About the only good thing to come from last night’s 11-4 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins was the big-league debut of hard-throwing Alex Hoppe. You know we love a debut around here, and it was extra special that it was such a quiet stinker of a game that Brad Adam could easily track down Hoppe’s wife Sasha, able to be present for his big-league debut, for a fully wholesome in-game interview.
We’ve been interested in Hoppe
since the Mariners traded minor-league catcher Luke Heyman for him this winter, and that interest ratcheted up during spring training, where he was hard to miss, with his cornstalk shock of white-blonde hair and loud stuff. I was able to sit down with Hoppe this spring and ask him some questions about his experience leaving the club that drafted him, and what he’s excited about in becoming a Seattle Mariner.
Hoppe reported to Mariners camp this spring in mid-January, eager to acquaint himself with his new club and a whole new part of the country. Born in Clinton, Iowa (home of the former Mariners Low-A affiliate the LumberKings) and spending his college years at UNC-Greensboro before being drafted by the Red Sox, the 27-year old, deeply polite Midwesterner had never been west of Kansas City, Missouri before coming to the Mariners organization, and was eager to get comfortable with both a new club and a new environment.
“I said, I’d like to come down early, is that allowed?”
In Arizona, Hoppe took part in “Shove Camp,” the strength-and-conditioning intensive the Mariners put their pitching prospects through prior to spring training. He spent time getting to know the coaching staff and his fellow players, as well as learning how the Mariners do things, which he felt gave him a leg up coming into the spring.
Hoppe admitted he was startled to be traded from the organization that had drafted and developed him, and concerned about moving to an unfamiliar part of the country, but the more he thought about it, the more excited he was about the idea of being a Seattle Mariner.
“I think a lot of [the shock] was location-wise. Is it going to be different? But then I started thinking. I’ve heard the Mariners are one of the best organizations in baseball at developing pitching, so this is a great step for my career, going forward.”
He prepared for his new organization by connecting with friends and acquaintances who had firsthand experience with the Mariners, who all told him the same thing:
“They said, hey, they’re going to take what you do best and try and get you to do that as much as you can, and stay true to what your strengths are and amplify those strengths. So that was what I knew before I even became a Mariners and so far, that’s held true.”
It’s easy to see what Hoppe’s strengths are in watching him pitch: his slider—the pitch that got him his first two big-league strikeouts in last night’s game—is a swing-and-miss pitch that tunnels nicely with his four-seam fastball. The four-seamer, which he describes as his favorite pitch, comes in violently, with hard downward action thanks to his higher arm angle as he aims to backspin the pitch through the zone. Hoppe says the Mariners have emphasized to him that they see him as a “north-south” pitcher who will attack the top and bottom of the zone.
“The first part that probably stands out is the velo. That’s a big part of who I am, I throw hard.”
But that big velocity – his four-seamer is between 96-99, which he rounds out with a hard slider (87-88), a two-seamer the Mariners encouraged him to add, a cutter (91-92), and an occasional changeup – hasn’t always been part of Hoppe as a pitcher.
“It’s been a progression for me. When I went into college I topped out at 88. But I’ve always been a late bloomer physically, and going into college, I was like a buck-sixty and five foot ten and I’d never been in a weight room, really. So it’s been a steady progression. As my body physically developed, I got more accustomed to throwing programs at the collegiate level, and so throughout college I was able to increase my velocity. It wasn’t until my last year in college when I was hitting upper-9s, and then it wasn’t until my first year in pro ball where I had touched 100 for the first time. It’s just always been a steady progression as I’ve matured physically. Just, I’ve always been a little bit behind on that compared to some other guys, which is perfectly fine. It’s just been a challenge to go, like, from throwing upper 80s to all of a sudden touching triple digits, learning how to harness that.”
Harnessing that big stuff has been Hoppe’s challenge as he’s worked his way up the minor-league ladder, and while he was with Boston he worked on strategies to help him do that.
“It’s about staying within yourself, not trying to do too much. A big thing I’ve been working on in my career is like, I don’t need to be at 110% to throw 100 if I stay controlled, stay within my mechanics, and don’t get rushed or anything like that. I’ll still have the velo that I want, I’ll be over the plate more. Because that’s that biggest thing for me. Yes, I can throw the hard fastball and the hard secondaries and such, but the challenge for me is like, can we consistently be over the plate? Because when I do that, I have great success.”
When Hoppe joined the Mariners, those conversations continued. Hoppe said he was impressed with how many forms communication can take in the Mariners organization.
“If you’re a visual learner, they may put up a PowerPoint. If you’re a talker, multiple conversations where we just talk. Some guys are just active, so you’ve gotta see it live. Some guys really like to dig into the data, and some guys just want to be told exactly what to do.”
“I value data. I love using it in practice. When it comes to game time, go out and compete; for me, personally, I can’t be thinking about all the data points and all the numbers and statistics and stuff when I’m out there, because at the end of the day, I’m trying to win my 0-0s and my 1-1s.”
One of the biggest things that’s helped Hoppe adjust to his new environment is the amount of positive feedback he’s received from Mariners pitching development, who he says 100% believed in him as a big-leaguer maybe even before he believed in himself as one.
“I know I have my faults and stuff, but they told me, do this and you’re gonna help us. You’ve got all the hard stuff done, just make these fine little tweaks and you’ll be right here with us competing your ass off and winning us ballgames…They’ve been very vocal about it. The staff has been like, hey, we see you as this type of player, doing this for us, helping us get to and win a World Series. That’s what we see for you. We believe in you, even if you may not believe it yet. They’ve been great at vocalizing that and making sure I know that as a player too.”
The first part of the prediction is checked off: Alex Hoppe is, as of last night, officially a big-leaguer. Now the next, and harder part: making those tweaks to stay one, and in doing so, helping the big-league club win games and get closer to the ultimate vision board entry, the World Series.
