SE: Evan Marshall Reflects on Breakout Season with Chicago White Sox
Oct 14, 2019 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
It's been about three weeks since Major League Baseball's regular season ended, but Evan Marshall is not ready to turn the page to 2020 quite yet.
Who can blame him? It was a memorable one for the former K-State pitcher (2009-11), in a number of ways.
For starters, he enjoyed his best season yet in the big leagues, as a bullpen arm for the Chicago White Sox. Marshall posted MLB career bests in ERA (2.49), innings pitched (50.2), win-loss percentage (4-2, .667) and WHIP (1.30) this season.
"It's definitely a nice feeling," he said in a phone interview last week. "I don't want to say (I'm) glowing, but I still kind of am from having a good year because I feel so accomplished right now and I haven't quite looked toward next season yet, but that's probably coming pretty soon."
When Marshall does start to prepare for next season, he can lean on a lot of his experiences from 2019.
While he started the year in AAA, despite a spring training ERA of 2.45, Marshall said he felt good about how he was throwing. He just needed an opportunity to prove it.
In the 2018 season with the Cleveland Indians organization, he posted a 1.08 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP in AAA. He credited it to some mechanical fixes he picked up from the likes of Corey Kluber and Carlos Carassco between spring training and a brief stint in the big leagues.
"I had really dialed in some things and I just felt like I hadn't gotten the chance to show that in the big leagues because the Indians bullpen was full of guys making $10 million and they all had their roles," Marshall said. "I was kind of on the outside looking in, versus I think I'm at my best when I'm pitching in one of those positive roles."
This season, Marshall pitched his way into one of those roles with the White Sox.
After throwing 10 scoreless innings to start the year in AAA, he was called up on May 1. He followed his strong start in the minors with an even better one in the majors, tossing 17 1/3 scoreless innings to open his career with the White Sox.
Marshall said he's far from a superstitious person, but even he consciously fell into some routine-like behavior during his stellar start with Chicago.
"When you start running into a streak like that, you're tying your shoes the same way, you're taking the same route to the ballpark, taking the same elevator. You're doing it all," he laughed. "As that streak pushed on and on and on, I wasn't thinking about it while I was out there but, like I said, driving to the field and the way I tie my shoes, sure, I was doing all the little quirky things that pitchers do because you just don't want to change anything at that point.
"Coming out with such a hot start like that, it sort of thrust me into an important role right away. I kind of landed there and stuck there, and that was what I did the whole year."
Like all good things, Marshall's scoreless streak ended — hard.
The right-hander gave up five runs in a three-day stretch and two more the following week. Still, he said most of those runs — minus a Mookie Betts home run — were from weak hits or unfortunate luck, like in Boston when strong wind blew a ball from landing in the stands to hitting the chalk in the outfield.
"It was one of those things where I didn't need to overhaul (anything)," Marshall said. "So, I kind of just stayed to the same plan."
Marshall, in his longest stint in the majors since the 2014 season when he threw 49 1/3 innings and recorded a 2.74 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks, did have to adjust to those adjusting to him.
"Later in the year, teams in the Central (Division)…they had my tendencies. They knew that in a one-strike count I like to do this, and they were starting to cheat to it. I sort of re-wrote the book after the first half," he said. "That screwed them up, and what that allowed me to do was go back to my bread and butter in situations where I needed it, but I didn't just live there like I did for the scoreless streak."
The result: A 2.03 ERA from the start of July to the end of the season. He tossed 11 straight scoreless innings to end the year. Again, he credited his statistics to mechanical changes that rejuvenated the effectiveness of his pitches, especially his changeup.
"It started making the action on the pitches re-enact what they did several years ago. I had kind of lost it, and I think that was due to some mechanical changes that I didn't know I had made," he said. "Dialing in the mechanics brought back the action on the pitches and the action on the pitches led to more swings and misses and softer contact."
Marshall also pointed to a relatively new term in baseball: Tunneling. He said adding this to his game is what separated this past season from his 2014 campaign. Then, he said he was more "raw." Now, he feels like more of a professional pitcher.
