Fister comes across as old school

Photo by rick walter

A STRIKING FIGURE. Fister is an imposing sight to opposing hitters.

Growing up in California’s Central Valley, Rainier pitcher Doug Fister followed the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, but his favorite player was not a pitcher – and he was not on either team. He was the Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr.  

“He was out there every day,” Fister said. “I tried to be mentally and physically strong like him. Now that I’m playing, I have gained a new respect for what these guys go through year after year.”

Fister stands at 6’ 8”, and as his experience matches his dedication and imposing physical presence, he is becoming a formidable weapon on the mound for the Rainiers.  

His first season in Triple-A is off to a pretty good start. Fister is third in numbers of innings pitched (63.2), games started (10) and strikeouts (52). His strikeouts-to-innings pitched ratio is terrific. He has given up just seven home runs.

Now 25, he was drafted by the Mariners in 2006 and has played in the M’s minor-league system his whole career. He has worked both as a starter and a reliever, although he has been in the starting rotation most of this season (10 starts out of 14 appearances, 4.52 ERA).

And showing his growth as a pitcher, he does not rely on one pitch when he needs an out.

“It’s a situational thing,” he said. “I can use them all – my strengths against the batters’ weaknesses.”

Fister is a native of Merced, Calif., and still lives there during the off-season. After graduating from Golden Valley High School in 2002, he went to Merced Community College for two years before transferring to Fresno State University.

Before he got to the Mariners, he was drafted two previous times.

“It never gets old hat. Each time was exciting,” he said.

The first two times, in 2004 by San Francisco and 2005 by the Yankees, he opted to go back to college.

“I was a late bloomer. It was a situation where I needed to learn more things, mature physically,” he said, about why he did not sign with either team.

He helped Fresno State win the 2006 Western Athletic Conference championship and reach the postseason for the second time since 2001.

That year, Fister was named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District Team.

In 2008, Fister split the season between starting and relieving again. His overall record was 6-14 and his ERA rose to 5.43. He was in the rotation the first two months of the season, winning three consecutive decisions and allowing only one earned run from April 9-19. Then the innings pitched may have caught up with him, as he lost a career-high total of 12 games from May 26 to August 10.

“It was definitely frustrating and tough to go through,” Fister said of that dry spell. “But it was also a good building time and made me stronger. Through trial and error, my coaches worked to try to fit me with me.”

Last fall, Fister headed off to the Arizona Fall League, where he pitched for the Peoria Javelinas.

In the offseason, Fister returns to Merced to spend time with his family, and he does some construction work. He is just four classes short of college graduation and hopes to eventually earn his degree as a liberal-studies major.

Since he has spent his entire career with the Mariners’ minor-league system, he knew many of the players, something that helped him make the jump to Triple-A a little easier.

“I especially like being with guys who have been in the system for a while. This is a great group to play with, and playing in Cheney with its history, is really nice.”

But there’s another “team” that Fister is not quite as familiar with – the umpires. They all have their own way of looking at the strike zone, so pitchers need to study this, as well as knowing what a batter’s tendencies are.

“Sometimes I experiment with the strike zone,” he said. “I stretch it out as much as possible to see just where each one puts the boundaries.”

Fister says he has learned that if he shows them respect they will usually do the same. So far he has had no ejections.

The learning curve continues, with the kind of old-school dedication and respect that the Iron Man himself would appreciate

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