How to get new Seattle Kaken coach Dan Bylsma to admit to “a lot of anxiety”? Have him throw out the first pitch before the Seattle Mariners’ home game on Sept. 18.
“Baseball was a long-term love of mine,” Bylsma told ROOT Sports’ Jen Mueller. “I played a lot in high school, but that was a long time ago.” Bylsma also revealed that he was a pitcher, “but it wasn’t pretty,” he said with a characteristic grin.
(By the time he reached college, Dan gave up his diamond dreams to concentrate on a hockey career – which eventually led him to the NHL as both a player and coach.)
Bylsma, always prepared, threw some warmup tosses at Kraken Community Iceplex before heading over to T-Mobile Park. Showing off his command of baseball vernacular, he described them as “bullpen sessions.”
When it came time to show his command on the mound, Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Tayler Saucedo served as his catcher – perhaps because, having played parts of two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, he had some familiarity with this hockey thing.
“I wanted him (Saucedo) to stand up behind the plate,” Byslma said with tongue planted firmly in cheek afterward. “He got in a crouch, which I didn’t appreciate very much.” Although applauding his receiver, saying, “He framed it pretty good for me,” the Kraken coach conceded his pitch, “was a little bit outside.”
Bylsma actually isn’t giving himself enough credit. He tossed his self-described “heater” from the mound, instead of the grass in front of the bump. And, his toss made it into Saucedo’s glove on the fly – not on a bounce, and not several yards wide of the target, as many a celebrity has been known to do.
Back in his more familiar role at KCI, coach Bylsma talked about the nerves Kraken prospects must be feeling as they mix with veterans in the early days of training camp. He explains in this Kraken Reaction.