How Padres closer Josh Hader lost and reclaimed his job

PEORIA, Ariz. — Eleven full days elapsed last summer between the night Josh Hader lost his job and the afternoon he reclaimed it. The Padres closer pitched twice in that span, even as the struggles that predated his Aug. 1 trade from Milwaukee apparently deepened. In the second of those outings, Hader inherited a three-run deficit and allowed it to balloon into a nine-run rout. His ERA climbed to 6.52, higher than it had ever been.

Yet, some 72 hours later, the lefty was back on the mound, closing out a one-run win at Oracle Park. The Padres had gone into the previous 11 days with the understanding that Hader would eventually return to the ninth inning. Along the way, they learned something.

“Josh Hader has been, if not the best reliever in baseball, one of the best relievers in baseball, and there’s a reason for it,” San Diego pitching coach Ruben Niebla said. “That’s what we found about him is that he’s mentally strong. … And as he was going through struggles, he always believed that he was going to get out of it.”

Including that Aug. 31 victory in San Francisco, Hader logged a 1.59 ERA over the rest of the regular season. Then, during the playoffs, he did not yield a run. Energized by raucous atmospheres, he threw the first 100 mph pitches of his life. Buoyed by unprecedented velocity, he set a major-league postseason record by striking out the last eight hitters he faced.

“You’re going to have your ups and downs in this game. That’s why it’s the hardest game, I guess, that I’ve ever played,” Hader said. “You have to be consistent through so many games. I think that’s the cool thing about baseball: It doesn’t matter how you start. It doesn’t matter the middle of it, either. It’s just how you finish, that you finish on a strong note.”

Hader’s return to form involved weeks of bullpen sessions and a focus from the ground up. After opening last season with 19 consecutive scoreless appearances, he had fallen into the worst two-month stretch of his career. His command, following a blockbuster trade, continued to disintegrate. Hader and the Padres came to identify a source of an inconsistent release point: his push-off foot.

“I was getting on my toe,” Hader said. “You can’t lift from your toe the same way every time; it’s just impossible. It’s more of just driving from the inner half of your foot, being able to stay connected to the ground as long as possible until the hips separation starts to really come.”

Quick fixes, of course, are elusive in a 162-game season. By mid-August, the results had gotten so bad that the Padres temporarily removed their heralded new closer from his customary role. Soon, however, there were also positive signs.

Despite his status as a three-time National League reliever of the year, Hader embraced mechanical tweaks suggested by Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz, two instructors he was still getting to know. By late August, the alterations had produced a steadier release point and encouraging pitch metrics.

And, throughout the process, Hader displayed plenty of mental fortitude.

“Even as he didn’t pitch the ninth, he was like, ‘You know the ninth is mine, right?’” Niebla recalled with a smile. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know the ninth is yours.’ He goes, ‘OK. As long as we know.’”

On the final day of the month, with the Padres fielding a taxed bullpen, manager Bob Melvin and Niebla elected to roll the dice.

“The thing that we knew is that we weren’t going to make a run if Josh Hader wasn’t pitching the ninth,” Niebla said. “So it’s, like, you got to get him in there. Even if he fails one more time, I’m seeing what I need to see out of him. It’s going to happen.”

Hader responded by delivering his first save for the Padres, against the same Giants team that had dealt him his two most recent blown saves. He converted each of his next four opportunities, too, before blowing a save at Petco Park against the Dodgers. But he limited the damage to one run. An inning later, he celebrated with his teammates when the Padres won on Jorge Alfaro’s walk-off walk.

On Oct. 15, they celebrated on the same field again. This time, Hader struck out Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman in succession, throwing only one ball amid a near-immaculate inning that sealed a monumental upset and sent the Padres into the National League Championship Series.

“I would say it’s probably one of my top favorite baseball moments,” Hader said. “The moment (Jake Cronenworth) hit that go-ahead double, it’s just special. … To be a part of that, to be able to close out — and the Dodgers, it was the club to beat. And for us to be able to finish it at home, that was the icing on the cake, doing it in front of our fans and being able to share that moment with them.”

In the weeks that followed, Hader could not escape seeing the pervasive replays of his finishing blow against Freeman. He did not mind. He still doesn’t.

“I get chills every time,” Hader said. “Because you know how it felt, you just relive it. That’s why we do it.”

For Hader, it was an exhilarating reward after a turbulent summer. For the Padres, it was emphatic confirmation that their belief had been well-founded.

“Credit to him making some adjustments, and you saw when he first got to us and where he was at the end — it was a pretty significant difference,” Melvin said last month. “And that’s just being open to making some subtle changes. Sometimes for a guy with his tenure and success, you would think maybe he’d be set in his ways, but he’s been really open to getting some information from Ruben and Fritzy, and I think it benefited him.”

“He did the work,” Niebla said.

There is significant work ahead. Next week, the Padres will embark on a highly anticipated season with uncertainty in their starting rotation. Yu Darvish, after winning a World Baseball Classic title, arrived in camp Thursday and acknowledged the concern about his lack of preseason innings. Joe Musgrove, as he rehabs a fractured toe, will miss at least one turn to pitch. Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo, both relievers at the end of last season, will try to prove themselves as starters.

The Padres, at least, can take comfort in the back of their bullpen. Hader, in his first spring with the team, has allowed one run in five Cactus League innings. He has continued settling into the clubhouse, where he already is a popular teammate.

If he struggles again, he can lean on his experience as one of the more accomplished relievers in baseball history. And he can think back to the rainy October day when, just weeks removed from the worst stretch of his career, he pitched the inning of his life.

“You can’t write a baseball story, right?” Hader said. “I think, at the end of the day, you just got to take each day with what it brings and not think ahead.”

(Photo: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)