Gausman hoping to rediscover ace form this winter

TORONTO — Kevin Gausman’s personal expectations are always high coming into a season.

As in Cy Young high.

That’s what’s made an “inconsistent” campaign in every way imaginable all the more frustrating for the 33-year-old veteran.

Coming off a Cy Young finalist season in 2023, many were wondering if this was the year Gausman could get over the hump and claim some hardware, but that has not been the case and the frustration started right from the jump when a balky shoulder set him back during spring training.

It set the tone for what was to come.

“I’ve had flashes, I’ve had spurts of two or three starts here and there of stringing together good outings, but the biggest thing has been the inconsistency and that started from the first month of the season,” Gausman said Monday as the Jays opened up a homestand against the visiting New York Mets and old friend John Gibbons. “Kind of been playing catch-up ever since to try to get back to being more consistent with everything, my delivery, with the way the ball’s coming out. It’s been frustrating, but every year is different and has its own challenges. You can be frustrated with it or you can look at the bright side of things, and for me that’s I’ve been pretty good about going deep into games this year when I am pitching well. That’s shown me that the stuff is there, but I just have to be a little bit better, a little more fine, and I know that. I’ll work this offseason to make the adjustments that I need and come back and bounce back.”

With three or four starts left in his 2024 season, the numbers are not ace-like.

Over the three previous seasons starting in 2021, the right-hander had authored a pristine 3.10 ERA across 95 starts, hauling not just innings, but elite performance from frame to frame for three straight years.

There was nothing to dissect.

Gausman limited walks, punched out a boatload of hitters, kept the ball in the ballpark, and stayed off the injured list.

That’s pretty much all you can ask of any starter, but especially your ace.

This season, Gausman’s ERA is at 4.09 through 28 starts, while the most concerning aspects are his dwindling strikeouts and rising walks, a figure that, at 2.8 walks per nine innings, is his worst since 2019, a season in which he was DFA’d at one point and finished with a 5.72 ERA.

“I’ve been walking guys like crazy this year and that’s not like me,” Gausman said. “That kind of goes to show me that, for whatever reason, I’m just a little off and that consistency has been hard to find.”

Last year, Gausman punched out 31.1 per cent of hitters that walked to the batter’s box to face him.

This year?

That number has fallen dramatically to just 21.9 per cent.

It’s taken Gausman from dominant every fifth day to, oftentimes, just pretty good.

The missing swing-and-miss isn’t lost on Gausman, who’s had to tactically battle more this season than in years past when his stuff simply overwhelmed hitters.

Overall, his swinging strike percentage dropped from 12.9 per cent in 2023 to 10.8 per cent, his lowest mark since 2016.

“I think it’s the inconsistency with my split — I think they know it’s not as good as it was last year so they’re just more selective and then when you’re behind in the count as much as I have been this year, they’re not going to chase pitches,” Gausman said.

“The book is out on me and guys are more inclined to try to battle and not swing at the split because that’s what they’ve been talking about all day in meetings. That also goes back to me. I need to recognize that and be better and learn when I need to be stealing strikes at the bottom of the zone with my fastball so that they start swinging at the split. That’s been an adjustment this year, trying to figure out what they’re going to do as opposed to the last couple of years when I was just pitching to my strengths and you’re going to have to adjust to me.”

Gausman, the fourth-overall pick in the 2012 draft, has had to reinvent himself before.

This winter might provide another opportunity to morph a bit in his mid-thirties.

“Me and (pitching coach) Pete (Walker) have already talked about that,” Gausman said. “The second half of this year I started throwing a two-seamer and it’s been really good. If guys swing at it, they don’t really do much with it, it’s just whether it’s in the zone or not. That’ll be a pitch that’s only going to be better after having a full offseason to throw it. I’m going to throw that this winter, I’m going to throw my straight change a lot more, knowing that that’s a big pitch for me and just creates more room for error with my split when I’m able to throw my changeup for strikes.

“It’ll be an interesting one this offseason, but the biggest thing is just get back to being me and coming into spring training the way I have the last two years as opposed to this year. That’s just more time on the mound. Not necessarily throwing, but just getting my mechanics under me. That’s probably been the biggest thing this year inconsistency-wise and what’s led to it is my mechanics, my inconsistency with my lift leg and that’s caused inconsistency with all my pitches.”

Gausman will be 34 when the 2025 season begins, and the Colorado native and LSU product will have two years remaining on the five-year, $110-million contract he signed with the Jays on Dec. 1, 2021.

With a pair of 5-plus fWAR seasons on his resume already, the down year might be a minor blip if he ages gracefully like some pitchers can.

The current expectation is that Gausman will be a big part of the Jays’ rotation next April, but a truly intriguing offseason lies ahead for the club and the veteran has been around long enough to expect the unexpected.

“I don’t really know, to be honest,” Gausman said. “I would like to think that I’m going to be here for the next two years, but you never know. There’s been crazier things that have happened but, yeah, I don’t know what the team is going to do. As a player, all you can do is sit back and hope that they’re going to make improvements.”