Student Athlete - jason varitek

Red Sox Magazine, 2004 Issue | By Mike Petraglia

 

His locker resembles a classroom more than a major league clubhouse. But to Jason Varitek, the ring binders above his clothing rack are just as important to his job as his glove, catcher’s mask and bat.

 

The folders that take up the entire upper portion of the stall contain data on virtually every opponent and batter Red Sox pitchers will face.

 

No one studies that information more than the Red Sox player who catches the majority of his club’s games over the course of a season. And no one in baseball takes more pride in his scholarly responsibility.

 

Varitek, who was named to Baseball America’s All-Time College All-Star Team, had the thinking man’s reputation in hand when he was traded by Seattle to Boston, along with Derek Lowe for reliever Heathcliff Slocumb at the July 31 trade deadline in 1997.

 

“A lot of it I learned while (former Red Sox pitching coach) Joe Kerrigan was here,” says Varitek, the 1998 Red Sox Rookie of the Year. “You learn things from everyone who has coached you. I learned stuff from my minor league instructors in Seattle to just keep adding. It’s just something I like to do to make sure I’m prepared for that game or that pinch-hitter.”

 

It’s no surprise that Varitek’s appreciation for the thinking part of the national pastime blossomed while he was a three-time All-American at Georgia Tech.

 

“I’ve always been that way to a point”, says Varitek, whose number 33 is the only retired jersey in Tech history. “It was our responsibility in college. The coaches didn’t call pitches. That freedom allowed you to learn a lot. When it’s not always dictated to you, your own mind learns and makes adjustments.”

 

Varitek’s learning, combined with on-field performance, paid off in 2003 when on-line fans voted him to the AL All-Star team in Chicago as the 30 th man.

 

“You can start with some strategy but then you see something in a game and your approach could be totally different,” says Varitek. “But at least when I go into a game, I have a basis of what’s already transpired and I really won’t go into facing any guys blindly. It comes in handy all the time, especially when you have a lot of newness to people. Once you have some history, then you can play other strategies. The book doesn’t lie too often.”

 

Surprises are not good things when calling a game behind a plate. To Varitek, the preparation and information in the books can help avoid such situations.

“Different data can eliminate that surprise mistake”, says Varitek. “You don’t want someone to do something and say, ‘Wow, we didn’t know about that’.”

 

The way Varitek sees it, his brainpower can save people like Sox manager Terry Francona so he can direct his energy elsewhere.

 

“You have to take a little time to process data. It usually starts the day before a series or the day of. I like to take it home. I’ll have the scouting reports from our advance scouts. Our video people will have certain hitter’s charts to show different tendencies. We’ll also have different count charts. I like to take all that, read it and then make my own notes. Then I’ll come up with a plan or an idea. I’ll take personal history and use it in a game.”

 

While Francona appreciated the fact that he doesn’t have to make as many trips to the mound to talk with his pitchers, it’s Varitek’s game management skills that stand out the most to the Boston skipper.

 

“ Ramon Hernandez did a great job for us last year in Oakland,” says Francona, who served as the A’s bench coach in 2003. “But this guy is something else. He’s not a big talker. He usually sits next to me. There’s an air of confidence with him. I don’t ever second-guess a pitch. It’s not always going to be perfect, but you don’t expect it to be. But you know he’s done his homework and worked his tail off to put us in the best position to win,” adds the Red Sox skipper.

 

Varitek’s bookwork gives him a keen appreciation of others who study the game. Take Curt Schilling. The veteran ace immediately jots down notes on his start after the last pitch of his outing.

 

“That’s the way he prepares himself,” says Varitek of his batterymate’s habit. “He may not be able to remember everything. He may have to jot it down. It’s his reference point. He has one day to remember. I have 140 days to remember and probably up to 30 to 40 different pitchers and strategy changes with each guy.”

 

While the figures in the books don’t lie, Varitek says it’s important to know how and when to make the most of them.

 

“You remember the good and the bad, but you have the basis, the foundation of information that you interpolate and extrapolate from,” says Varitek. “You may get a report from a scout on how to pitch somebody and then we’ll sit in our meetings and argue it out. Usually we figure it out and know, as players, that maybe the book was wrong. And we’ll make that decision beforehand.”

 

Armed with information, Varitek still has to make decisions based on game situations.

