Britton passes around credit for historic season

The annual Orioles FanFest event at the Baltimore Convention Center is only a few days away and closer Zach Britton will be a popular figure with fans and the media. An extremely nice guy, super-talented and coming off an historic season. He won't slip through the crowd unnoticed.

How long until he's asked about being a perfect 47-for-47 in saves and how he intends to top it? I'm giving him one minute.

Maybe two minutes before he's asked about not pitching in the wild card game. I'll understand if you take the "under."

Britton hasn't blown a save opportunity since Sept. 20, 2015 in a 7-6 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. Pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer tied the game with a leadoff home run, Evan Longoria tripled with one out, Logan Forsythe and Richie Shaffer walked, Joey Butler struck out and Kevin Kiermaier hit a walk-off single to second base.

Maybe the sinker was working a little too good.

Britton converted his next two chances and all 47 in 2016.

"It was pretty special, but a lot of things happened in order for me to put together that season," he said last week. "I mean, you have a good team, a good defense behind you, a good catcher calling a good game."

There also was a great relay that spared Britton a blown save opportunity on Sept. 16 against the Rays at Camden Yards - easily one of the most exciting moments of the season.

Mikie Mahtook singled with two outs and raced home on Alexei Ramirez's double into the left field corner. Michael Bourn, moved from right to left field as Hyun Soo Kim's defensive replacement, chased down the ball and fired to Manny Machado, who nailed Mahtook at the plate.

"It was a fun season and obviously I don't take it lightly because that's pretty special for that to happen, but if Michael Bourn and Manny don't relay that one ball and throw the guy out at the plate against the Rays, we're not talking about it," Britton said. "So there's things that not only I did, but my teammates did to help me put together that season."

Britton kept it business as usual, but he also had the ability to appreciate what was transpiring, including only four earned runs allowed for a 0.54 ERA in 67 innings. He could visualize getting hitters out, but he never saw this coming.

"I mean, yeah, it's the big leagues and they get paid to score runs," he said. "My wife was joking with me a couple times. 'Well, why don't you just not give up a run the whole season?' I said, 'Well, if it was that easy, I think more people would do it.' It's not easy.

"I tried not to think about it, in all honesty. We're human, so obviously I knew what was going on, but when I got on the field or even when I was warming up, in my head I just had an idea of, this is what I want to do to every single hitter. I had a chance to look at the lineup and know who I was probably going to face and the pinch-hitters, so I kind of had a game plan. Every single hitter, this is what I'm going to do and if I get beat doing it, I get beat, but I'm going to stick to it. And I felt like this was the first year that I've ever had that plan and actually stuck with it.

"There are times that you want to do something and you get into the game and for some reason or another you kind of get away from what you wanted to do. I told myself this year that I'm not going to give in. I'm going to do what I prepared to do in my scouting report. I'm going to execute the way I want to execute. When I was down in the bullpen running it through my head, I'm going to do it and take it out to the game. And I did and I found some success. Not saying that I'm going to be perfect again this year, but for some reason, putting that into action allowed me to be consistent."

Britton's body of work included only one home run surrendered over his 69 appearances. Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, runner-up for the American League's Most Valuable Player, took Britton deep on April 11, but another save was notched in a 9-7 win at Fenway Park.

Betts led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a line drive over the Green Monster in left field.

"I'm just happy Mookie Betts had a pretty good year, right?" Britton said, laughing. "He had a decent year. That makes it a little bit better. No shame, right? He got a lot of people."

Britton is glad that the bullpen remains intact despite heavy trade interest in Brad Brach. Five spots appear to be secured, with left-hander Donnie Hart expected to break camp with the team after making his major league debut on July 17.

"I'm really excited to see what he's going to do for a full season," Britton said. "He's an intriguing guy. He's like a hybrid Darren (O'Day), a left-handed Darren. He just brings something to the table. Those (sidearm) guys are always nice to have in the bullpen. It's a different look for hitters."

Britton will be throwing to a different catcher with Welington Castillo replacing Matt Wieters. A scouting report from a close friend left him encouraged, though he's going to miss his longtime batterymate.

"Talking with Jake Arrieta, he had nothing but good things to say about (Castillo)," Britton said. "He played with him with the Cubs. He said that we'll definitely like him. He's improved a lot over the years, so I'm excited to meet him."

FanFest seems like an ideal time to do it.

Shameless plug alert: The "Hot Stove Show" returns tonight to Dempsey's Brew Pub & Restaurant, airing from 6-7p.m. on 105.7 The Fan. Brach, catcher Caleb Joseph and outfielder Joey Rickard are in town for FanFest and they'll join us during the hour.