MLB: Cardinals Pitcher Miles Mikolas: The Lizard King

Pitcher Miles Mikolas has been playing for the St. Louis Cardinals since the start of the season. The right-hander spent the last three years in Japan after failing in the MLB. SPOX sheds light on its development and explains its nickname “Lizard King”.

When the St. Louis Cardinals announced the signing of Miles Mikolas, an ex-Major League pitcher from Japan, this caused a sensation. Although there were also a few other teams at the once failed starter in the States, but how much could you really expect?

Mikolas, who has signed for two years and 15.5 million dollars, did not necessarily leave a shiny business card in the majors. With the Padres (2012-2013) and the Rangers he disappointed first as a relief, then as a starter and got no more offers after his release.

So he went to Japan to join the Yomiuri Giants, one of the most renowned teams in Nippon Professional Baseball.

After a one-year contract at the beginning, he promptly signed for two more seasons and became one of the best pitcher in the Central League. At a score of 31-13, he put in an impressive 2.18 ERA, clearly advertising his own cause, which ultimately even sparked off a small bidding competition from which the Cardinals emerged victorious.

However, long before his breakthrough in Asia, Mikolas had already achieved dubious prominence beyond the borders of baseball. After being bred by the Padres in the seventh round of the 2009 Drafts, he played in the Arizona Fall League in 2011, the junior league that will provide good talent at the end of the MLB season.

There he made a bet with teammates and ate a small live lizard before a game. Even then, it was a matter of course that someone archived the story via mobile phone and distributed it on YouTube – the “Lizard King” was born!

However, the sporty version of the lizard king only saw the light of day much later. It was only in Japan that Mikolas took the decisive steps in the right direction.

“Our scouts have watched him refine his repertoire, improve his speed and become one of the most effective starters in Japan over the last few years,” Michael Girsch, General Manager of Cardinals, told MLB.com. “While Miles had always had good control in San Diego and Texas, he’sharpened’ his pitches and improved his strikeout rate in the last three seasons.

His first appearance at the Cardinals was impressive. He made his debut against the Milwaukee Brewers and won the game. What’s more, he managed his first major league hit, namely a home run. His first MLB shutdown against the Kansas City Royals followed in late May.

Currently, with a value of 3.10 for Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) – a statistic that shows the performance of a pitcher independent of the performance of the other players – the right-hander is good enough for 12th place in the MLB, even 6th in the NL. By comparison, this figure is well above the league average for the years 2002 to 2017.

Nevertheless, the strikeout rate is quite low. 6.58 strikeouts per 9 innings aren’t much, but a walk in the same period is outstanding. Mikolas’ stuff is just not made for strikeouts. In 51.6 percent of cases, however, he forces a ground ball – the eighth-best score in the majors.

But what exactly has Mikolas done to improve significantly? He made crucial adjustments. The easiest change to detect is a new pitch position. Whereas he used to pitch exclusively from the stretch position, which he preferred at the time as a former relief, he changed to a full windup position in Japan – with empty bases, of course. And: While he used to pitch extremely from the first-base side of the rubber, he is now more in the middle of the mound.

Remarkable: It is not that he would throw other pitches now, he just throws them differently. Not serious, but the devil is in the details. Whereas he used to have a delivery almost exactly from top to bottom – with his stately height of 1.96 metres this is not surprising – he now constantly throws a few feet away from his body. And apparently all these adjustments led to a much more consistent release point than in his early days in the MLB.

In trivial terms, this fact alone means that he now commands his pitches better. And so, despite his few strikeouts, he achieves remarkable results.

“I think the biggest development I’ve made has simply been commanding all my pitches,” Mikolas told MLB.com. “I also developed a better feeling for what it’s like to go through a lineup two, three or four times, which was something else. I’ve been a relief most of my Minor League career, and when you come out of the bullpen, you’re basically just a gunslinger. As a starter you rather find a chess game. And I’ve really internalized that by now.”

As far as his decision in favour of St. Louis was concerned, he mentioned the city itself as a factor – he has family there – as well as the organisation’s strong fan base and the opportunity to work with pitching coach Mike Maddux and catcher Yadier Molina. He knew the former from his time in Texas. It was also not wrong that the Cardinals hold their Spring Training near Jupiter/Florida, where Mikolas lives with his wife and daughter in the offseason.

“I used to go to jumping practice games there,” Mikolas revealed, “so it’s great that I’m going to be a part of this jumping practice.

The Cardinals got one of the ten best starters in the National League for less than $16 million by the end of 2019 and remain in control of him until 2022. It is still quite early for a final assessment, but there is much to suggest that St. Louis has landed the bargain of the season with Mikolas. A Lizard King at a special price.

This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.