Carlos Carrasco will be coming off of his best start of the season when he takes the mound tonight for the Cleveland Guardians against the Baltimore Orioles. Last Friday, the 37-year-old right-hander surrendered a lone run while logging seven strikeouts and allowing just four baserunners across six innings in a 7-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. His overall campaign, though, has been uninspiring. All told, Carrasco has a 5.40 ERA and a 4.78 FIP over 65 innings, and his 18.1% strikeout rate ranks in the 23rd percentile.
His 2023 season was likewise lackluster. Showing signs of a career in decline as he settled into the back half of his 30s, Carrasco put up worse numbers last year than he has so far this season. Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Time and tide waits for no man” remains true six centuries later; now a veteran in his 15th big league season, Carrasco is seemingly at a crossroads. A return to his 2015-18 glory years — a span in which he went 60-36 with a 3.40 ERA and a 3.12 FIP — is highly unlikely, but as his last outing suggests, Cookie could conceivably reestablish himself as a reliable contributor to Cleveland’s rotation. The right-hander feels he has gas left in the tank, though how much gas — and how long it will last — is uncertain.
Prior to a recent game at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, Carrasco talked about his evolution as a pitcher and his belief that he can still get hitters out.
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David Laurila: How much have you changed as a pitcher over your many years in the big leagues?
Carlos Carrasco: “I’m pretty much the same guy. The only difference is that I don’t throw 95-97 anymore. I’m 92, 94 sometimes. Everything is still the same from back in the day except the velo.”
Laurila: Less velocity presumably impacts how you need to go after hitters…
Carrasco: “Exactly. I have to pitch more carefully and hit the corners. That’s what I’ve been doing now. I still throw fastballs, though. Looking at the way I was pitching before, I still use it the same way.”
Laurila: Have any of your pitches changed over the years, how you grip or release them?
Carrasco: “No. Again, I’m the same guy. I haven’t changed any grips. I’m still throwing the same slider. I’m still throwing the same curve and changeup. The fastball. Everything. Like I said, only the velo is different.
“There is nothing I can do with the velo. But when they say I have to throw a fastball, I throw it. Sometimes velo helps, and sometimes it doesn’t help, but even if you’re throwing 90-92, if you put the ball where you want it, it’s hard to hit that pitch. Normally, hitters are getting line drives or hard hits when you are leaving it kind of in the middle. When you hit your spots, you usually don’t get hit hard.”
Laurila: With all of the technology in the game — tools like Edgertronic — pitchers are constantly working to better their movement profiles. Is that something you do?
Carrasco: “I try. To be honest, I try to get more with everything, but it’s still the same. Actually, I looked at the video comparing this year to 2018, and I still have the same slider — 82-83 with the same break and everything. Like I said, I’m the same guy. Velocity and age are the only difference.”
Laurila: You’re 37. How much longer do you feel you can you pitch?
Carrasco: “I don’t think of retiring yet. I just kind of go with whatever my body says. I can still pitch. I know that I don’t have great numbers right now, but I can go out there every five days and give my team an opportunity to win the game. I think that’s more important.”
Laurila: When pitchers aren’t going particularly well — especially later in their careers — it is natural for them to believe they need to add something, or at least change something.
Carrasco: “You’re right about that. But listen, last year and this year, OK, I haven’t pitched that great. Sometimes that happens. I just go out there and pitch. Even those years — 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 — when I was really good and won 17 games, 18 games, all that kind of stuff, I’m trying to bring that to now, but it’s a little bit hard with everything that’s out there. They know everything that I throw, what I throw 3-2, 2-2, 1-2. But I learn every game. Every time I go out there, or I see one of our guys pitching, and what they go for, I learn.”
Laurila: Much as hitters know everything about you, you know everything about them…
Carrasco: “Yes. Exactly. They have [information telling them], ‘OK, this guy can’t locate his fastball here,’ the same way I can look at the hitter [and go], ‘Oh my God, he’s struggling to hit the fastball.’ Or maybe he’s struggling to hit the changeup or the slider. You can take advantage of that until he demonstrates that you have to change.”
Laurila: Have you always relied on scouting reports and attacking weaknesses, or did you more just pitch to your strengths when you were throwing harder?
Carrasco: “No, no, I’ve paid attention to everything. I do the pitching charts. I want to know what they hit, what they’re looking for. And then when I go out there I can have an absolute report, too. I will have what I can take from the game for the next game.”
Laurila: Is pitching fun?
Carrasco: “I really love it. You’re able to see how the pitch is moving and how you locate those pitches. That’s fun for me. You know how hard it is to pitch? It’s really hard. You think it’s really easy to throw that fastball to the glove, but it’s really hard, man. And sometimes the harder you throw, the harder they hit it. Those guys who throw 100 will have it get hit 116, 117. You have to be smart when you locate those pitches. If you locate those pitches where you’re suppose to locate them, it is hard to hit.”
Laurila: Any final thoughts on pitching, maybe something you rarely get asked about but feel is important?
Carrasco: “We always get asked about pitching and pitching and pitching, but just as important is, ‘How are you feeling? How is your body? How is your arm?’ All that kind of stuff, because OK, we’re talking about pitching, but to throw the ball we have to use our body. We have to use our arm. For me, that’s the part we’re kind of missing. We could talk here for three or four hours about pitching, but they never ask, ‘How do you prepare your body? How is your elbow? How is you shoulder?’
“There is so much stuff we have to do before pitching to get our bodies to the point we need to in order to go out there and perform. So many people think that we only work on the day we pitch, but in the other four days we work more. Our bodies will be sore, because on some of those days we put them through high intensity. We do a lot to be prepared.”
Laurila: And the older you get, the harder the preparation gets…
Carrasco: “Yes, I know that because I have a lot of friends. But for me, listen, nothing is hurt. I know that I am 37, but I am still pitching. I am still running. I am still lifting. I feel even better than before. When I was 20, after every time I pitched, the next day it would be, ‘Oh my god, my whole body.’ My lat. My shoulder. Everything was sore. Right now, nothing. I don’t know what it is, I just know that I continue to maintain my routine, my running, preparing my body. I feel good.”
