GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Brad Hand likes to pitch and his left arm always went along for the ride.
Over the last four seasons, he’s made 283 appearances. In the big leagues, only Bryan Shaw has made more with 285.
He’s done it in style, as well, leading all relievers in strikeouts with 405, an average of 12.23 per nine innings. He opened last season with 22 straight saves and pitched in his third straight All-Star Game. He finished with 34 saves, a club record for the Indians by a left-hander.
But in late June the thing Hand never worried about, that always went along for the ride, was having problems. Hand’s left arm started dropping lower and lower in his delivery. It cost him movement and velocity on his pitches.
Hand blew his first save on June 25 against Kansas City. He had a 1.05 ERA and the opposition was hitting .161 against him until then.
All that changed. From the blown save against the Royals until the end of the season, Hand posted a 6.65 ERA and converted 12 of his last 17 save chances. In September, with the Indians in a race for the postseason, they shut down their All-Star closer from Sept. 9-20 because of a tired arm. He made just one appearance after that.
“I’ve had a tired arm before, but not like last year,” said Hand after Thursday’s workout. "My arm slot wouldn’t drop. It was always the normal long season kind of stuff. You’d get tired in September ... whatever.
“For whatever reason this tired arm affected my arm slot and pitches.”
Hand has always tried to stay out of the trainer’s room. There was no reason to stick his head in there. But that will change this year.
“I’m just going to try and take care of myself a little better in the trainer’s room,” said Hand. "Stay on top of things. I’m not really trying anything different or changing, just taking care of myself in the trainer’s room.
“I’ve never had any arm issues. I’ve never been a big training room guy. I’d get treatment here and there. It’s never something I’ve had to deal with before. This year I’ll probably take a few more steps and stay ahead of it. I’m getting older. Maybe that has something to do with it.”
Hand turns 30 on March 30. The Indians hold a club option on him for 2021.
Manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis have asked Hand to ease into his velocity this spring.
"He came out last spring throwing so hard,” Francona said. “I remember his first bullpen, I looked at Carl like, ‘My God. Midseason form.’ I think he’s trying to ramp that down a little bit, but his breaking balls are at the level they’ve been when he’s at his best -- vertical break, horizontal break and all that, which is good.
“What we’d like him to do is build into velocity rather than just be there on Feb. 17.”
Francona will also try not to use Hand for more than one inning early in the season. Last year he made three appearances in which he pitched more than one inning in the first two months.
Hand said he’s preparing for the season as he normally does. He said it’s hard for him to find his velocity in bullpen and batting practice sessions.
“Once the games start, everything else (including velocity) seems to come along,” he said.
Hand’s goal is the goal of all closers -- keep the good streaks going and the bad stretches as short as possible. It didn’t work last year.
“It was definitely bothering me a little bit,” said Hand, referring to his tired arm. "I wouldn’t say bothering me, it just wasn’t bouncing back. My velocity started dropping a lot. I tried to grind through it, hopefully, it would go away.
“It just never really got any better. Even when I had three or four days off between outings it still wouldn’t feel any better."
Hand over the offseason trained at a new Cressey Sports Performance facility near his home in Jupiter, Fla. It led him to delve into analytics.
“Everything is back, where it was at the beginning of last year,” said Hand. “I did some work this offseason with the analytics. I’m not a big analytics guy, but I started to learn a little more about it. What the numbers mean and how it can help me.”
There are two other things that could help Hand this year. Their names are James Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase, two young hard-throwers who can hit triple digits.
“It will be fun. Both those guys can light up the radar gun,” said Hand. “We haven’t really had anybody down there since I’ve been here that can throw in the upper 90s. It’s a different look.”
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