MacDonald adjusts to new reliever role Mainer pitching for Jays’ Class AA club

Camden’s Mike MacDonald has been thrown a couple of curveballs this year as he tries to catch on with the Toronto Blue Jays.

First, the longtime starting pitcher was told he’d be starting the season back in Double-A with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats after playing most of last season with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs.

If that wasn’t enough to cross up the former Camden-Rockport High School and the University of Maine standout, he also found out he was being converted into a reliever.

“Yeah, that was a surprise,” MacDonald said. “I spent all spring training getting my pitch count up, and didn’t find out until the end that I was going to the pen. In fact, they told me that and that I was going to New Hampshire the same day.”

Now that’s changing on the fly.

“I’m still getting my feet wet,” said MacDonald, whose only spring training relief outing was his last one. “I’m over the surprise. Now I’m just trying to get in a rhythm and get comfortable with my new role.”

Last season, MacDonald was promoted to Syracuse after going 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA in five starts for 28 2/3 innings with New Hampshire. He then went 6-8 with a 4.88 ERA in 23 starts with the Chiefs. He pitched 134 2/3 innings for Syracuse, but struggled as he yielded 161 hits, 34 walks, and four hit batters.

That wasn’t the breakout season he was hoping for after being named Blue Jays Minor League Star of the Month in both 2004 and 2005, and tossing a scoreless inning in the 2006 Eastern League All-Star Game.

So why the switch? MacDonald, 26, figures it was a numbers crunch: Toronto had five other starters in mind for Syracuse and five for New Hampshire. Since all minor league teams use five-man rotations, he was the odd man out.

“We feel that’s what’s best for him long range,” said New Hampshire pitching coach and former major league pitcher Dave LaRoche. “He’s one of those guys that’s probably a little short on talent, but he has guts and heart, he’s a hard worker who does everything you ask for him, and he’s a real competitor on the mound.”

Through Sunday, MacDonald is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA after three appearances.

“It’s definitely an adjustment,” he said. “You come into games in the later innings, you never know for sure if you’ll be pitching day to day, and it’s all about getting the guy out. That’s all that matters.”

Plus, he’s no longer trying to pace himself. He’s going full-bore at each hitter he faces.

“Now instead of pacing himself for 100 to 125 pitches, he’s just working one hitter at a time,” LaRoche explained.

So he must be able use every pitch at his disposal any time.

“His sinker is probably close to an average pitch, but his breaking balls are below average and his changeup’s below average, but his offspeed pitches are a lot better than they were two years ago,” said LaRoche, who coached MacDonald with the Cats in 2006 and 2007.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound MacDonald has pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, allowing five hits and two runs. He has struck out two batters and walked none.

“I just have to refine my tools,” MacDonald said. “I’ve worked on my changeup quite a bit along with a cut fastball to throw along with my sinker.”

LaRoche admits he’s rooting for MacDonald.

“I love the kind of kid he is,” he said. “But he’s a guy who has to have everything fall right for him to succeed in the majors since he’s not blessed with an unbelievable arm.

“He’ll have to work hard and earn everything he gets. He’s the type of guy who can maybe get to the bigs, but he has to develop something great and if it’s not your pitches, it has to be your location.”

LaRoche said this is basically MacDonald’s spring training as a reliever, so it will take some time for him to adjust.

“Maybe the muddy waters will clear up a month or two after being in the pen,” he said.

Strong start for Masterson

Portland Sea Dogs righthander Justin Masterson has been picked as Eastern League Pitcher of the Week after going 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts with five hits, 10 strikeouts, and no walks.

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