by Neal Heaton
There were so many tough hitters that I faced in my career. I was lucky enough to face Hall of Famers like Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, Reggie Jackson and Carl Yastrzemski. Believe it or not, the big power sluggers were not the ones that gave me the most trouble. I did pretty well against Ken Griffey (both of them), Don Mattingly and George Brett. The free swingers with long swings weren’t the problem.
It was the guys with good bat control that could foul of tough pitches on two strikes.
Here are some that come to mind:
- Wade Boggs – (Career Line: .328 AVG, 3,010 hits, 118 HRs, 1513 runs)
He was the toughest hitter I ever faced. Inside-out hitters are the toughest to get out. I never faced Derek Jeter – but players like him that could take the inside pitch and hit it the other way. Boggs would let the ball travel deep, waited until the last possible second, foul it back, foul it back and then slap one to left field. He would just wear guys down. He was the last guy you wanted to face with the bases loaded.
2. Ryne Sandberg – (Career Line: .285 AVG, 2386 hits, 282 HRs, 1061 RBI)
He was a tough out. He had that short, compact swing. I faced him in Chicago at Wrigley Field one day. It was a 2-2 count and I knew I could never get him out. I did something I never did before, split my fingers on the ball and threw him a splitter and got him to fly out. When he was jogging back to the dugout he looked at me and put his hands up as if to say ‘where the hell did that come from?” After the game I was sitting at my locker with my catcher Mike LaValliere and the media and they asked what that pitch was and I told them it’s a screw-knuckle-change and I just invented it. They had a field day with that and I was getting written about in all the papers.
Whenever you’re pitching in Chicago the first thing a pitcher does it get off the bus and pray that the flags were blowing in. If it’s blowing out, it’s bad news – especially as a fly ball pitcher like me. If that’s the case, you’d try to throw more sinkers but you still have to pitch your game to your strengths.
3. Barry Bonds – (Career Line: .298 AVG, .444 OBP, .607 SLG, 762 HRs, 2935 hits, 2227 R, 1996 RBI, 514 SBs)
He was the most intimidating hitter to face. He stood right on top of the plate and I did not like guys that stood on top of the plate. I would throw the ball right at him, or right behind him to get him to back off and he would pop right back up and stand right there. I’m on his list of home runs. I was on a plane to go hunting and saw the list of pitchers he took deep and I was there somewhere in the 100s.
4. Rod Carew – (Career Line: .328 AVG, .393 OBP, 3053 hits, 1424 R, 353 SBs)
I faced him in my second career outing when he was with the California Angels. He hit a ground ball between the first and second basemen so I took off to cover the base. As I step on the base my hat flies off and beat him to the base. He picked up my hat, gave it to me and said ‘nice pitch, rook.’ I was in AWE, this was a Hall of Fame saying that. He was tough to pitch to, with two strikes on him he would just slap it to left. Didn’t try to take you deep, just put the ball in play and make solid contact.