"I got away with a little bit more back then, versus this year I really felt like I was pitching. In '14, they just put the fingers down and let it rip, versus now I've come and gone and seen a few things," he said. "Now, I'm really breaking down the swings that I'm seeing and paying more attention to history and, most of all — and this is what every pitcher that's turned the corner here recently – the term 'tunneling' is huge now. It's all about throwing pitches through the same tunnel that do something different, but they look the same coming out of your hand. Really, I've found a way to play my pitches off each other."
As a result, Marshall found a permanent spot at the game's highest level. He soaked up all the fun that came with it.
Marshall fished in Tampa Bay and in Minnesota, enjoying the more luxurious travel life of the big leagues.
On Players' Weekend, when players get to customize their jerseys, Marshall wore "Forgetting Sarah" on his back, a play off the comedy movie, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Even better, Marshall got a surprising congratulations text from Jason Segel, who starred in the movie and is one of Marshall's favorite actors. Marshall has since signed the jersey and mailed it to Segel, with a movie poster and return envelope included in hopes Segel may return the favor.
Marshall also attempted to catch the first pitch that went viral when a Chicago White Sox employee plunked a cameraman. The other first pitch he caught came from his wife, Allie, whom was holding their son, Ryan.
The moment was special for obvious reasons, as it was on Mother's Day, but it also represented how far the family came in the past year. Ryan, now about 18 months old, experienced some seizures in his first six months. Now, "you would never know," Marshall said.
His improved health and Marshall's standout season made for a memorable summer.
"I couldn't ask for anything more. I would have loved to make the team out of camp, but you take what you can get. It's been so good for my career. Having Allie and Ryan get to travel around with me, it just makes it all the more special now," Marshall said. "I've always been motivated to provide for my family, but now that I get to walk out of the locker room and get a hug from my kid, that's something special.
"He's just getting ready to take his first steps. I'm sure that'll happen any time. This is going to be a fun offseason."
It's been about three weeks since Major League Baseball's regular season ended, but Evan Marshall is not ready to turn the page to 2020 quite yet.
Who can blame him? It was a memorable one for the former K-State pitcher (2009-11), in a number of ways.
For starters, he enjoyed his best season yet in the big leagues, as a bullpen arm for the Chicago White Sox. Marshall posted MLB career bests in ERA (2.49), innings pitched (50.2), win-loss percentage (4-2, .667) and WHIP (1.30) this season.
"It's definitely a nice feeling," he said in a phone interview last week. "I don't want to say (I'm) glowing, but I still kind of am from having a good year because I feel so accomplished right now and I haven't quite looked toward next season yet, but that's probably coming pretty soon."
When Marshall does start to prepare for next season, he can lean on a lot of his experiences from 2019.
While he started the year in AAA, despite a spring training ERA of 2.45, Marshall said he felt good about how he was throwing. He just needed an opportunity to prove it.
In the 2018 season with the Cleveland Indians organization, he posted a 1.08 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP in AAA. He credited it to some mechanical fixes he picked up from the likes of Corey Kluber and Carlos Carassco between spring training and a brief stint in the big leagues.
"I had really dialed in some things and I just felt like I hadn't gotten the chance to show that in the big leagues because the Indians bullpen was full of guys making $10 million and they all had their roles," Marshall said. "I was kind of on the outside looking in, versus I think I'm at my best when I'm pitching in one of those positive roles."
This season, Marshall pitched his way into one of those roles with the White Sox.
After throwing 10 scoreless innings to start the year in AAA, he was called up on May 1. He followed his strong start in the minors with an even better one in the majors, tossing 17 1/3 scoreless innings to open his career with the White Sox.
Marshall said he's far from a superstitious person, but even he consciously fell into some routine-like behavior during his stellar start with Chicago.
"When you start running into a streak like that, you're tying your shoes the same way, you're taking the same route to the ballpark, taking the same elevator. You're doing it all," he laughed. "As that streak pushed on and on and on, I wasn't thinking about it while I was out there but, like I said, driving to the field and the way I tie my shoes, sure, I was doing all the little quirky things that pitchers do because you just don't want to change anything at that point.
