PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — What Clark Schmidt lacks, he makes up for in confidence.
That helped him overcome a tough start last season and transform into a reliable back-end starter.
That’s why I believe he can make further strides this year.
And that’s also why Aaron Boone doesn’t feel the need to talk to his right-hander about the constant rumors between the Yankees and free agent Blake Snell. Blake Snell is healthy in a hypothetical situation where he could theoretically take Schmidt’s spot in the rotation if all the other starting pitchers stay.
“Clark is not a human being,” Boone said Tuesday. “Clarke is the most confident person in the world. That’s just speculation. He’s preparing to win the league in his head, and rightly so. In my eyes, he’s the most confident person in the world. He’s now established himself as a starting pitcher in this league. I’m ready for him to take that next step, hoping he continues to grow in that regard.”
How does Schmidt block out the noise?
“The same way you stop an ERA of 7. [it was only 6.30] The first month and a half of the season in New York,” Schmidt said with a laugh, pitching two innings in a 4-2 loss to the Rays in his Grapefruit League debut at Charlotte Sports Park.
Of course, Schmidt stayed the course and settled for a 4.08 ERA over his final 24 games. If he can continue to develop, the Yankees now stand to benefit from that year of growth.
But Schmidt, 28, admitted it wasn’t always easy to keep that confidence high through early struggles last year.
“It’s kind of like a mask. Sometimes you have to fool yourself,” he said. “It’s like blind self-confidence. Sometimes your mind can get into thoughts like, ‘Damn, am I cut out for this?’ Or whatever it is, that doubt can start to creep in and the noise gets louder. I think the biggest thing is that our minds are very powerful. You can fool yourself into thinking, “Okay, I can do whatever I want.” So I try to have blind confidence that I won’t be affected too much. ”
Boone laughed as he recalled how Schmidt’s confidence had been so high since he first faced the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2017.
In that respect, Boone said Schmidt and former Yankees right-hander Michael King are similar.
“Even during their journey, there were times when I thought maybe they didn’t have the right to be that confident,” Boone said. “But it’s true.
“Clark is a dog. He’s not afraid of anything. He loves competing, he loves being out there, and he’s just going to get better and better as a starting pitcher.”
In addition to Schmidt’s “blind confidence,” there are early signs this spring that could encourage him to take another leap forward this year.
Schmidt feels fresh after the heaviest workload of his career (159 innings).
He battled fatigue at the end of last season, and his mechanics started to suffer because of it.
But he spent the offseason cleaning them up and is now delivering while staying behind the ball, resulting in increased velocity.
He said his sinker velocity was reaching 94-96 mph on Tuesday after pitching averaged 93.5 mph last year (Statcast was not available to the public at the stadium).
“I feel like it’s been really easy,” said Schmidt, who struck out two and allowed two hits (one hit was a fly ball left fielder Everson Pereira lost in the sun) that led to the run. .
Schmidt still has work to do to make it all translate into better, more consistent results this season.
However, he has enough self-confidence and has a fighting chance, which he credits to the faith his parents instilled in him.
“This year we’re just going to show people. The proof is in the pudding,” he said. “I learned a lot from last year and I know what I’m capable of and how high my limits can go. I’m very, very excited to be able to show that to my fans as well.”
