WASHINGTON – When Fernando Abad's wife and three kids join him in the Twin Cities later this month, they will have an extra passenger with them: Abad's mother, Leonora Robinson. That way, he won't have to worry.
The Twins' newest lefthanded reliever blames his mental state, at least in part, for his sour finish to the 2015 season, a rash of ineffectiveness that convinced the Athletics to waive him in November. His mother was hospitalized in intensive care in the Dominican Republic for nearly two weeks because of serious ulcers — but his siblings, Abad says, kept the truth from him.
"My mom almost died, but they lie to me in the Dominican. They say, 'She's OK, don't think about it,' " Abad said. "She's in the hospital with two big holes in her stomach. I knew [something] was wrong. It was in my mind. I don't concentrate enough because I'm worried about my mom."
Leonora recovered. Now Abad hopes his career will, too.
From May 20 through Aug. 9 last season, Abad was nearly unhittable, giving up only two runs over 21⅔ innings, an 0.83 ERA. "That was the pitcher I was in 2014 — the best season of my career," Abad said.
But he had started last year with a 7.36 ERA in his first 20 games, and, with his mother fighting for her life, finished with a 6.60 ERA over his final 19 games.
"It was kind of a weird year. I feel a little tired in my arm after spring [training]. That's why I keep leaving pitches up," he said. "I want to put the pitch inside, but it goes away, and they make you pay the price."
Still, Abad was stunned to learn the Athletics were allowing him to walk away. He had a 3.35 ERA with the Nationals in 2013 that enticed Oakland to work out a trade for him, then followed up with a 1.57 ERA season in his first season with the A's, giving up just 34 hits in 57⅓ innings, with 51 strikeouts. He was equally hard on lefthanded and righthanded hitters, holding both to batting averages below .200.
"The year I had in 2014, and then a little bit worse, and they put me on waivers?" the 30-year-old Abad said. "I didn't think that would happen."
It turned out OK, though. His agent, Scott Shapiro, fielded inquiries from the Angels, Dodgers, Orioles, Mariners and Diamondbacks but advised Abad to wait for a team with a more obvious need for a lefthander. Then Terry Ryan called.
Having allowed Brian Duensing and Neal Cotts to walk away, the Twins had no lefthanders with even one full season of experience on their roster except for closer Glen Perkins. "Terry Ryan told my agent they were looking at me. They said, 'Fernando, we'll give you every opportunity,' and they meant it," said Abad, about to enter his seventh major league season. "If I come here, do my best, give 100 percent energy into winning games, that's all they want. And I made the team, you know?"
He did it by pitching 9⅓ innings and giving up only two runs. He did it by cleaning up any hint of tipping his pitches, as the Twins believe he had done with Oakland. He did it by exhibiting, manager Paul Molitor said, a "calmness" on the mound, even when in trouble.
"Even when he gives up a line drive or loses command for a couple of pitches, he'd always come right back at people," Molitor said. "He's not afraid to throw his fastball, but he also knows [he can] can drop in three curveballs in a row and not fear about being 2-1."
And he did it by developing a new secret weapon — "a super-changeup," he calls it. Abad's fastball can hit 95 miles per hour, but it looks even faster after a 65-mph slowpoke change-of-pace. "It's a big difference. It makes batters [lunge]," he said, demonstrating that awkwardness.
"I didn't know it was coming. … I don't know how much we'll see it, but I do know some of the swings haven't been great," Molitor said. "It's been effective for him. I like his regular changeup, too."