So I've been a little lazy with new posts. I haven't had too much to say since the days are starting to run together. I have so far thrown 3 innings so far and have fared well. First off, I threw 1 inning in intrasquad against our Dayton squad. I have just a quick thing to say about squads:
Everyone in camp is assigned to one of the four teams: Triple A (Louisville), Double A (Carolina), High A (Bakersfield), and low A (Dayton). You usually will stay with these teams until your break camp. However, don't put too much stock into which team you're with for Spring Training because there are a ton of guys that get invites to Big League camp, and when they make cuts, those guys are then reassigned to minor league camp (usually Triple or Double A). When those guys get sent down, they take the spots of the current guys who then get reassigned also. So there's a trickle down effect going on. So guys usually look at which team they're assigned to in Spring Training and then they knock themselves down a level and that's where they'll most likely be (if they're lucky).
So I threw one inning, got a 1-2-3. I was happy about the 1-2-3, but what really made me happy was that it was against the 2-3-4 hitters in our lineup whom are all lefties. So last year, I had a decent year, but when you break down my stats, lefties hit .500 off me in 3.2 innings. Righties hit .160 in 13.2 innings...so quite the difference. So for me to get three of our better lefties out in order is always a good sign. I understand it's just spring, and hitters are still trying to get their timing back, but a win is a win in my book.
So yesterday was our first game against a different team. I was backup for the game, meaning that if a pitcher went down with an injury or threw too many pitches in on inning, then I would fill in. It turns out that the only team that needed fill ins were the Diamondbacks. They had a shortstop who took a worm burner off the jewels as well as a pitcher who took a comebacker off the foot. At the end of the day, I ended up not throwing. In spring training games, you play like it's a real game, but if a pitcher is struggling to throw strikes or is getting hit around a bit, you can just roll the inning to save their arm. So that means that the games really don't count. If we kept score in this first game, we would have lost, but it didn't count so no worries. One thing that did kind of suck was that the game was 3 hours long. I had my fair share of 3+ hour games in college, but last year, we would bang out a game in 2 hours pretty routinely. Maybe I have become spoiled, but a 3.5 hour game really wears on you after you're at the field 5 hours before the first pitch. Either way, at the end of the day, I am happy to be playing baseball again. Everyone will always find something to complain about!
So I was slated to throw 2 innings the next day (Wednesday) since I didn't get in as a back up. We were set to travel to the Rockies' yard for a 1 pm start. The Rockies and Diamondbacks are two teams that are new to the AZL. They just build a completely new facility on the other side of town (the east side) and it's beautiful. Even though I had a decent 1-2-3 inning for my last outing, I had a few things to improve upon. The management expressed their desire for me to expand my stride. I always knew that this was an area of potential improvement for my delivery. It kinda fell in that "not broke so don't fix it categories " in the past, but if I want to stick around at this level, you have to have your delivery fine tuned to get the most out of your body.
So I made these adjustments but never really had a chance to really try them out by throwing a pen or anything. I was a little nervous for the past few days because I would go into a game without the 100% confidence that I could move the ball wherever I wanted. I did a lot of mental preparation for this outing to try and make up for the lack of physical preparation. This morning I got up on a mound and did some dry throws and liked what progress I had made. I found a shred of hope and help on to that as much as I could. We went through the usual stretch, throwing program, and BP. We had a quick lunch at the field and got on the bus for the bus trip. The bus trip across the city very reminiscent of last year in the AZL and may have helped put me in my comfort zone a bit. I was definitely a little nervous, but tried to get myself in a similar mindset that I had last year here while focusing on taking deep breaths.
One thing that I realized while closing at Wake was that I went through a mental cycle through out the game. I knew my role: I was a back end bullpen guy. There would be times in the middle of the game where it would be a close game and I would all the sudden be hit with a tremendous anxiety of doubt. I would start worrying whether or not I would have my good stuff that day, that I could blow the game for the team, I could go out there and not record a single out and completely fail. Eventually I would work myself out of these thoughts and chalk it up to all my previous hard work, preparation, and fate. No matter where I was in this mental cycle, by the time I made the first warm up throw, I would be locked in. One advantage that I have when I get out there is the ability to make adjustments between pitches. This is something that I've learned from a few of my extremely influential pitching coaches in the past, and if you've been around me while I'm coaching, this is something I stress to my players. If my ball isn't going where I want, I know that I can make the right adjustment to bring it in line. This ensures a bit of consistency with my location. With good location, more often than not, you'll have success. Somedays, it doesn't matter what you do, you get hit, but at least in the long run, I'm ok as long as I can remain calm and have confidence. That usually comes through mental preparation.
So today I was slated to throw 3rd in line. The starter, first reliever and I were suppose to throw 2 innings a piece. However, the second pitcher wasn't able to complete his second inning so I got bumped up early. Nothing like a rushed warm up session! I warm up quickly anyways, thanks to a few years of bullpen time at Wake so no biggie. This warm up was important because it was the first time I would get to try out my new stride. After warming up it was apparent that I had good control of my slider and change up, but my fast ball was all over the place, which usually isn't a great sign since everything comes off your fastball. Like my second bullpen, I had to chalk it up to I'll just have to figure it out when I get on the mound with a hitter in there. Sure enough, my first warm up pitch out there was a good one and I immediately had a sense of relief.
The first hitter stepped in and I got him to pop out to first. The second hitter punched out on a slider in the dirt. The third hitter grounded out. One thing that can happen to pitchers is that you can come out hot and then between innings you can lose your focus and come out stale in the next inning and get crushed. I tried to keep my focus and so I went out the next inning and threw my warm up pitches. I got down 3-0 to the first hitter which is a no-no for pitchers. You don't ever walk the leadoff man. I managed to come back and get it to 3-2 before inducing a weak pop up to the SS. The next guy up was a righty and got a first pitch change up for strike one. The next pitch was an inside 2 seamer which is probably one of my favorite pitches to throw. I threw one on the black which he managed to chop through the left side. It was a great pitch, but he somehow got to it and punched it through...that's baseball. The next hitter hit a ground ball to my left which I got a glove on but not all of it which redirected it to my second baseman who got the out at first. So I had a man on second with 2 outs. For my first pitch, I went with the no look pitch to home and induced a ground ball to our third baseman to end the inning. No problem.
I was definitely relieved to have a decent outing as I know nothing is guaranteed in baseball. Things can change on you in an instant so you have to keep that humility and don't get too big of a head because you'll get knocked down a peg or two by the baseball gods if you're not careful. So tomorrow is an intrasquad game. I have to lift upper body after I get in and get my hip worked on by the trainers. I did a lower body lift last week and was sore for 4 days after since we weren't allowed to lift for the first week of being here. There's a very true saying: It takes 2 months to get in shape and 2 weeks to get out of shape. I'm not out of baseball shape by any means, but in terms of offseason-heavy-lifting shape, I'm a little out of it. We weren't allowed to lift until then so it wasn't by choice. Anyways, I live to see another day!
Take it easy.
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