Sidearm delivery attracted Tribe to Gorzelanny

CLEVELAND — Tom Gorzelanny was searching for an answer. The left-handed reliever was struggling mightily on the mound last season for Detroit and needed to figure out a way to get back on track in a hurry. Former Tigers pitching coach Jeff Jones had an idea.

“He said, ‘Have you ever tried throwing sidearm?'” Gorzelanny recalled.

The lefty pitcher had toyed with that approach sporadically in the past, but he never experienced consistent enough results to stick with it. In a mound session with Jones, Gorzelanny tried it again and saw that his slider had a sharper break and his changeup had more drop to it. The pitcher decided to take on the project, which is one reason he is in an Indians uniform now.

Following a stint at Triple-A last season, Gorzelanny returned to Detroit’s bullpen for the final two months with his lower arm slot. He was not completely comfortable yet with the mechanical change — one that is difficult to make in the middle of a season — but he made a pair of appearances against Cleveland, catching the eye of manager Terry Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway.

Gorzelanny began throwing from lower arm slot mid-way through last season. Here’s 1st outing in 2015 and 1st in ’16: pic.twitter.com/MkoUWyUjum

“When he pitched against us for Detroit last year,” Callaway said, “Tito and I were like, ‘Wow, this is …

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