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Ryan Rowland-Smith, the lefthander acquired as a free agent this offseason, has his sights set on the No. 5 spot in the rotation.
Sorry, your version of Flash doesn't support this video. Please download the latest version at adobe.com. You'll be glad you did. KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Literally and figuratively, Ryan Rowland-Smith needed a defogging.
The literal proved an easy fix for the new Astros pitcher, who finally scrubbed his aversion to contact lenses so he could leave behind his goggles, which would fog up on the field and cause vision problems.
To clear his mind of the 1-10 season that had his confidence at new lows and his ERA at new heights, the defogging was not so easy.
Rowland-Smith, 28, knew after his last 2010 outing for the Seattle Mariners that he needed a mental jump-start. Turns out, what he needed was a physical kick. And a punch. And ...
Four-and-a-half months later, the Australian lefthander is with a new team with a new outlook and without about 15 pounds, thanks to an offseason regimen of mixed martial arts training.
"Physically, it was great. But psychologically, it really benefited me," Rowland-Smith said. "There was a lot of stuff I went through last year where I lost my confidence and doubted my ability. Just being around those guys reminds you of that competitive aspect, and it brought that back."
Rowland-Smith, whom the Astros signed during the winter meetings, spent part of the offseason in Australia. Upon his return, he trained in Los Angeles with Randy Couture and Jay Glazer, who have MMA backgrounds.
The workouts began with jump rope sessions and got into some Muay Thai knees, punches and kicks, some ground work, and 12 minutes of short, varied exercises in rapid succession.
"I dropped weight and got so much stronger," Rowland-Smith said. "We worked a lot on hip mobility and just being explosive. The whole idea of it is just being strong and explosive, just like baseball."
As much as the strength, which the 6-3 Sydney native said he also gained in his midsection, the time spent with the former UFC champion Couture was valuable.
"We talked for 45 minutes about some little psychological things," Rowland-Smith said. "He was good like that, because a guy like that has been through ups and downs in a tough sport."
Season out of syncRowland-Smith's major league career has been all about ups and downs .
He made his debut in 2007 out of the bullpen and became a starter late in 2008. He went 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 2008 and 5-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 2009.
"I'll admit I left 2009 with the feeling where, 'OK, I've got a little bit of this figured out,'?" Rowland-Smith said. "So I went into spring training last year a little underprepared, and it hit me like a ton of bricks."
He was pushed from the rotation twice and missed all of August with a back injury, finishing the year with the unsightly 1-10 record for the 101-loss Mariners and a 6.75 ERA that left little room to excuse the record for a lack of offensive support.
"I felt out of sync (after a poor spring), and from that moment I started questioning my ability and doubting myself," he said. I went into this cycle of every time I went out there, I was nervous like I'd never been nervous before. I got to the point where I said, 'I just want this to be over.'?"
It was all over, for the year and with the team that signed him in 2000. Headed toward arbitration eligibility, Rowland-Smith was non-tendered, allowing him to sign with any team.
Jest becomes realityHe joined the Astros on a split contract with a major league value of $725,000, citing the opportunity to compete for a spot and joking about a Thanksgiving trip to visit the family of his girlfriend Amanda Aardsma, the sister of former Rice pitcher and current Mariner David Aardsma.
"I was at my girlfriend's parents' place and was at their house and thought, 'I might just try to get a trade to Houston and shack up here,' just joking," he said. "Sure enough, two weeks later, I was a free agent."
He joins the mix for the fifth starter's spot.
Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg will play the role of a willing but not overeager mechanic in this fix-up.
"I kind of want to get a read on him before I start watching what he did in the past," Arnsberg said. "I'd like to see what I see in the first one or two weeks and then maybe go watch his film.
"Hopefully we'll get him back close or better than he was in Seattle when he had all that success."