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Q&A: Honeycutt’s path to pitching coach
- Updated: August 6, 2016
Rick Honeycutt never set out to be a pitching coach.
It is something that just sort of happened.
Initially signed by the Pirates out of the University of Tennessee in the 17th round of the 1976 Draft, he established himself as a big league pitcher with the expansion Mariners and the Rangers, among the six Major League teams he played for. And then his life began to change.
Between his stints with the Dodgers (1983-87) and the A’s (’87-93, ’95) under the tutelage of pitching coach Dave Duncan, Honeycutt became fascinated with pitching and the thought process that went into making a successful pitching coach.
He pitched for 21 years in the big leagues, appearing in 30 postseason contests, including seven World Series games. He was the setup man for Dennis Eckersley in Oakland, where he was a member of three World Series teams, including the 1989 World Series champions.
Honeycutt discussed his emergence as one of baseball’s pitching masters in this week’s Q&A.
MLB.com: Is it safe to say that the in-season trade from the Rangers to the Dodgers for Dave Stewart back in 1983 was a game-changer for you?
Honeycutt: My thought process about mechanics changed so much after being on the Dodgers and being around Sandy Koufax, Dave Wallace and Ron Perranoski. The Dodgers were my fourth organization, and they opened my eyes to things I’d never heard of, and how they went about it was simple.
It was shocking to me that I could have gone through three other organizations, and nobody had offered what the Dodgers did. Oh, they might say, “You’re rushing your delivery.” And they’d say, “Get your hand on top.” I hate that, just saying, “Get your arm up or get your hand or fingers on top.” I’m thinking, I’m trying. I know where I should be, but obviously I’m doing something that doesn’t allow me to get there. Give me the basics, give me some fundamental process, so I can rationalize what I should be thinking. And then with the Dodgers, it was like night and day how they approached you as a …
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