JUPITER, Fla. — Even if had a crystal ball two years ago, he could not have foreseen the big league opportunity apparently within his grasp with the Cardinals.
At the time, he had to be more concerned about whether he still had a future in the game.
O’Brien, a former eighth-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, had been pitching for his third organization in 2022. A Seattle Mariners minor leaguer, O’Brien was with Triple-A Tacoma and, depending on traffic, between a one-hour or two-hour drive away from his hometown of Shoreline, Washington.
However, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound right-hander had struggled with his mechanics. His command varied wildly, and he wasn’t consistently finding the strike zone. He admittedly was “kind of all over the place.â€
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The Mariners placed him on the developmental list.
“It was definitely tough,†O’Brien said. “I mean at that point, honestly, I was just thankful I wasn’t getting released and that they still had some faith in me to get back to my old self.
“It was about a month and a half. Early on, it was tough having to do all my work early in the day and then just sit there and not be in the game, not even have my cleats on.â€
O’Brien traces the mechanical issues with his pitching delivery back to the COVID-shortened season of 2020. When the pandemic hit, O’Brien was in the Rays farm system. He wasn’t one of the minor league players the Rays sent to their alternate training site, so he trained on his own.
During that summer, he got traded to the Cincinnati Reds. He did end up at the Reds’ alternate training site from Aug. 28 through the end of the season.
Coming out of that season, O’Brien felt out of sync. He described it as having “lost†his mechanics. It wasn’t until his time on the developmental list with the Mariners and breaking down video of past seasons that he realized his arm slot had inadvertently changed.
By getting back to his previous delivery, the one he’d used prior to COVID and prior to the struggles, O’Brien found his command. He also added a sinker to his arsenal.
Last season at Triple-A, he posted a 2.29 ERA in 51 appearances (55 innings). Opponents batted just .188 against him while he logged 14.07 strikeouts per nine innings and a 1.22 WHIP.
He credited last year’s success to continuing the changes he made in 2022. That “tough†time in his career may have put him on track to break camp with the Cardinals this season and grab a spot on their opening day roster in the bullpen.
“I was able to kind of get back to how I felt earlier in my career, which helped with velocity, and I added a sinker at that point too,†O’Brien said. “I think last year was having another year of being more consistent with the new mechanics, new pitches, and I just feel like every day that I’m throwing it just feels more and more consistent the more I get used to it.â€
O’Brien and his agent were preparing for him to become a minor league free agent this November, but the Cardinals acquired him from the Mariners in exchange for cash one day before he reached free agency.
Through his first eight appearances this spring (eight innings), O’Brien has allowed just one run on eight hits and two walks. He has struck out seven.
“The results are good,†O’Brien said. “But I try not to look too much at the results in spring training. But just the way I’ve been feeling, I feel like I’ve been able to attack the zone really well and get ahead of guys — which was one of my main goals coming into camp. In the past, control has been kind of my issue.
“So coming into spring, it was just attack everyone. Throw my stuff right down the middle, get ahead of guys and go from there. So far, I think that’s been working well. I’m happy with how I’ve been able to stay in the zone so far. I’d say that’s the biggest thing.â€
O’Brien’s “stuff†thus far has included a fastball regularly touching 97 mph and a slider dropping off the table at 82-85 mph.
“The way he was described before we got to camp was he’s got real swing-and-miss stuff, the separation between the sinker and slider are large and has the potential to become a high-leverage type of arm,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of O’Brien. “Being able to see him do what’s most comfortable to him — a lot of it has to do with his setup (in his delivery) and not being in the regular setup whenever he was with his previous team — there’s a comfort to that. He’s been in the zone, and it’s been effective.â€
Selma strong
Cardinals pitcher Zack Thompson grew up in Selma, Indiana. His family still lives in the area, which was in the path of a tornado and severe thunderstorms hit last week. The tornado was , with winds exceeding 135 mph.
Selma, a town of fewer than 800 people, .
