FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After an injury-plagued 2023 campaign that included on-field struggles in a limited amount of appearances, Eric Lauer is feeling strong and healthy, both physically and mentally, heading into his spring-training experience with the Pirates.
Lauer, 28, signed a minor-league deal with the club Thursday and spoke with reporters for the first time at LECOM Park Monday morning.
“I put a lot of work in this offseason and worked with a lot of different people, a lot of new people,” said Lauer, a 2016 first-round pick of the Padres who spent the last four seasons with the Brewers. “Like I’ve been saying all offseason, this is the best I’ve felt in any year playing pro ball. I’m really excited for this year and really excited to see what I can do.”
Lauer was brought in to provide additional starting pitching depth in the midst of a camp battle for two available spots in the opening day rotation. A number of players are vying for those opportunities behind three seemingly solidified starters in Mitch Keller, Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales.
"He’s been an effective major-league starter and he’s been in our division," Derek Shelton said of Lauer. "I realize he’s behind the eight-ball a little bit in terms of the timing that he’s come in. We’re gonna try and get him built up to be a starter and go from there."
Lauer is coming off a season in which he made 10 appearances and nine starts in Milwaukee, finishing with a 6.56 ERA, a 1.67 WHIP and a 7.41 FIP. He sported an 8.3 K/9 rate and a 4.6 BB/9 rate, while allowing 16 home runs in 46 2/3 innings.
A right shoulder impingement forced Lauer to the injured list on May 22. He made just one start after that on Sept. 30.
Lauer said he dealt with some bursitis, nerve compression and a lot of inflammation, but that the injury was being treated as muscle weakness. He admitted his situation was strange in terms of how it was dealt with and how it was communicated.
“I think more than anything, it was communication error. The injury wasn’t bad enough for it to take as long as it took. It was really unfortunate," Lauer said. "It was a lot of stuff out of my control and a lot of waiting ... Once we got the inflammation out of there, we were pretty much good to go. There’s nothing that’s come back and there are no lingering issues from it.”
Now healthy, Lauer is aiming to replicate what he was able to do in both 2021 and 2022. Between those two years, he compiled a 3.47 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and a 4.30 FIP, while collecting 274 strikeouts and walking 100 in 277 1/3 innings. Home runs were still an issue, though. He allowed 16 in 2021 and 27 in 2022.
Lauer has typically relied on his four-seam fastball throughout his career, while also utilizing a cutter, curveball, slider and changeup. In 2022, his fastball averaged around 93 mph and held opposing hitters to a .193 average.
"I’m back and ready to do what I gotta do and be that same guy from 21 and 22," Lauer said. "I kept making the joke that I have two good years, one bad year and then two good years. I should be on a two-year swing now, but I don’t wanna keep that trend going. I wanna just keep going good. All the issues I was dealing with are gone, so I’m ready to rock.”
While he's not getting the same sample size as other players due to his late start to the spring, Lauer feels good about his offseason preparation and the work he put in to make sure he was getting enough volume when he wasn't signed.
He's physically ready and more mentally prepared for the upcoming season after working with Brian Cain, a coach who specializes in teaching the mental side of performance.
“I really started taking that approach and that side of it seriously because the mental side of baseball is a lot. I think the more you play, the more you realize that," Lauer said. "The more you get into it, the more you realize it's a skill. It's something you can work on and get better at. We put so much time and effort into our physical prowess, but a lot of the game's mental. Going through this process was an eye-opening experience for me in the sense of there's a lot of mentality tricks you have to do to yourself to make sure you're able to perform at your highest level. When it's been a couple weeks and spring training's started and you haven't signed with a team and you're doing things on your own, not with the guys that you're used to, you start to not want to. Being able to get through that, being able to get through all the ups and downs that a season comes with, people don't pay enough attention to it. It's extremely helpful."
Lauer said his interest in taking to the mental side of the game stemmed from the struggles he endured when on the mound last year. He asked himself a lot of questions about why things weren't working, why things didn't feel right and why he wasn't where he was supposed to be.
"Trying to mentally gymnastics yourself into thinking you're OK, trying to convince yourself whatever it might be. Then you start wondering, did I prepare properly? Have I done enough? Is it me? What is it that's going on?" Lauer explained. "The more you can just have a positive outlook, a positive mindset, it's only helpful. Being able to train that because the game is built around failure, why wouldn't you need to be more mentally strong than other sports? It's a very up-and-down game. May as well train your mind to be up and down."
After all he's experienced over the last year and all he's learned and worked on over the offseason, Lauer is in a good place as he begins his tenure with the Pirates. More importantly, he's motivated to make the most of his current opportunity and prove he's capable of being a valuable piece of the team's future plans.
"That's what I'm here for. I'm here to show that last year was a fluke and last year wasn't who I am, and just prove that I'm the same guy and that I can help the team," Lauer said. "The best way for me to help the team is to start games, go deep into games and hopefully get us a lot of wins."
