Toledo Mud Hens pitching coach Juan Nieves has been around baseball long enough to know every player’s journey is unique.

While fans are seeing young players make an impact in the major leagues like never before, for every Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna, Jr., or Juan Soto, there is a player taking his lumps in Triple-A as he tries to make it to the big leagues.

“The great ones usually show up, and they are elite,” said Nieves, in his first year with the Mud Hens. “But they are the half-percent of the players that get there. Otherwise, they go to the big leagues, then come back. They go to the big leagues again, and they come back again. Then the third year they go back, and they figure it out. It’s a process of adjusting and being able to be more consistent and win games.”

Nieves himself was fast-tracked to the major leagues as a 21-year-old left-handed pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers after parts of three seasons in the minors.

“I was always a fastball pitcher,” Nieves said. “I was thin and skinny and was just trying to throw the ball as hard as I could and hoped it would go over the plate. There were days I didn’t, and I got hurt. Then there were days when I did and I was OK. I was a very young pitcher in the big leagues — extremely young. I had basically one pitch and my second pitch showed up in my third year. Then, unfortunately, I blew out in my fourth year. I didn’t really have a chance to become a true pitcher in the big leagues because of injuries.”

Nieves has returned to the minors after years of experience as a major league pitching coach — including stints with the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and Miami Marlins — where he had time to hone his philosophy.

“I’ve been able to see a lot of great pitchers,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with some great ones and some guys that didn’t make it that were tough and some guys that were really good and never made it. I’ve had all kinds of situations that happened to me and I love it. I really enjoy it.”

Mud Hens manager Doug Mientkiewicz sees Nieves as possessing a unique perspective he is able to share.

“Juan has been a big league pitching coach for a long time,” he said. “These guys would be crazy not to take his advice. I am excited to get the chance to work with him, because he is so good and comes so well-respected. He’s always in a good mood. He has a great demeanor, and he is knowledgeable. He’s been around veteran guys. He’s been around up and coming prospects. So he’s kind of seen it all. We’re lucky to have him on our side.”

Mud Hens starting pitcher Kyle Funkhouser said he met Nieves at spring training, and they immediately got to talking.

“As far as pitching coaches, he is the real deal,” Funkhouser said. “He’s played in the big leagues. He’s had success. He won a World Series as a coach. He’s been there, done that.” 

In his first year with the Hens, Nieves is pushing his pitchers to develop a feel for multiple pitches and realize the difference between command and control.

“Command is, ‘Oh, I can throw strikes.’ But individually they are all working on their own command of the strike zone. It is, how do I make efficient pitches in the zone and how can I control the zone in those four quadrants,” he said. “There are a lot of different words you talk in baseball. I believe in beliefs within the game. One of those is command the strike zone with multiple pitches — hopefully three or four pitches — and control that command in the zone and use it sequentially.”

It hasn’t been an easy start to the season. After a six-game road trip last week when the Mud Hens got roughed up multiple times, the team ERA is 5.61, fourth-worst in the International League.

The starting pitchers have struggled to get quality starts, and Ryan Carpenter and Tyler Alexander have the only two wins of the season for a starter. The bullpen has been inconsistent. But in the past four games before Saturday, the Mud Hens had allowed an average of just three runs per game.

Nieves thinks they might be ready to turn the corner as a staff.

“We’ve had a rough month,” he said. “But it’s great to see them grow in the process when you see adversity, and they are shocked. But then you see how they grow. Sometimes, they grow in front of your eyes. It is a wonderful process, and it is fun to see and fun to be around.”

Mientkiewicz is confident Nieves will be able to make his mark on this pitching staff as the season progresses.

“It’s hard to quantify what he does on a daily basis this early in the season,” Mientkiewicz said. “By the end of the summer, these guys are all going to get better because of him.”

First Published May 4, 2019, 3:00 p.m.