"Most guys throw downhill. With Tito, it's almost like he's throwing uphill, with late life. He gets a little ride on his fastball with sink. When he goes inside, it explodes inside, it jumps on you. Plus, he has the breaking ball and changeup."
Fuentes, who overhauled his delivery as a minor leaguer in the Seattle organization in 2000, kept a log of every at-bat during his NL days and used it as a reference tool.
Facing so many new hitters this season, he has leaned on catchers Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli for guidance.
"I was a little concerned coming here that both catchers were young and without much big league service time, but they've been a surprise," Fuentes said.
"I knew Mike [Scioscia] worked with them a lot, and they're probably the hardest-working catchers I've ever seen. Having an ex-catcher as a manager helps, but they study the charts of every hitter, they put in the work."
One measure of Fuentes' success is there has been little fan backlash over the Angels' decision to let Rodriguez, who set a season record of 62 saves in 2008, go as a free agent.
There were some rumblings in April, though. Slowed by a back injury and a trip to his Merced, Calif., home to attend to a family matter, Fuentes threw only 7 2/3 innings in spring training and struggled to find his rhythm in that first month of the season.
On May 1, he had a 7.88 ERA and had blown two of seven save opportunities.
Since then, Fuentes, who throws a 15-pitch bullpen session nearly every day to stay sharp, has given up four earned runs and 14 hits in 22 2/3 innings over 25 games for a 1.59 ERA. He has converted 21 of 22 save opportunities in that span.
"I've heard people say they're happy to have me instead of Frankie," Fuentes said. "I'm like, 'Why? He had 62 saves last year, over 200 saves over the last few years; it's amazing what he did for this organization.
"But at the same time, it's nice to feel appreciated and to do well, not so much to fill the void of Frankie but to fill the void of the quality closer the team needs."
--
mike.digiovanna@latimes.com
