Starting pitcher Matt Krook was expected to dominate in his return to Oregon baseball in 2016, following a freshman All-American season and successful Tommy John surgery. He was one of 50 players named to the Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list, given to the best amateur baseball player in the country.
Instead, he has been bumped from his role as Friday starter in Oregon’s pitching rotation, manager George Horton confirmed Wednesday.
Horton pulled Krook from his most recent outing after just 2.0+ innings in a losing effort against Washington State April 29. Krook allowed four runs on five hits, a walk and two hit batsmen and had a throwing error on a pick-off attempt. It was yet another head-scratching performance from the Ducks’ presumed ace, and prompted Horton to say after the game he “feel[s] sorry for him.”
After the game, Horton suggested a move to the bullpen could be imminent for Krook should he continue digging himself — and the team — into holes early in his starts.
“We’ll have to evaluate whether that’s the right thing to do for him,” Horton said. “I haven’t given up on Matt Krook, but he’s got to get off to a better start.”
Krook headlined a pitching staff that Horton described as “potentially one of the best pitching staffs in the country” at the beginning of the season. In his 11 appearances this season, however, Krook has thrown just 44.0 innings and put together a 3-3 record and 4.70 earned run average [ERA]. He boasts a low .199 opposing batting average [BAA], but has walked a whopping 39 batters and pegged 11 more.
Horton said Krook is “creating his own problems” with his control issues.
“As a coach, you start to lose a little bit of trust.”
Coming out of St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco, Krook was the Miami Marlins’ first-round draft pick (35th overall) in the 2013 MLB Draft. The two sides had agreed to contract terms — the recommended slot bonus for that spot was $1.58 million — but Krook’s post-draft physical revealed a slight tear in his throwing shoulder and led the Marlins to withdraw their offer.
Out of a job, Krook honored his commitment to Oregon and struck out 60 batters in 45.1 innings with a phenomenal 1.79 ERA and .90 walks plus hits per innings pitched [WHIP] in an injury-shortened freshman season.
Krook said at the beginning of this season his arm was “back to where it was pre-surgery.”
“My arm physically feels great,” he said. “I have the same velocity; I’ve gotten all that stuff back. The only thing I need to get better at right now is just filling up the strike zone.”
But, Krook’s regression in 2016 fits the profile of a typical pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery. A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed 147 cases of Major League Baseball pitchers who underwent Tommy John surgery from 1999 to 2011 and found that “established pitchers” — those who appeared in at least 10 games in a single season post-operatively — showed declines in ERA, BAA, WHIP, percentage of pitches thrown in the strike zone, innings pitched and average fastball velocity.
Fellow starting pitcher Cole Irvin, who also underwent Tommy John surgery after a standout freshman season, endured similar statistical declines in 2015, the season he returned from injury.
Horton pointed to a different explanation for Krook’s struggles — the 2016 MLB Draft, which begins on June 9.
“People talk about pressure or a monkey on your back — he’s got a gorilla on his back right now,” Horton said. “He’s down on himself; I think the draft part of it is a big part of it.”
Irvin similarly attributed his performance decline in 2015 to pressure leading up to the MLB Draft.
“Last year that was my problem — focusing on the scouts and focusing on the draft,” Irvin said at the beginning of the season. “I don’t care about the scouts this year.”
Krook said he wasn’t going to temper his expectations for himself when the season began.
“I’m planning on going 100 percent right out of the gates. My expectations are still very high for myself,” he said. “I plan to pick up right where I left off before my surgery.”
But, it’s clear he hasn’t. Horton said either Krook, freshman Cole Stringer or freshman Matt Mercer will pitch Sunday against Arizona State, and the other two will likely pitch Monday and Tuesday against Gonzaga.
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Matt Krook bumped in starting rotation after tumultuous return from injury
Kenny Jacoby
May 4, 2016
Kaylee Domzalski
Oregon pitcher Matt Krook (13) throws the ball. The Oregon Ducks face the Utah Utes at PK Park in Eugene, Ore. on March 17, 2016. (Kaylee Domzalski/Emerald)
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