BRADENTON, Fla. — One hour before his scheduled bullpen workout, Ivan Nova stepped out of the 12,000-square foot performance center at Pirate City, tossed his glove aside and joined his fellow pitchers for a mid-morning run.
Nova, smiling throughout, kept pace with pitchers eight years his junior and encouraged those who opted for a brisk pace on the humid February morning. The effervescent 31-year-old was in his element. However, one year earlier, he chose to work out alone indoors rather than facing the elements at the start of his work day.
Nova, though, decided to take his work outdoors this spring to show both his teammates and coaches he is not the same pitcher he was in 2017. In an effort to better prepare himself to make 30-plus starts, the right-hander lost 10 pounds this offseason by changing his workout regimen and diet.
After all, Nova now knows what it takes to go the distance in a major league rotation, and the Pirates will need him to do it again with Gerrit Cole gone.
"It's never easy," Nova told DKPittsburghSports.com last week. "It's never easy. But this is what I have to do to help my team win."
Nova does not want a repeat of what occurred last season. At first glance, his production wasn't disappointing. He had a 4.14 ERA, 1.278 WHIP and 131 strikeouts to 36 walks in a career-high 31 starts.
Although Cole recorded a 1.25 WHIP, it was Nova who pitched like the staff ace for much of the first half. His body, though, was not prepared for the rigors of a full major league season. He nearly missed his start on May 25 in Atlanta because of left knee inflammation, only to pitch 8 1/3 innings in a victory.
The inflammation persisted for much of the season, though. In turn, his core became weaker and his arm slot started to drop, negatively impacting his ability to throw strikes. And throwing strikes — specifically pounding the lower-portion of the strike zone with fastballs — is what made Nova so successful.
After posting a 3.21 ERA in 18 starts before the All-Star break, Nova had a 5.83 ERA in his final 13 starts. Opponents batted .316 against him during that span, and his ground-ball rate plummeted six percent while his home run to fly ball ratio rose six percent.
"One thing about his fastball is it stayed relatively close to where it was but the angle and the sink lost," Ray Searage explained. "The life of the pitch was diminished. The curveball became a little loopy because he couldn’t get accelerated. His legs wouldn’t allow him to get in the right position and a strong position to get there for that and to stay on top and behind the ball. The arm dropped a little bit so he was behind and under the ball, so instead of having downhill and down he lost some of that angle. It was still downhill but not as much. It was downhill and moved laterally. The same thing happened to the changeup."
Nova pitched through the seventh inning in eight of his first 16 starts. He failed to accomplish that feat in his final 15. Opponents' slugging percentage against his four-seam fastball jumped from .374 during the first three months of the season to .714 during the final three months.
His between-start routine was also impacted by the injury. Nova was unable to run for much of the season, relying only on throwing to physically prepare himself to start. It was no secret how much the injury was bothering him.
Clint Hurdle implored Nova to let him know when or if he needed to take a break. Nova didn't entertain such an offer, although he was his own harshest critic when his command escaped him.
"He kept telling me to be honest if I'm tired or need a break or something," Nova said. "I always said no. I want the ball every five days. It was basically it. He would tell me all the time, 'I’m here for you. If I need to help you and give you a break I’ll give you a break. You can talk to me.' (I said) 'I’m fine, I’m fine. I know I’m struggling now but I’m going to get through it.'"
Nova never panicked. His time in the major leagues — particularly his experience with the Yankees — taught him that frustration can be a deterrent to success. When those thoughts crept in, he reminded himself that he simply needed his knee to recover to return to form.
During Nova's exit interview at the end of the season, Hurdle, Searage and Neal Huntington challenged Nova to better prepare himself to pitch an entire season in the rotation. It's not that Nova was lazy in previous years. Quite the contrary, according to Searage. But like Gregory Polanco, the Pirates wanted Nova to prepare himself in a smarter way.
So, they handed him a new workout regimen and diet.
Nova won't divulge the details of that plan. He won't even disclose which foods he was told to stop eating. "Some things just need to be kept secret," he said with a grin. The Pirates sent staff to the Dominican Republic to check on Nova's progress this offseason.
Searage wasn't surprised when he heard their glowing report. He and Nova have become quite close since they started working together. Searage knew how difficult the second half of the season was for Nova.
"That’s one of the reasons I did the kind of preparation I did during the offseason," Nova said. "It was my first time going through a full year in the rotation, and I can finally say now I know what it takes to be able to go pitch 30, 30-plus starts. That’s, I guess, what you learn from. Now you know what you have to do to get through that."
Most of Nova's eight years of major-league experience were spent bouncing back and forth between the bullpen and rotation in New York. The Yankees used Nova as a long reliever at the start of 2016, but he returned to the rotation for 15 starts before he was traded to the Pirates.
Nova had a 1.09 WHIP with 52 strikeouts to three walks in 11 starts with the Pirates to finish the season. He then signed a three-year contract extension with the club last offseason and is now one of just seven players over the age of 30 on the 40-man roster.
"He can help you save a bullpen and help you stabilize," Huntington said. "He’s leaner. He’s healthy, and we’re looking forward to Ivan being a quality starter for us and help anchor a young rotation."
With Cole gone, Nova has been thrust into more of a leadership role, too. He's the only member of the Pirates' rotation over the age of 26 and is the only starter with more than one full season of major league experience. After a recent workout, Nova walked around the clubhouse and adjacent hallways at Pirate City to remind his teammates of a pitchers-only meeting that afternoon.
He's also taken Michael Feliz, a 24-year-old relief pitcher acquired from the Astros in the Cole trade, under his wing. Other Latin American pitchers gather near Nova's locker to ask questions or simply hang out in hopes Nova strolls in with a joke or humorous criticism of the music being played inside the clubhouse.
"Nova does a great job relating with younger guys," Jameson Taillon said. "We all respect him. We all know he’s been around a while. He also brings together the American guys, the Latin American guys. He gets along with everybody. That’s big. You’re looking at a guy who made 31 starts, threw a bunch of innings. It’s good to have a horse like that you can look up to."
Nova isn't a rah-rah leader like Cole or A.J. Burnett. He'd rather lead by showing his teammates he's willing to do whatever it takes to help the Pirates win.
"This is my job," Nova said, "and I have to protect it."