A second round draft pick from 2005, Cubs left-hander Donnie Veal has begun to blossom into one of the top southpaws in the minors. Last season, the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder led all minor league starting pitchers with a .175 batting average against, while putting together a 2.16 ERA and 11-5 record.
Resting his arm before his winter workouts, Veal told us about his aspirations to become a doctor, his interactions with Mike Fetters and why he has been labeled as a guy who throws two different kinds of curveballs.
Adam Foster: You took an unorthodox route to professional baseball, starting at the University of Arizona and then transferring to Pima Community College (AZ) after you tore your labrum your freshman year with the Wildcats. How difficult was it to leave Arizona?
Donnie Veal: It was really hard. But just knowing that I wasn’t going to play that much really, made it that much easier to go somewhere else…knowing that I’d be able to play somewhere else – wherever I went.
Foster: Is it true that teams were worried about how signable you were coming out of high school because word was that you wanted to become a doctor?
Veal: Not really. I mean…it threw a few teams off, but I knew there’s 30 teams. So it might defer a few, but for the most part I’d be alright…if someone really wanted me, they could take a chance on me.
Foster: Do you have still interest in a medical career?
Veal: Yeah. It’s hard right now because the minor league season gets done in September and it’s hard to go to school because by the time I get back, it’s already been two or three weeks into the semester. So, I have to put it off, but I still want to do it if at all possible.
Foster: Orthopedic surgeon, right?
Veal: Yes.
Foster: I wonder how many guys who are taken at the top of the draft consider pursuing medical careers even after they are drafted?
Veal: (Laughs) From the people that I’ve met, I’m guess that it’s pretty rare.
Foster: Looking into your numbers and some of the criticism that people have had about your pitching – which is hard to find – it seems like one of the things you were working on this year was attempting to slow down your whole approach in terms of focusing on not walking batters.
Veal: Yeah.
Foster: How have you gone about that?
Veal: Well, number one was trusting my stuff. Some of my pitching coaches used to say, “Just trust your stuff and don’t try to overdo ‘cause you’ve got plenty. You don’t need to do more than you’re capable of.”
And then number two is just slowing myself down. Sometimes I rush to the plate…if I get a couple of quick outs, I’ll start rushing to get that last out real fast – getting ahead of myself. Then, once I start rushing, everything gets out of whack from the very beginning. And trying to throw the ball just so soon, you just have no shot of getting it where you want it to be.
Foster: Have you thought about talking to Mike Fetters to see if he could help you out?
Veal: (Laughs) Actually, he was doing therapy in Phoenix when I was rehabbing there. I talked to him a little bit…colorful guy – I really liked him. He’s a really good, outgoing, funny, hilarious guy.
Foster: What part of your game do you feel the most confident in?
Veal: Right now, location of my fastball. That and my changeup are the parts of my game that I feel most confident in.
My curveball is probably the thing that I’m least confident in. I’m working on getting more consistent with it. When I was hurt, I didn’t really throw it…didn’t want to do too much to hurt my elbow or back or anything like that. So, it just got rusty and I just have to get the feel of it back again.
That’s what I worked on most of the year. And it started to come around toward the end of the year, but I still got a lot of work to do on it.
Foster: I’ve heard that you throw two different kinds curveballs, a slow one that you have good control of and a hard one that you’ve struggled with a little bit before.
Veal: People have said that. At the beginning of the year we decided to just throw it for a strike – if anything – and it was working as a slow curveball…it was going for strikes. Then, the coaches wanted me to speed it up a little bit, so that’s where the whole slow/fast came from. I was adjusting…trying to figure out how to speed it up/slow it down, whatever.
I was working on trying to throw it harder. Sometimes I’d throw it slower…not on purpose. When I was trying to throw it for a strike, it would be slower, and then other times, “Alright just throw it,” and it would come out fast.
But right now, it’s more of just trying to get the feel of one down…I mean fast/slow difference, we need to get one down for now. And then, we can adjust later down the road.
Foster: It sounds like you’re leaning toward the hard one, though?
Veal: Yes.
Foster: Have the Cubs ever talked with you about the possibility of utilizing your arm out of the bullpen?
Veal: They haven’t mentioned it to me. When I got drafted, up to the end of this season, it has just been focusing on starting. They haven’t mentioned it at all.
Foster: That’s good to hear. Can I do a fill in the blank question with you?
Veal: Yeah, sure.
Foster: Donnie Veal will likely join the Cubs by _______.
Veal: ...2008
Foster: It seems like you had a lot of success with the preparation that you did for the 2006 season. People in the industry and people with the Cubs have said that you did a great job with that…that you’re a good example of the kind of worker they want to see from a ballplayer heading into his first full season. What did you do to prepare for 2006?
Veal: There was a trainer that I worked out with Phoenix, Keith Wilson. I worked out with him in high school…my senior year. And then, after I got hurt…he works his players out in the same place where I was doing my rehab.
