LOS ANGELES — Anthony Banda is describing the seemingly minuscule adjustment that changed his life, allowed him to reach the pinnacle of his craft and has inspired him to give back to society when he stops abruptly.
Banda looks behind him, at the setup of his brand new locker inside the Dodgers’ reconstructed locker room and reaches for a drawer. He grabs a baseball and puts his fingers on the red stitched seam.
“Slider,” he announces.
Banda’s vibe: I know it sounds crazy so let me use a visual aid to show just what I’m talking about.
He is breaking down the mechanics of a pitch that was reworked with assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness in less than a day last year. It is the pitch the 31-year-old essentially abandoned during his journey through 11 major league franchises, seven of whom had called him up to the major leagues only to determine the relationship would be temporary. He had barely compiled three years of MLB service time.
In the Dodgers, Banda now has a club that can visualize a long-term partnership, and all it took was a suggestion on a pitch he thought he was better off without.
“I was always told that I couldn’t throw a slider,” Banda said flatly. “I was a heavy pronator, and I got here and they’re like, ‘This fits your throw.’”
Banda shows his new finger placement and a new release point. It doesn’t seem like much. It changed everything.
The refinements were shown to him by McGuiness in May, right after he was acquired by the Dodgers from the Cleveland Guardians’ Triple-A club for cash considerations. The Guardians never used him in a major league game.
Banda went on to deliver a 3.08 ERA in 48 appearances (49⅔ innings) with the Dodgers. He became a dependable late-inning option, and not just against left-handed hitters. In the playoffs for the first time in his career, he pitched eight innings over 10 games and had a 1.13 ERA.
He even made an appearance in four of the five World Series games against the New York Yankees. The Dodgers won every one of those games, including Game 5 when he replaced a struggling Jack Flaherty in the second inning.
In that Game 5, Banda walked a batter and uncorked a wild pitch in his two-thirds of an inning, but he was the start of a run that saw the Dodgers’ bullpen hold the Yankees to just two runs over the final 7⅔ innings. It gave the offense time to manufacture a seven-run rally that would go down in history and secure them another World Series title.
There was something about the way McGuiness’ words resonated with Banda’s ears. They watched a replay from a slow-motion camera as Banda threw a slider with varied mechanics. And there it was. It all made sense.
When Banda throws a “backup” slider that doesn’t have the intended movement, his hand and fingers are on top of the ball at the release point. When the pitch moves as intended, Banda’s hand is on the outside of the ball.
And yet, Banda still has to run an internal dialog in his head in order to not revert to his old muscle-memory mechanics. Sometimes the cues no longer resonate and new ones are created.
It has been a process. It can also be frustrating. Banda spent time on the injured list last season after he backhanded a paper-towel dispenser in the clubhouse and broke a bone in his left hand.
The injury happened after Banda was charged with two runs on three hits in one inning of a September outing against the Chicago Cubs. He also allowed an inherited runner to score when Michael Bush had an RBI single off a slider.
“Sometimes you run into a point where the thought process doesn’t help anymore,” Banda said.
It might be a constant battle, but Banda is elated to have it.
“When (McGuiness) taught me, I was extremely happy, because all I’ve ever wanted to do was continue growing as a player, showing to myself that I could do it,” Banda said. “And so when I saw it, it was like ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing it.’ And it was like a new toy.
“That all falls back on the communication part of it. If he didn’t take the time to communicate that with me, sit me down and actually show me, it’s never there. I’m still trying to find it. It took me a little while to find it and understand it. And now it’s one of my best pitches.”
Catcher Austin Barnes has no hesitation asking Banda to throw the slider in key situations.
“He kind of slings it from a weird arm angle,” Barnes said. “I think that slider plays really well off how he slings the baseball. It’s honestly one of the tougher pitches to catch because of the way his arm is and how quick it is. It has a hard motion to it. It’s a good pitch.”
While plenty is said about how much money the Dodgers have to spend on top-end talent, they also have a knack for finding relievers in the margins, or those in the back half of their careers, and turning them into the best version of themselves.
The good fortune is not lost on Banda, who was a volunteer coach for his nephew’s high school baseball team in Arizona before the 2024 season started and hopes to be an inspiration not just for pitchers, but for people from all walks of life.
“Realistically, if you look at my career, it just speaks for itself, in a sense,” Banda said. “There was a very rocky career, but then I found some traction because of one person. I met one person that changed my life or my career.
“That’s the thing. If anything’s taken out of this, it’s the adversity to just get through, because it’s going to make you a better person in the end.”