A's Trivino Continues to Tinker During Workouts at Home
Like the rest of us, Oakland A’s reliever Lou Trivino has no idea when or even if there will be a Major League Baseball season this year. So, he doesn’t know if he will get a chance to pitch this season.
Such is life in times of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
He’s going to be prepared to play, however, if and when that time comes. He’s working out daily, trying to be ready for whatever happens.
Talking with The Intelligencer, a newspaper near his home in West Rockhill Township, PA, about 40 miles northeast of Philadelphia, Trivino said he’s spending his time tinkering with his mechanics after what was a dismal sophomore season (4-6, 525 ERA) and – statistically at least – a poor spring training (0-2, 9.00 ERA).
“Sometimes you’ve got to get back to the drawing board,” Trivino told the newspaper, saying that he is trying to stay behind the ball in his release and to remain coiled during his setup.
He’s made dietary changes, too, eating more vegetables and red meat while cutting sweets, especially including donuts, from his daily intake. And he’s doing a lot of his own cooking since returning home from the A’s spring training site in Mesa, Ariz.
Trivino’s goal is to regain his ability to get batters to swing and miss. In his 2018 rookie season, when he went 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA, he struck out 82 in 74 innings. Last year, his innings fell to 60, and his strikeouts tumbled to 57. Meanwhile, his walks and runners put on base per inning both spiked.
“There were times I didn’t quite have the swing-and-miss pitch I had in 2018 and early 2019,” Trivino said by phone. “Everything kind of snowballed for me last year.”
In February and March, even while he was knocked around in his six Cactus League games, he remained optimistic. He was experimenting then, too, following the A’s advice to move his setup from the third-base side of the pitching rubber to the first-base side.
And he told the newspaper he remains optimistic that when baseball returns, he will be ready to regain his 2018 form.
“I feel like I’m in a really good spot,” Trivino said. “Throwing (batting practice), I feel really, really good. I know I didn’t have the best numbers in the spring, but I was trending up.
“I’m very, very confident whenever we get started, I’m going to have a really good year. I’m excited for, hopefully, a late start to the season. We’ll see what happens.”