Halladay Goes Back to His Roots

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Some stood behind the mound, arms crossed, watching every move Roy Halladay made. Others peered through the chainlink fence behind home plate to see how his pitches sliced through the air before popping in the catcher's mitt.

Halladay just went about his business -- trying to tune out the crowd of about 40 Toronto Minor Leaguers standing silent around the bullpen at the Bobby Mattick Training Center on Thursday. The young players wanted to see how the former Cy Young Award winner worked, and Halladay did his best to show them.

After all, Halladay remembers being one of those in the crowd and trying to learn things from the big leaguers that made the occasional trip to the Minor League camp. To have that come full circle is always something he appreciates.

"Regardless of what level, to have other players appreciate what you do is, I think, the highest compliment," Halladay said. "It's always amazing to me that they do pay attention like that, but I remember being the same way."

Halladay took the mound against Tampa Bay's Triple-A squad at the Blue Jays' training center because Toronto plays the Devil Rays in the first week of the regular season -- a common practice in the final weeks of Spring Training. His next spring start will be a similar circumstance, because Halladay's next turn in the rotation comes when Toronto is scheduled to play Minnesota. The Jays host the Twins on Opening Day and he's slated to be the starter.

While having Halladay pitch in the Minor League games hides him from the opposing team's big-league squad, it gives the younger players a rare opportunity to see an established ace. Toronto pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said that having Halladay pitch in front of the Minor Leaguers is something he's tried to work into the pitcher's schedule in the past, just for that purpose.

"Last year, I had Roy actually go down and throw a bullpen session for them," Arnsberg said. "Just so these guys can see one of the top probably five or 10 pitchers in the world, what they do to prepare themselves to get ready to pitch in a real ballgame.

"I love it. I don't think he cares for it a whole lot, though," Arnsberg added with a laugh. "On that day, he said, 'I've pitched in front of 50,000 people before, but I've never been more nervous than I was that day I threw the bullpen.' He focused pretty good today. I've seen when there's been three times as many kids back there."

Before his start, Halladay went about his work as he would on any other day. That's something he said he learned from watching former Toronto pitcher Pat Hentgen -- another Cy Young winner with the Jays -- when he would pitch at the Minor League camp.

"The biggest difference I saw between [Hentgen and other pitchers] was the way Pat approached the game," Halladay said. "I'd watch Pat go out there and pitch the same as he would've in a Major League game. That's something that really stood out to me. He's going down there and pitching that same way. That's something I always admired about him."

The Jays' pitchers weren't the only ones looking forward to getting a glimpse of Halladay. Some of Tampa Bay's young hitters were itching at the chance to step in the batter's box against the talented righty, too.

"I wasn't looking forward to today until I heard he was throwing," said Delmon Young, the first overall selection by the Rays in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft. "Then I was pumped up."

Halladay, who threw 87 pitches in the outing, pitched six innings and recorded four strikeouts. Young was the victim of two of those whiffs -- once looking and once swinging.

During his third at-bat, Young fell behind in the count and turned to the Tampa Bay bench and said, "Is this going to be another strikeout?"

He proceeded to swing and miss to end the inning, and was shaking his head while made his way back to the visitors' dugout.

"He's supposed to be one of the best," Young said from his seat on the bench. "I can see why."

Tampa Bay managed seven hits and three runs against Halladay, but he said he had to rely more on a personal assesment of his pitches, rather than just looking at the statistical results. Halladay noted that facing Minor League hitters is sometimes a little more frustrating than throwing to polished Major Leaguers, because the younger hitters get excited at the plate.

"I think they're so aggressive. There were a lot of cases today I wouldn't have minded knocking a few guys down," joked Halladay, who hit former Toronto prospect Kevin Witt with a pitch. "They're just up their swinging. They're diving on the plate. They're trying to cover away. There's times you'd like to put a little fear in there."

Halladay said the style of the hitters wasn't the only notable difference between pitching at the complex compared to in a stadium.

"It's just so quiet and you don't know anybody," Halladay said. "You don't know who's up there. You don't know any of the guys hitting. You don't know any of the guys behind you."

The players behind him and the players in front of him know who he is, though. And perhaps in future, some of them will move from the crowd to the mound.

"That's the great thing about baseball," Halladay said. "There's always someone to look at and try and emulate."