So, I got to see him again, and then I just talked to him after the season and let him know, “This is when we got done, so when should I work out?” And he said, “Give it a month.” So, we started working out hard and heavy a month after the season ended.
The way he works guys out is real good. It’s sport-specific, so for pitchers he had a pitcher-specific workout for us. I just worked with him all fall and winter and started throwing. We get a workout plan from the Cubs…a throwing program…so I just kept close to that and that was pretty much it.
I didn’t really do too much extra. I just tried to stay on top of my workouts and tried to make sure I was in shape heading into Spring Training because I know it can take me a while to get going.
Foster: Are you working with the same trainer again this offseason?
Veal: Yes.
Foster: What are some of the highlights of the routine that he has put together for you?
Veal: I like the way he does things just because it’s specific for you. So, for pitchers we work our core, obviously, and a lot of back and shoulder. He has a lot of stretching, too, just to keep your arm loose because people don’t – especially big athletes – really focus on stretching as much as you should and it’s pretty important. So, I was happy about that aspect.
Foster: Are you working on any particular stretches that are specific to the kind of pitches you throw?
Veal: No. Just stretches to keep your shoulder, your back, your traps…just keep it all as loose as possible because that’s when you have the most power – when you’re strong and flexible. That’s just what the focus was.
Foster: Having worked on already coming back from a major shoulder injury, what’s your take on keeping your arm healthy and having a durable career…you obviously have the frame to potentially do that.
Veal: I just I just have to stay on top of it every day. And I pretty much did that this year. We have a little workout from the Cubs that we’re supposed to do after every start or after every bullpen or side session. And I just try to stay on top of it. Not everyone does it, but that’s alright.
Being hurt puts it in perspective, so I make sure I do it every day. I just definitely don’t want to be hurt again…probably the worst thing in the world to sit out a whole year and watch. So, I just stay on top of it every day as much as I can.
Foster: Going to someone who you may have to talk to about stretching soon, as he’s playing a pretty rough sport. Is see that your younger brother Devin committed to playing football for the University of Arizona last summer?
Veal: Yes.
Foster: And it looks like he is going to be used as a deep receiver threat?
Veal: He said receiver or defensive back is what they told him.
Foster: Is there an argument to be made that he’s the most talented athlete in the family?
Veal: (Thinks for a while) A slight argument. We usually go back and forth over it all the time. He’s real competitive just like me, so he’ll never admit to me that I’m better. But behind our backs, we had admitted it.
Foster: How about from an academic perspective – I saw he’s planning to study chemistry.
Veal: Not really because I think he’s the smarter one, but I work harder.
Foster: I saw that you were a 4.00 student in high school. Do you feel like your work ethic is something that’s going to really help you become a major league pitcher?
Veal: I hope so. My parents have pounded in my head, “If you work hard, good things will come to you.” I haven’t always been the best at everything…where it just comes easy. I have to work hard.
Hopefully, it does help me get to the big leagues. I mean, I can see the hard work that I put in last season paid off this year. I plan on doing as much – if not more – this offseason and try to get called up at the end of the year.
Foster: What kind of pregame preparation do you do?
Veal: At first I just come in and I take a little nap until right before I have to be out there. Then, I change (laughs) real fast, get out and start stretching…stretch out my legs then stretch out my arms. Then some short tossing, a little long toss from about 125 feet, come back in and do a little flat ground, and then get on the mound and start warming up.
Foster: What about from a mental standpoint?
Veal: When I’m taking a nap I’m supposed to visualize. That’s what I usually do, if I don’t fall asleep, I just visualize…just see yourself being successful; see yourself executing pitches; see yourself striking a guy out; see yourself getting a ground ball; see yourself with the bases loaded getting out of it with a double play ground ball.
In high school we practiced visualization and it worked pretty good. It has worked for me and that’s usually what I do mentally.
Foster: I’ve did some visualization in high school athletics, too. I think tonight when I go to bed, I’m going to visualize myself at Wrigley for the first time watching Donnie Veal on the mound. What do you think?
Veal: (Laughs) That sounds good to me.
Foster: Alright, I’ve got one more question for you. I have seen people bounce pitching comparisons to Dontrelle Willis off you for years. And I want to take a little bit of a different angle. How do you think you compare to Dontrelle Willis in terms of…
Veal: …realistically, in my opinion, I think I get compared to Dontrelle Willis because I’m black and left-handed. And that’s pretty much all the comparison is between me and Dontrelle.
He throws completely different than me…his whole windup is unique. And maybe the success that I’ve had in the minor leagues is almost comparable to the success that he had.
Foster: But can you swing the stick?
Veal: I used to be able to and we hit a little bit, but we’ll see when I get to Double-A, Triple-A, and the major league level…we’ll find out.
You can contact Adam Foster at adamwfoster@gmail.com.