Getting to know the dynamic Marcus Stroman

28/04/2024 16:00

With his social media trolling days seemingly behind him, Stroman has been fun to root for on and off the mound.

Have you ever formed an impression of someone based solely on their social media persona, and then met them in person, only to find that they're quite different from what you expected? Perhaps they're more outspoken online, less brash with their opinions, or simply kinder when you see them face-to-face. From my experience, being introduced to someone digitally can be deceptive.

For Yankee fans and Marcus Stroman, it is still a parasocial, or a one-way relationship, but we have, in a way, moved past the social media stage.

To Yankee fans that are active on X (formerly Twitter), he was an online adversary prior to his surprise signing this offseason. While he played for the Mets and Cubs, it became a rite of passage, of sorts, for the more vocal members of Yankees' Twitter community to get blocked by Stroman, often because they would instigate it.

After the Yankees opted not to trade for him during the 2019 deadline, and Brian Cashman branded him afterwards as "not a difference-maker", he expressed schadenfreude online, when the Yankees failed in the postseason.

Thankfully, an online nemesis does not automatically mean an actual nemesis. The pitcher and the GM were able to straighten things out and come to terms with a two-year deal. Many of his provocative posts have been deleted since signing with the Yankees. His X account is now more professionally presented, with reposts from the Yankees' official accounts, and content about his charity, the HDMH (Height Doesn't Measure Heart) Foundation.

Now a month into the season, things have gone remarkably well for this once seemingly unlikely partnership. Going into Sunday's game, he has a 2.94 ERA, surrendering three runs or fewer in four out of his five starts. He has not been flawless, as he yielded four runs against a struggling Marlins offense and he has not given the team extended length in his starts. Nonetheless, he has helped provide the stability the rotation needed, particularly with Gerrit Cole out to start the year.

Beyond his statline, he is a fun pitcher to watch work, because of his novelty in style and energy. His velocity is among the lowest in the league, but he has built his 10-year career off his control, and keeping hitters off balance. He has a six-pitch arsenal, but he tinkers within those groups of pitches to vary the extent of the movement in a need to be extra unpredictable. His primary pitch, a sinker, has a steep vertical drop that makes it tough for hitters to get on top of the ball to hit into the air.

He is aggressive at attacking the inside of the zone, and often catches the back door against lefties for called strikes:

He doesn't overdo it, but when he gets out of big spots, he will show his competitive fire. For example, here he is after getting Jeremy Peña to bite on a cutter off the plate to leave a runner stranded on third:

Metaphorically, his style may not be a perfect match for a franchise that no one would describe as scrappy, working within their limitations with an underdog mentality. However, it may be why the organization felt the need to add a pitcher that has a confident, competitive edge to him. That personality is contagious on a team.

Players and the organization, at least publicly, embraced Stroman right away. Stroman has said he was encouraged to be himself from team leaders Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge.

"I love him before the game, his energy," Rizzo told the YES Network after Stroman's start on Tuesday. "What he has done for our clubhouse, he's definitely emerged as a leader for our clubhouse. It's been a pleasure to play with him."

For fans that enjoy following players off the field, he has many admirable qualities. He is meticulous about his routine and preparation, speaks out about his practice of transcendental meditation and mindfulness, he's thoughtful about his performance in interviews, and has already hit the ground running with HDMH in the Bronx. The foundation hosted an event at the stadium this past week with members mentorship program NYPD Blue Chip.

One of the things that stands out about how he meticulously prepares is his process to keep his mind healthy. In his introductory news conference, he portrayed himself as someone who performs best in big games to help him in pressurized moments — put in the preparation to remain calm. Stroman listed the Yankees' strong mental health support system as one of the factors for him to sign with the Yankees. Stroman had a connection to Chad Bohling, the Yankees' senior director of organizational performance. My colleague, Nick Power, wrote about Bohling's unique role that focuses on mental condition with the team this offseason. They had a mutual mentor, Trevor Moawad, who died of cancer in 2021. Stroman who worked with him from 2018 until his passing, according to MLB.com, credited him for getting him into journaling, and saying positive affirmations out loud while alone.

Once known, or at least viewed by fans, for his heightened sensitivity to criticism, he said something in the story that perhaps shows that he has put in the work to be better at dealing with the negativity that comes with being a public performer:

"Ever since I've been with Trevor ... not many things can really get to me. Moments where I feel like most people might take a long time [to recover], I'm able to get back to myself quick."

Stroman is confident, but he does not pretend to be born with it, he worked hard to develop it. He has given us insight on how he is able to deal with the performance pressure. Another example of this is he shared that the night before he started the Yankees' home opener he felt "a bunch of anxiety," saying that he was not able to sleep or eat much leading up to the game. However, he has a preparation plan for when this happens, he has breathing exercises to slow down his heart rate during games. Despite his natural nerves, he was able to pitch a shutout that day. With fans seeing many talented players underperform with the Yankees because of the additional pressures of playing in a big market, it is fascinating to see a player share with fans how he works through his anxiety. In this way he is a good role model showing that a person can have anxiety and still perform at a high level.

A phrase you may have heard — ironically, often on social media — is that 'social media is not real life.' Real-life Stroman gives fans what they should want in their professional athlete, total care for their craft and they care about the outcomes as much as those rooting him on.

With Cashman and Stroman were able to to turn the other cheek, hopefully the Yankee online community learns to embrace him as well. There is a lot to root for, even if he blocked you on X.