Cardinal Mooney junior pitcher has 18-inning scoreless streak

If a pitcher’s primary job is to prevent runs at any cost — and it is — then Cardinal Mooney junior Dalton Plattner has done his job better than just about anyone.

As of April 25, Plattner’s scoreless streak had reached 18 innings, per coach Greg Mulhollen. That includes six-inning outings against St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg Catholic plus a few relief appearances, including a two-inning save April 24 against Braden River, preserving a 7-5 Cougars win. The last time he gave up a run was one month ago, March 28, against Northside Christian.

Not that he would know.

When Mulhollen asked Plattner if he knew how long his streak was, Plattner’s face slipped into a look of confusion.

“I had no idea,” Plattner said later. “I try and avoid looking at stats. It gets in my head if I focus on it too much. I don’t want to jinx it.”

That “no jinx” attitude carries over to his pregame routine, which Plattner begins by eating Chick-fil-A. The chicken tradition began after teammate Jared Tomasso’s mother brought the team some tenders before a game, one Plattner was starting. He pitched well, and decided nothing about his pregame could change. Now, it’s a four-strip meal with a Sprite every time.

The poultry has made a difference. Well, something has, anyway. Plattner pitched on the junior varsity team last season, and heading into 2017 he had a simple goal: Make one start on varsity. He’s accomplished more than he ever imagined, Plattner said. He’s never had a run of success like this. He credits his youth baseball coach, Ted Rose of Total Baseball Academy, with getting his mechanics right, and Cardinal Mooney pitching coach Troy Graybill with refining those mechanics.

“We’ve been trying to get my arm slot a little bit lower,” Plattner said. “My step out of my balance point is more aggressive. It’s helped me with control, and also velocity a little bit. It gives my ball a little more arm-side run (spin), so it sinks and cuts a little more.”

Plattner, a lefty, throws his fastball about 80 mph, 82 mph if he puts extra oomph into it. He also has a slider and change-up in his arsenal, but his fastball is his “out pitch,” the one he feels most comfortable throwing in tight spots, he said.

He’s also learned to stop and take a breath, which might not seem important, but can be the difference between an overwound pitch in the dirt and hitting the outside corner, right on the black edge of the plate. Any time Plattner falls behind a hitter 3-0, he said, he takes his hat off, adjusting it to find the perfect fit. He gives the rosin bag a few tosses, drying his palm of sweat. All this is an attempt to clear his head of everything except throwing a strike. Lately, Plattner’s attempts have been devastatingly effective. He’s only walked one batter in his last 14 innings, almost as impressive as the whole scoreless streak.

With his previous goal out of the way, Plattner has a few new ones: Get to the state tournament, and play college baseball. The Cougars stand at 16-8-1 as of this writing. They have a shot at Plattner’s first goal. The scoreless-innings streak will help with the second.

After my chat with Plattner and the revelation of his routines, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had done. Baseball is as superstitious as a sport can get. You don’t talk to pitchers while they have a no-hitter working. Do the sport’s cosmic rules apply to scoreless streaks, too?

Mea culpa, Dalton, if this column brings you bad luck — just be sure to stick with the chicken.