Ten years after, Michael Pineda 2.0 is still a winning version

FORT MYERS, FLA. – It's easy for Michael Pineda to conjure the memories of his first day in the major leagues. Three pitches in, he had his first strikeout, on a wicked slider to Ian Kinsler. By the end of his first inning, he had another, blowing a fastball past reigning AL MVP Josh Hamilton.

"I remember everything. I never forgot this is a beautiful day for me," Pineda says of his debut with the Seattle Mariners. "And I remember I lost the game."

Well, yes, that too. Pineda, just a couple of months past his 22nd birthday, lived up to his reputation as one of the most talented young pitchers in the game that April evening in Arlington, Texas, allowing just one run over his first five innings before tiring in the sixth and giving up a couple more.

He quickly retired the first five big-league batters he faced until a veteran outfielder named Nelson Cruz took a 3-2 fastball clocked at 98.4 mph for a walk. And he escaped the Ballpark in Arlington, where more home runs were hit that season than in any other park, without allowing a ball to reach the seats.

But in a pattern that has shadowed Pineda for a decade now — the way that every glimmer of accomplishment or even dominance for him inevitably comes stapled to a setback — the tall righthander was charged with the Mariners' 3-2 loss.

"Sometimes, things happen," Pineda said, and nobody knows it better than him. He made the All-Star team three months after his debut, struck out more hitters than any Mariners rookie had in 27 years, and posted a 1.89 ERA in his second full season.

Yet Pineda's career is arguably better known for all the times he wasn't pitching.

He was traded to the Yankees in a blockbuster swap of rookies the following January. A month later, he suffered a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder and missed two full seasons. He was suspended for applying pine tar, smeared on his neck, to the baseballs. He was charged with a DWI during spring training. He tore a ligament in his right elbow, underwent Tommy John surgery, missed another entire season, then tore the meniscus in his right knee while rehabbing. And he was suspended for 80 games, later reduced to 60, after testing positive for a banned over-the-counter diuretic he said he took to manage his weight.

For all that anguish and adversity, though, Pineda somehow approaches the 10th anniversary of his April 5, 2011 debut in an upbeat and optimistic frame of mind.

"I know my 10 years is coming," he says with evident disbelief," he said. "but it sounds to me like it's yesterday. Everything is quick.

"I feel good for the opportunity that God gave me, that the [Twins] gave me for continuing my career," says the 32-year-old Dominican, whom the Twins hope will start as many as 30 games in the middle of their rotation. "I feel very excited for that."

The Twins are excited, too, because they believe his second decade could be … well, at least steadier than his first. When Pineda has pitched for them, he's delivered.

Minnesota signed him for $20 million for the past three seasons, including 2018 while he was still recovering from elbow surgery, but wound up paying him only about $10.5 million because of the suspension and pandemic-shortened season. For that discounted investment, Pineda has started 31 games, pitched 172⅔ innings, struck out 165 and posted a 3.91 ERA.

In the high-priced world of a major-league payroll, that's good value. No wonder they made sure he's staying for at least another year, for another $10 million. Pineda's upside, the Twins believe, could be substantial, and a one-year commitment is almost risk-free.

"Coming back from the surgery, he has transformed himself, as many more experienced pitchers do, into a more refined pitcher," said Twins General Manager Thad Levine. "He was overpowering in his first iteration, and as a result was able to make some mistakes and get away with them. I see him now as a pitch-maker, somebody who still does throw with at least average or slightly above average velocity, but is much more dependent on location and secondary stuff to coax outs."

The numbers reflect that change, not a surprise for a pitcher in his 30s who has undergone multiple surgeries. During Pineda's lone season in Seattle, he threw 319 pitches that registered 97 mph or higher, eighth most in the American League. He's thrown exactly one pitch that fast since 2017, and averages only 92 mph with his fastball now. His slider has become his strikeout pitch, accounting for more than two-thirds of his whiffs in 2020, and hitters who put the slider in play batted only .119.

"He's put himself in the best position he can to have a robust second chapter to his career," Levine said. "There are so few pitchers, starting pitchers, who are able to keep together a ten-plus year career in one iteration. He's now showing he may be able to do it by making a meaningful change to his approach. And I give him all the credit in the world to be able to execute that transformation."

When Pineda took the mound that day 10 years ago, he couldn't have envisioned the decade to come, the ups and downs he endured. The Yankees surely are glad they traded for him — the highly regarded catching prospect they dealt to Seattle, Jesús Montero, played more than 40 games only once and was out of baseball by 2016 — but Pineda, frequently hinting at brilliance but maddeningly inconsistent, never became the righthanded counterpart to CC Sabathia they envisioned, either.

Is this the career he envisioned for himself? Is this where he thought he would be 10 years after reaching the majors as the next big thing?

Pineda doesn't say. But he, too, seems to believe he is a long way from finished.

"I say thank you to God for the 10 years," Pineda says. "But I want to continue. I love pitching and my arm feels good again. So I want to keep going."