McCoy: Mental part of closer’s job is just as important as having a devastating pitch

So what makes a good closer?

Cincinnati Reds pitching coach Dick Pole is in his 21st coaching season and doesn’t even think about it when asked.

“Good fastball and a short memory,” Pole said. “Or a trick pitch. It’s mentality, really. You see guys who are good in the seventh inning or good in the eighth inning, but they don’t make good ninth-inning guys because once they realize he is the last line of defense, he is the one, it’s a little different ballgame.

“Trevor Hoffman closing games the last four or five years (with a fastball that has slipped from 97 mph to 89), that’s just the mentality of him knowing he can do that job,” Pole said. “Rod Beck was closing games with 83 miles-an-hour fastballs, but he had the mentality that he could do it.”

...“You have to have an attitude, too — that bulldog swagger,” Jay Bruce added. “You don’t make your money off closers.”

Yep, once Bouton stopped losing his cap…it was all over.