 

“You take that on the field,” says Varitek. “Maybe a batter needs to be thrown inside and the pitcher can’t throw in in that situation. The batter’s a terrible breaking ball hitter and he can’t hit one. But the pitcher doesn’t throw a breaking ball so you have to mix and match in that situation and figure out different ways.”

 

His ability to study the game and tutor his staff has earned him the reputation as one of the best in the game at handling pitchers.

 

“With starting pitching”, relates Varitek, “you try to set up the entire game and make adjustments. You have to get pitchers to commit pitch to pitch. That’s the key. It takes more time because there are more hitters to prepare for. But I would like to spend more time preparing for opposing pitchers than I’m able to. But the importance of my job is to make sure we stay in the game defensively.”

 

A check of his stats in the media guide indicates that Varitek is doing a nice job of keeping his team in the game with his bat as well. In 2003, Varitek had career highs of 25 homers and 85 RBI. Only Carlton Fisk has had better offensive seasons as a Red Sox catcher.

 

While Varitek would like to spend more time on his bat work, Red Sox pitchers are certainly grateful for his sacrifice of personal offensive glory. Says right-handed starter Bronson Arroyo, “Upstairs, Jason’s going to have more on his mind than anybody because he’s been in playing day-in and day-out against most of these hitters the last few years. It all starts there with what he feels and what he’s seen. It’s just his personality. He comes out to the mound and you see him behind the plate. You know he’s pulling for you. You see him put down the sign for a fastball inside, tap his fist and shake his glove and say, ‘come on, let’s get this guy out’. He’s more than just a target back there,” says Arroyo.

 

The leadership reputation is one Varitek carries with pride. “ I think that’s the best compliment I could earn as a player,” says Varitek. “That’s a compliment that I personally want to hear. I want to be a good teammate. I want to not take my at-bats to my position, defensively. I’ve got to learn not to let what happens defensively come to my at-bats. That’s still a learning process for me.”

 

Just about everyone who follows the Red Sox is aware that Varitek is not signed for next season. Varitek made his major league debut for Boston on September 24, 1997 and would like to continue to play for the team that gave him his first big league chance. “It’s a tough question because the reality of it is that, of course, I would love to spend my career here,” says Varitek, who has also earned a reputation as one of the team’s leaders in contributions to the community. “It’s dear to my heart. I believe I can play this game a long time.”

 

Another tough question, though still off in the distance, is whether his knowledge and perspective on the game will translate into a desire to manage a major league team someday.

 

“I’m hoping I have about eight to ten years left of playing,” says Varitek. “So, we’ll see after that. Right now, no, I can’t imagine it.”

It’s natural to think every great player had idols growing up. But to Varitek, it’s more relevant to ask who had the biggest impact on his style.

 

“I grew up playing so many different positions that I never really latched on to somebody,” says Varitek, who started as a third baseman at Lake Brantley High School in Longwood, Florida. “But as I grew older and became a catcher, (former Phillies catcher) Darrin Daulton stood out in my mind because he had that presence about him. And you could see that just watching.”

 

Then there’s his professional relationship with arguably the greatest catcher in Red Sox history. “I’ve spent a little time with Fisk,” says Varitek of his conversations with the Hall of Famer. “I’d love to spend more time around him and have him around more. He’s been through the war an awful lot and has a lot of different perspectives. Every time I sit with him, like at the writer’s dinner two years ago, you learn a little bit.”

 

Varitek is not ignorant of the fact that Fisk was still catching when he was in his 40s.

“He did that for so long,” says Varitek. “And a lot of what he did to keep playing for so long, I’ve done. I’ve had the fortune to train a lot longer because in our day and age, we learn the importance of conditioning.”

 

Red Sox icon Johnny Pesky, someone who watched Fisk’s entire stay in Boston firsthand, went further in comparing the two.

 

“He’s the best catcher we’ve had here since Fisk,’ says Pesky. “He just does so many things like hit and run. Fisk could really run the bases and run them smartly. So does Jason. They call a great game and they are leaders on the field.”

 

Only Fisk (990), Sammy White (967) and Rich Gedman (857) have caught more games in a Red Sox uniform than Varitek, who called his 700 th game for Boston in June. And asked whether he sees himself playing and catching as long as Fisk, Varitek just smiles and nods.

 

“Very definitely,” says Varitek. “He set the standard.”