Masterson easy going but not on the mound
Masterson
By Bud Shaw
Cleveland Plain Dealer
GOODYEAR, Ariz.
The most famous Jamaican-born pitcher in major-league baseball is not at all what you’d expect, other than his no-worries attitude. Conversations with Justin Masterson amble along with as much unexpected movement as hitters see from him in an average at-bat.
“I [even] walk slow, just ask my wife,” Masterson said about his laid-back nature. “Which ... I did read an article that said you’re more likely to get dementia if you walk slow. I need to start walking fast.”
Unlike his thoughts, which sometimes travel on a roundabout — he described the reason for offseason surgery as leaking “shoulder juices” — it’s not hard to see Masterson coming down the road. People take note of where he was born, he says, and think they’re going to see “a big black Jamaican guy.” Instead, they see a 6-foot-6, 245-pound white guy with a shaved head.
Masterson was born in Kingston, moved to Indiana when he was a couple years old and settled in Beavercreek, Ohio. His only tangible connection to Jamaica is his birth certificate and his copy of the movie “Cool Runnings,” the story of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team.
He does have an islander’s nonchalance to everything from Boston’s decision to use him primarily out of the bullpen, to his emergence as a starter last year to Manny Acta’s decision to name him the opening day starter in 2012.
“[My personality] helps me out on the mound,” Masterson said. “You don’t get too aggressive. It’s easy, easy, easy and then, ‘Whop!’ That’s kind of the idea of what you want. Literally, the ‘Whop!’ is what you want to hear. It’s like the whip cracks.”
Boston liked to hear the whip crack loudest out of the bullpen. Masterson didn’t mind. All along, Masterson believed he could be a big-league starter. A strong finish in 2010 spilled into 2011 where he went 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA despite getting poor run support.
“Coming into the season last year we all knew he had the stuff,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He went through a rough time the year before making the transition to being a starter, but he learned a lot.”
Not only did Masterson deal well with the typical pressures of pitching in the big leagues but also in dealing with the added pressures of pitching so many innings with so little margin for error.
He threw 216 innings last season. He only pitched 19 innings with three-run lead or bigger. In those games, he was 5-0. That many nights on the tightrope can cause some high anxiety. Surely, Masterson felt it. He just rarely if ever showed it.
He could’ve won 15 to 17 games with more run support. Acta thought so, too, obviously. Masterson’s 2011 season made him the right choice to open the season, Acta saying he deserved it “by being the guy that whenever you rolled into another town, the other team was wondering if they were going to see him or not.”