Nen Has Almost Closed the Deal

LOS ANGELES —  Robb Nen’s major league education is nearly complete.

The Florida Marlins pitcher is on the verge of moving into the top echelon of National League closers. He has 21 saves this season, two shy of his career-best 1995 total. He has a feared fastball, reaching speeds of 98 mph, a baffling slider and a straight change.

The only thing left to improve, players and coaches say, is his mental approach.

They don’t imply that 26-year-old Nen is dumb or slow. But the top relievers, from Lee Smith to Rollie Fingers to Sparky Lyle to Goose Gossage to Tom Henke, have a hint of swagger in their demeanor.

Nen, 3-1 with a 2.21 earned-run average, has great stuff. Now, the Marlins want the Los Alamitos graduate to intimidate.

“Among closers I’ve played with--Dave Righetti, Tom Henke, Duane Ward--stuff-wise he may be the best,” Florida right-hander Al Leiter said. “How many guys throw 97-99 mph and for strikes? I think he’s got to learn, and he will, what comes with that stuff is the demeanor of a closer. The guy who comes out with that snarl, like Gossage. And that comes with confidence.

“Believe it or not you can have a ‘comfortable’ 97-98 mph pitch. But a guy like Rob Dibble would scare people, because he left that doubt as to whether you would get one behind your head or not. Once Nen gets that, along with more confidence, there’s no reason he won’t be one of the premiere relievers for years.”

Dibble, one of the renowned “Nasty Boys” who helped Cincinnati sweep Oakland in the 1990 World Series, agrees with Leiter.

“To be the guy late in the game who wants the ball, not a lot of guys want to take the step forward,” said Dibble, now with the Marlins. “Once you can do that, it makes you a premiere reliever. It doesn’t depend on your stuff, but your mental makeup that makes you a great pitcher.

“Robb is approaching premiere status. He’s young in terms of being a closer but with every game he gains experience in, he gets a better approach. When they talk about his stuff, it’s probably better than any of ours, including the Nasty Boys. He has an overpowering slider to go with that 98 mph fastball. Plus he’s so deceptive with the stutter step [in his delivery].

“If he gains a little more confidence in his pitches, he’s going to dominate the league.”

Confidence has come to Nen in spurts. He first reached the major leagues with Texas in 1993, after overcoming such injuries as bone chips in his right elbow and nerve problems in his shoulder.

Traded to the Marlins midway through the 1993 season, he earned a bullpen slot in 1994, as a setup man for Bryan Harvey. But Harvey was injured and so was his initial replacement, Jeremy Hernandez. So Nen moved into the closer role.

“It was easy because there were no expectations,” Nen said during the Marlins’ recent series against the Dodgers. “I had barely made the team that year.”

In 1994, Nen had a 5-5 record and 2.95 ERA in 44 appearances and converted his first 15 save opportunities. It was the longest such streak since 1988 when statistics on blown saves were first kept.

His streak ended May 4 against Atlanta. It was the beginning of a bumpy 1995, in which he was 0-7 with a 3.29 ERA in 62 appearances.

And he had the kind of game that can turn a career in the wrong direction.

Against Houston in June, Nen had a two-run lead with two outs. He walked two batters and gave up a game-winning home run to Craig Biggio. Nen was so upset he stayed in the visitors’ clubhouse tunnel for an hour after the game.

“I didn’t question my ability; it was more a question of whether my mind was in the right frame, and being able to deal with that kind of loss,” Nen said. “At least it was at that time.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is so much of the game is mental. You have to go out there and be mentally ready every day. The hardest thing is blowing saves. When you blow a game you have to know there is a next day. The players aren’t looking down at you, like ‘you lost the game;’ it’s a team effort. When you come to the park the next day, you start all over again.”

Nen recovered and posted 19 of his 23 saves in the second half. And it has carried over into this season; although he had one bad spell in June blowing three saves, he has converted his last five opportunities.

“He has a better perspective this year,” Marlin pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “He’s been through [bad] things once, and realized he could survive it and bounce back to pitch very well. Last year he still wasn’t sure.

“You can have paralysis by analysis in that role. You’re either great or you’re not; there’s very little in between, and the way we were not scoring runs earlier there was no in between. If he blew a save, whether it was coming in the eighth with runners on or starting the ninth, we weren’t going to come back and win that game. I can’t remember in the last two years us coming back and winning a game for Robb if he let the lead go.”

But the feeling in Florida now is Nen is very close to reaching the top rank of short relievers, especially if the Marlins can get him enough save opportunities. All the signs are there: in 57 innings he has given up 46 hits, 14 earned runs, and struck out 68.

“Having a guy who throws that hard is a big gift,” Marlins Manager John Boles said. “Especially a guy with the kind of stuff that shuts teams down and doesn’t give them comfortable at-bats.

“He still has some fine-tuning to do. He hasn’t been in this role that long but he is getting comfortable in it. What makes a relief pitcher a premiere reliever is command. Not just ‘strike zone control,’ but pinpoint control. He’s still somewhere in between. But he is still a tremendous weapon.”

Nen knows that how long he will be a weapon is up to him.

“I can be a 30-40 type save guy,” Nen said. “I hope to see myself do that. To do it, you have to be in the right frame of mind, remember it’s just a game, and play as hard as you can. If you put too much pressure on yourself, that’s when you start doubting yourself. You press. And that’s when bad things really start.

“As a starter the game is yours from the first pitch. When you come in from the bullpen, trying to protect a lead, it can be hard to deal with if you don’t. But if you go out there and do it the majority of the time, it’s great.”