"Coming out with such a hot start like that, it sort of thrust me into an important role right away. I kind of landed there and stuck there, and that was what I did the whole year."
Like all good things, Marshall's scoreless streak ended — hard.
The right-hander gave up five runs in a three-day stretch and two more the following week. Still, he said most of those runs — minus a Mookie Betts home run — were from weak hits or unfortunate luck, like in Boston when strong wind blew a ball from landing in the stands to hitting the chalk in the outfield.
"It was one of those things where I didn't need to overhaul (anything)," Marshall said. "So, I kind of just stayed to the same plan."
Marshall, in his longest stint in the majors since the 2014 season when he threw 49 1/3 innings and recorded a 2.74 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks, did have to adjust to those adjusting to him.
"Later in the year, teams in the Central (Division)…they had my tendencies. They knew that in a one-strike count I like to do this, and they were starting to cheat to it. I sort of re-wrote the book after the first half," he said. "That screwed them up, and what that allowed me to do was go back to my bread and butter in situations where I needed it, but I didn't just live there like I did for the scoreless streak."
The result: A 2.03 ERA from the start of July to the end of the season. He tossed 11 straight scoreless innings to end the year. Again, he credited his statistics to mechanical changes that rejuvenated the effectiveness of his pitches, especially his changeup.
"It started making the action on the pitches re-enact what they did several years ago. I had kind of lost it, and I think that was due to some mechanical changes that I didn't know I had made," he said. "Dialing in the mechanics brought back the action on the pitches and the action on the pitches led to more swings and misses and softer contact."
Marshall also pointed to a relatively new term in baseball: Tunneling. He said adding this to his game is what separated this past season from his 2014 campaign. Then, he said he was more "raw." Now, he feels like more of a professional pitcher.
"I got away with a little bit more back then, versus this year I really felt like I was pitching. In '14, they just put the fingers down and let it rip, versus now I've come and gone and seen a few things," he said. "Now, I'm really breaking down the swings that I'm seeing and paying more attention to history and, most of all — and this is what every pitcher that's turned the corner here recently – the term 'tunneling' is huge now. It's all about throwing pitches through the same tunnel that do something different, but they look the same coming out of your hand. Really, I've found a way to play my pitches off each other."
As a result, Marshall found a permanent spot at the game's highest level. He soaked up all the fun that came with it.
Marshall fished in Tampa Bay and in Minnesota, enjoying the more luxurious travel life of the big leagues.
On Players' Weekend, when players get to customize their jerseys, Marshall wore "Forgetting Sarah" on his back, a play off the comedy movie, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Even better, Marshall got a surprising congratulations text from Jason Segel, who starred in the movie and is one of Marshall's favorite actors. Marshall has since signed the jersey and mailed it to Segel, with a movie poster and return envelope included in hopes Segel may return the favor.
"Now, the key to this game is keeping your eye on the ball." pic.twitter.com/qZKAt6GSKk
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 29, 2019
Marshall also attempted to catch the first pitch that went viral when a Chicago White Sox employee plunked a cameraman. The other first pitch he caught came from his wife, Allie, whom was holding their son, Ryan.
The moment was special for obvious reasons, as it was on Mother's Day, but it also represented how far the family came in the past year. Ryan, now about 18 months old, experienced some seizures in his first six months. Now, "you would never know," Marshall said.
His improved health and Marshall's standout season made for a memorable summer.
Allison Marshall threw a ceremonial first pitch to her husband, Evan, accompanied by their son, Ryan! #SoxMoms pic.twitter.com/keTKADzK10
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 19, 2019
"I couldn't ask for anything more. I would have loved to make the team out of camp, but you take what you can get. It's been so good for my career. Having Allie and Ryan get to travel around with me, it just makes it all the more special now," Marshall said. "I've always been motivated to provide for my family, but now that I get to walk out of the locker room and get a hug from my kid, that's something special.
"He's just getting ready to take his first steps. I'm sure that'll happen any time. This is going to be a fun offseason."
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