Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

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planet planet
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Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by planet planet »

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Here are Mike's responses to questions from GRB members. Thanks to Mike for answering our questions and thanks for your participation!

GRB: How excited are you to pitch under the supervision of Dave Duncan? Has he
given you any suggestions so far?

MM: I had heard a lot of good things about Dave before I came to the Cardinals. At
this point, he's still observing my pitching style, but we've had some really
good conversations about being more aggressive and not getting too far behind
early in the count.

GRB: Who was your idol growing up and what team did you root for?

MM: Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were the only team that I could
watch growing up in Florida. At that time there were no MLB teams in Florida so
the Braves were all that I saw on television.

GRB: You probably are not considered to have "overpowering" or "wicked"
stuff. But during your first start as a Cardinal, you showed a masterful mix of
changing speed and location. What is your approach to getting batters out?

MM: Exactly that. I'm not overpowing. The key for me is to keep hitters off balance
and change speeds. It's important to get ahead of hitters because when you fall
behind it puts the hitters in more comfortable situation.

GRB: Do you have any nicknames we can start chanting next time you're throwing a
two hitter for us?

MM: Ha, no I have never had a nickname. Maroth is a tough last name to have a
nickname for.

GRB: During your first game for the Cards against the Mets, the ESPN commentators
spent a lot of time discussing your pickoff move, and noting that you often look
home when throwing to first and pitch home while looking at the runner. How did
you develop this move?

MM: That all started in college. During my freshman year my freshman year at UCF my
pitching, Mick Maack, worked with me on the move. He was also left handed and he
helped me develop the move that I still have today.

GRB: How much work is involved with switching leagues? Are you bombarded now with
scouting reports for a lot of unfamiliar hitters? Do you think that you're going
to have to adjust your pitching for NL hitters, or are they going to have to
adjust to you?

MM: Most of the work for me has been done by studying video and watching the hitters
that I'm going to face. Switching leagues means that I haven't faced many of the
hitters that I now see, so I have no previous at bats or experience to go on. In
today's game, video is so big and it's important to spend a lot of time with
that.

GRB: Please talk a little bit about your involvement in community service when
you were with Detroit. What kinds of service projects were you involved in? Why
do you feel that giving back to your community is important?

MM: I hope to carry over a lot of what I did into St. Louis. My biggest involvement
is with the National MS Society, as my father was diagnosed with MS and I've
been active with them. I'm also involved with Rock and Wrap it Up, which a
program that helps feed the homeless by taking left over food from MLB
Clubhouses and bringing them to the shelters. It's always been very, very
important for me to give back.

GRB: What hitters and pitchers around baseball do you like watching and/or
competing against?

MM: I like to watch pitchers who are not overpowing guys. Guys like Tom Glavine and
Jaime Moyer. I try to watch as much video of them as I can, especially of them
facing teams that I'm about to face. Kenny Rogers was also a good influence for
me, as one of the most consistent left handed pitchers in baseball. As for the
hitters, I like to see the St. Louis Cardinals batters put lots of runs on the
score boards.

GRB: What is it like working with Iván Rodríguez? Are you looking forward to
working with Yadier Molina? How would you contrast their styles?

MM: Pudge was great, which is obvious based on all of the things he's been able to
accomplish. He made it easy for pitchers with runners on base, and he's one of
the best that I have ever seen at getting out from behind the plate. I've heard
only good things about Molina. He's certainly lived up to that. He's a great
defensive catcher with an outstanding arm and he calls an excellent game.


GRB: Was there any initial awkwardness when you learned that you would be
playing for the team that put a damper on the dream season for the Tigers last
year? How have some of your new teammates/fans helped to make you feel welcome?

MM: There was some at first and it was hard initially to look around and see so many
St. Louis Cardinals hats because it immediately reminded me of last year's World
Series. But it didn't take long for me to get adjusted and accepted. The guys on
this team have been great.

Michael
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by Michael »

Thank you for answering our questions Mike! Thank you Julie for setting up the interview!

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Radbird
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by Radbird »

Thanks for pulling this together, planet! He sounds like a genuinely nice guy.

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fulldeck
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by fulldeck »

Great interview! Thanks to all involved.

jim
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by jim »

A tip of the Redbird cap to both Planet and Mike Maroth!

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G. Keenan
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by G. Keenan »

That was terrific! Thank you so much Mike for answering our questions, and to Planet for setting it up.

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Jocephus
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by Jocephus »

thanks to all involved

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docellis
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by docellis »

That was really cool.

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heyzeus
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Re: Answers with Cardinal starter, Mike Maroth

Post by heyzeus »

Very cool, Good work to everyone who was involved, and thanks to Mike for taking our questions!

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