“My family lives back there. We got lucky — it missed them,†Thompson said on Wednesday afternoon in the Cardinals clubhouse at their spring training facility.
According to Thompson, some people stayed temporarily at the elementary school in town. He’d been told that power had been restored to the area and the cleanup process had begun as the area deals with infrastructure damage.
“I’m just happy that everybody is OK and the community is coming together,†said Thompson, a graduate of Wapahani High School. “They’re kind of rallying around the basketball team. They’re headed to state in the next week or two.â€
Thompson, 26, recently provided a meal for first responders in his hometown. He coordinated it through his former high school coach, Brian Dudley, with the meal coming from a local restaurant. Dudley posted a picture acknowledging Thompson’s gesture on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“They’ve been kind of working around the clock,†Thompson said of the first responders. “Between their usual duties, they’re a pretty small department. Plus on top of that, they’re the cleanup crew right now. So just trying to help them out as much as I can because they’re helping the community.â€
Thompson reposted Dudley’s post with the comment, “Selma Strong.â€
Sonny’s schedule
Cardinals ace pitcher Sonny Gray threw a bullpen session Wednesday, and he’s set to pitch in a minor league spring training game Friday. That will mark the first time he’s face batters since he suffered a hamstring strain March 4 in his second Grapefruit League start.
Cardinals 13, Nationals 4
ºüÀêÊÓƵ ab r h bi Washington ab r h bi
Scott cf 4 1 0 0 Abrams ss 3 0 1 0
Ramos lf 1 0 0 0 Wood rf 0 0 0 0
Carlson rf 4 1 2 4 Thomas rf 3 0 1 0
Cordoba rf 1 0 0 0 Crews cf 2 0 0 0
Carpenter dh 2 1 2 1 Winker dh 2 0 0 0
Jar.Young dh 1 0 1 0 Peoples dh 1 0 0 0
L.Baker ph-dh 1 0 0 0 Meneses 1b 3 0 0 0
Contreras c 3 0 1 1 Yepez 1b 1 0 1 0
Pagés c 2 0 0 0 Adams c 3 0 0 0
Burleson lf 3 0 2 0 Millas c 1 0 0 0
Siani pr-cf 1 2 1 0 Senzel 3b 3 0 1 0
Saggese 3b 4 2 0 0 House 3b 1 0 0 0
Yeager 3b 1 1 0 0 Robles cf 3 2 2 0
Rivas 1b 3 1 1 2 Nunez ss 1 1 1 0
Sullivan 1b 1 0 0 0 Lipscomb 2b 4 1 3 4
FermÃn ss 4 2 2 2 Jac.Young lf 3 0 0 0
Encarncn ss 1 0 0 0 Call lf 1 0 0 0
Prieto 2b 5 2 3 3
Totals 42 13 15 13 Totals 35 4 10 4
ºüÀêÊÓƵ 002 700 202 — 13
Washington 020 100 001 — 4
E: Adams (1), House (1), Garcia (1). DP: ºüÀêÊÓƵ 1, Washington 1. LOB: ºüÀêÊÓƵ 6, Washington 7. 2B: Burleson (1), Carpenter (1), Contreras (1), Rivas (1), Robles 2 (2), Abrams (1), Lipscomb (1). HR: FermÃn (1), Carlson (1), Lipscomb (1). SF: Carpenter (1).
ºüÀêÊÓƵ IP H R ER BB SO
Matz 4 6 3 3 0 3
Helsley W,1-0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Gallegos 1 1 0 0 0 1
Roycroft 1 0 0 0 1 2
T.Baker 2 3 1 1 1 2
Washington
Davies L,0-1 32/3 10 9 9 2 4
La Sorsa 11/3 0 0 0 0 2
Rainey 1 1 0 0 0 0
Floro 1 2 2 1 0 0
Bleier 1 0 0 0 0 0
Garcia 1 2 2 0 0 2
Gallegos pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
HBP: Matz (Winker). WP: T.Baker.
T: 2:39. A: 3,089 (6,500).