran backstop, whose preparation for days he’s behind the plate is as vital to Houston’s success as anything they do. Because of Maldonado’s preparation, the starting pitcher has a clear-cut plan to attack opposing hitters when he takes the mound. They know Maldonado has done his homework and they trust him implicitly.
“A lot of these guys feel very comfortable throwing the ball to Maldy,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “They love throwing the ball to him. He’s their security blanket.”
Prior to each series, Maldonado will spend 3-3 1/2 hours studying the opposing hitters, usually in his hotel room, on a plane or at his house. He watches videos of each hitter on his laptop and makes extensive notes for each player, using a system he learned from pitching coach Rick Kranitz when he was in Milwaukee.
If the pitcher has faced a hitter before, he wants to see how he attacked him. What did he throw to get him out? Where did he miss?
“Back in the day, I was a backup and did a lot of sitting next to [Kranitz] when he was doing [his reports],” Maldonado said. “The longer you prepare, you’re more prepared for anything. If something doesn’t go right, you need to be prepared for it.”
Maldonado takes notes to formulate which pitch to throw in different situations. Can the batter hit a slider? How does he do against changeups? Is he a low-ball hitter? Maybe the hitter makes adjustments to his approach with two strikes? He will make a sheet of notes for each opposing player, which Maldonado combines with detailed reports he receives about each players’ tendencies from the analytics team to formulate a plan.
“It’s always pretty similar,” Maldonado said. “I feel that every once in a while, they find something different than I do and I communicate with them, and they look at it and make adjustments if they have to. They give me information coming into the series, then when I do mine, I compare it with them.”
Maldonado joins pitching coaches Josh Miller and Bill Murphy and a member of the analytics team assigned to opposing hitters to go over the information with that day’s starting pitcher. That meeting takes place about 90 minutes before first pitch and could last anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on the familiarity with the other team.
“It’s always come down to you’ve got to execute pitches,” Maldonado said.