Roy Halladay: adopts fresh mental approach to the game: after struggling to find his place on the Blue Jays pitching staff, 25-year-old right-hander became club ace in 2002 with a 19-7 record and 2.93 ERA

Baseball Digest, March, 2003 by Jack Etkin

IT WAS A DIZZYING DESCENT RATHER than a small step back, an assignment to the minor leagues that initially mystified Roy Halladay.

He knew there was no chance of opening the 2001 season in the Toronto Blue Jays rotation, considering how poorly he had pitched in spring training.

But the young high school graduate wasn't expecting a back-to-square-one demotion to Class A Dunedin, a Florida State League stop where Halladay, 24, pitched in 1996.

"It turned out the best thing that could've happened was to come here," Halladay said last year at the Blue Jays' spring camp. "I didn't feel like each time I go out and pitch, if I pitch well, I'm going to get back to Toronto. I knew that I had a road ahead of me, and I could take my time to do things right. I didn't feel it had to be a quick fix and I had to do something right aw ay."

Fast forward to Halladay's final 2001 start. On October 5 against Cleveland, the American League Central champion, he pitched a two-hit shutout with no walks and eight strikeouts. The Indians' first hit came with two out in the eighth. Halladay's workday consisted of only 83 pitches, including 60 strikes.

"Unbelievable," said Ellis Burks, Cleveland's designated hitter in that game. "He's an awesome pitcher--control, velocity, movement on the ball. To shut us down the way he did, when we were swinging the bats well at that time, he showed me a lot."

By then, Halladay had demonstrated plenty to the Blue Jays, completing an odyssey to get back to the big leagues. He survived a shaky relief outing July 2 upon returning and then settled in to the Toronto rotation, making 16 starts. He left five games with leads that were blown by the bullpen, so his 5-3 record could have been much better. Still, Halladay finished with a 3.16 earned run average and began realizing the potential the Blue Jays envisioned when they selected him 17th overall in the 1.995 draft.

"We had to re-create his confidence," former Blue Jays manager Buck Martinez said. "And that step was to start him back in (Class) A ball. No one deserves credit more than Roy Halladay because it could have gone either way."

Halladay came to spring training in 2001 vying for a spot at the back of the Toronto rotation and trying to rebound from a disastrous 2000 season, which he split between Toronto and Class AAA Syracuse and went 4-7 with a 10.64 ERA for the Blue Jays. He was in better shape than ever because of a more intense winter conditioning program. But there was one major problem.

"I did everything I thought: I could do, but there was one part I didn't understand," Halladay said. "I really had no comprehension of the mental part of baseball. I'd get negative things in my head. I just kind of always pitched that way. You kind of let your mind overtake what you want to do.

"When I thought about it, I figured what I was thinking was the last thing that had anything to do with the way I was pitching. I always thought it was (faulty) mechanics or not making pitches."

Halladay consulted with two sports psychologists, trying to change a sky-is-falling outlook. Too often he worried about not doing something--for example, don't hang this pitch--without even being aware of the pitfalls until he received counseling.

"It's kind of a long process," Halladay said. "You pretty much scrap everything, and they start rebuilding your thinking. You do different things that aren't even baseball related that start helping you become a positive person. And that carries over to pitching."

The Blue Jays pitched Halladay solely in relief with Dunedin, so he could get regular work often. In 13 games, he went 0-1 with a 3.97 ERA and two saves and moved up to Class AA Knoxville where he made five starts and went 2-1 with a 2.12 ERA.

It was there that Halladay, at the suggestion of minor league pitching instructor Mel Queen, lowered his arm angle. The result was Halladay had much more movement on his pitches.

"Before, everything I threw was straight," he said. "And if I'm not locating, I'm in big trouble." Halladay also began throwing a split-fingered pitch at Knoxville, and it became a big off-speed strikeout pitch for him.

After Halladay made two starts at Syracuse (1-0, 3.21 ERA), the Blue Jays recalled him July 1. The plan was for him to throw on the side the following day and then start, but because Toronto's bullpen was depleted, Martinez had to use Halladay in relief July 2 against Boston. Halladay allowed six earned runs in two and one-third innings, with Martinez and pitching coach Mark Connor watching warily.

"Mark and I are sitting there going, `Just let him get through this, because he'd had so much success,'" Martinez said. "He never shied away. He knew we needed some help. He took his lumps and came out the next day and threw on the side (with the) same delivery, same focus."

That was Halladay's only relief appearance for the Blue Jays. He joined their rotation July 7 for the first of 16 starts and struck out a career-most 10 batters against Montreal in six innings without being involved in the decision. In his 16 starts, Halladay allowed 91 hits in 103 innings with 22 walks and 95 strikeouts and compiled a 2.71 ERA.