News
Correia feeling right at home in San Diego
Right-hander revives career by returning to familiar city
By Corey Brock / MLB.com
08/24/09 4:17 PM ET
SAN DIEGO -- Apparently, you can go home again.Or, at least, that's what Padres pitcher Kevin Correia has discovered this season, his first with the team he rooted for while growing up in nearby El Cajon.
Correia, who came to Spring Training this year on a Minor League contract with nothing more than a promise at a chance to win a spot in the rotation, emerged as the de facto ace of the staff with the departure of Jake Peavy and with Chris Young on the disabled list.
Despite a Saturday loss to the Cardinals, Correia still has a team-best 16 quality starts this season and is 8-10 with a 4.46 ERA in 26 starts this season.
There's a good chance that Correia will make the most starts and pitch the most innings of anyone on staff, which would increase his salary of $750,000 another $350,000 with incentives the team certainly won't mind paying for his dependability.
Not that Correia, who pitched at Grossmont High and then Grossmont College, is willing to think much further past his next start, which might explain a little why he has been so successful in 2009.
"I've got to keep getting better and continue to do well," Correia said. "I've still got some work to do. I want to keep pitching well."
So how did this happen? How did a non-roster invitee to Spring Training become the ace of the staff?
"I think there's a couple of things that have led to his success," Padres manager Bud Black said. " ... I think the delivery, for one, is under control, he's not overthrowing, and the use of the curveball and change, his secondary pitches, has been good. He's not relying just on his fastball and slider."
To be sure, this was pretty heady stuff for the 29-year-old right-hander, who is certainly anything but a newbie to the Major Leagues, having pitched parts of the past six seasons with the San Francisco Giants.
But, if nothing else, coming back to San Diego has proven to be a career revival of sorts, after the Giants gave him his walking papers after the 2008 season.
Correia had a career record of 14-22 and a 4.59 ERA in 170 career appearances the past six seasons, including a 4-7 mark with a 3.45 ERA in 59 games for the Giants in 2007.
Last season, Correia was part of the Giants' rotation, but he suffered an oblique injury in a start on April 26. He went on the disabled list and didn't return until June 15. Correia struggled with his consistency the rest of the way, finishing 3-8 with a 6.05 ERA.
"I felt like I had some good years and was right where I thought I needed to be and then something would happen and I would take a step back," Correia said. "Last year I had the first injury of my career, so I had to deal with that.
"I just felt like it was time to move on. I was spinning my wheels. I wasn't getting to the level where I wanted to be. When they let me go, they did it early so I could find a team to play for."
That place was San Diego, where Correia signed a Minor League contract with the team that he grew up watching at Qualcomm Stadium. In fact, he remembers being in the stadium during the 1998 playoffs.
"My senior year in high school [1998] was when the Padres played in the World Series and I remember [Trevor] Hoffman coming in to save the game at Qualcomm," Correia said. "That's the loudest I've ever heard a stadium. Watching Tony Gwynn and all the guys ... I learned baseball from watching the Padres."
Which is why coming home proved to be the perfect fit -- for both sides, really.
The Padres were looking for a few arms to compete for spots in their starting rotation. They offered Correia a Minor League deal and an invitation to Spring Training with the hope he would land a spot in the rotation.
"It was my dream growing up to play for my hometown team," Correia said. "This was a team I rooted for as a kid. A lot of my heroes were on that team. It has always been a team I've followed even while playing with the Giants."
This storybook homecoming didn't translate into a happy ending on the field, not right away at least.
Correia went 0-2 with a 4.71 ERA in April and 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in May before making better use of the curveball. That was also the time he worked on a more streamlined delivery and an efficient approach that has allowed him to work deeper in games.
"He's worked on smoothing out his delivery a little bit," Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley said. "He used to fall off toward first base and peel off the baseball a little bit. Now, he has a straighter line toward the plate. He's also mixed in a curveball now which has helped him a lot, especially with left-handed hitters."
Correia previously relied on his fastball and slider, but using his changeup more and his curveball have given opposing hitters something to think about.
"I had never really thrown a curve," Correia said. "I have tinkered with it ... and it took a little time to get comfortable with it. But it's steadily gotten better every start. I wasn't as confident in it at first, but it's been pretty good and so has my changeup."
Balsley would like to see more of it, especially going into next season, when Correia, who is under club control, will head to Spring Training as one of the more experienced pitchers on the staff.
"With Kevin, I don't think he knew how good it was," Balsley said. "I think it's an above-average curveball and he thinks it might not be. Now he knows he can throw it for strikes. It's allowing him to change speeds better and show something that's not as hard as a slider."
As for the more streamlined delivery, it's something that Correia and Balsley have been working on since April. The goal is to slow down the delivery and keep it more under control. So far, it's worked well.
"I'm using my body more to throw the ball," Correia said. "It's easier to control. My pitching coaches, for years they've been telling me to do it this way. It's not like it's a revelation. It's becoming more ingrained. It's also a mental thing of going after hitters more."
Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
