Back Up?

Every Monday the schedule for pitchers is posted on the board. It outlines the pitching assignments for the week which include; innings, pitch counts, bullpen days, and the backups for every game. 

My schedule posted this week was backup today, one inning Tuesday, and two Friday. As we know, things can change quickly. The normal procedure for a game pitcher and backup pitcher is hangout in the morning until the team fundamental. 

As a backup pitcher, I get the game day treatment. No practicing and a shorter running schedule. There is always a chance that I have to pitch in the game, but that isn’t until everyone else runs into trouble. 

Instead of being the last resort out of the bullpen I became the first man out into a tie game with runners on 1st and 2nd. The starter struggled some today with his pitch count and I thought that someone else would be in before me. I had my normal bullpen gear with me and was stretching out some when I was alerted that I would be coming in soon. It depended on how many pitches that the starter threw. I was warming up the inning before but he only threw about 10 pitches which meant that I would be in the next inning if he ran into trouble. 

Fast forward to the 1st and 2nd tie game situation I was placed in. This is the first time all spring I have came in an inning. Up to this point everything has been fresh. Two pitches later I was out of the jam with a groundout. 

The hardest part about throwing multiple innings, in my experience, is waiting around between innings. Sometimes it’s a quick three outs while other times innings go on for what feels like forever. The break between my innings was not that long and I threw 13 pitches to complete my second inning. Flyout to center, groundout back to me, and a flyout to right field. 

Final line of:

1.1 IP 0 ER 0 BB 0 K 0 H

I am bummed I didn’t K anyone because I had a couple chances to do it but I am happy with my outing. My curveball felt better and I have Wednesdays bullpen to look forward to. 

Also today, on the other field, I watched Lucas Giolito for the Nationals pitch. He is rated their #1 prospect. I remember seeing him on the cover of Baseball America, and extended spring training is the last place I thought I would see him. I don’t know why he is here, but it makes me feel better that anyone can be in extended. 

My roommate is making the road trip with Rome this week, which means a week of the room to myself. It doesn’t change much, but it is nice to have alone time after being with the same group of guys everyday. 

Up next for me is a bullpen Wednesday and a couple innings Friday, schedule subject to change. 

The Nationals

I returned to the scene of my last spring training outing. Actually, I was on the field next to the last outing, but close enough. 

I was pitching for the red team today. The red team is mostly the new arrivals to extended. What I, and other pitchers, have observed about this group, is their lack of defense skills. Everytime we watch them play there is something happening that make you want to strike everyone out in fear that the play will be botched. 

I was looking forward to returning to Viera to leave a better impression in my mind. Rich Dubee is also in town, and getting to throw in front of the pitching coordinator is always good. 

After manning my radar gun post for 6 innings I relaxed some in the dugout. While I was doing the radar gun I was surrounded by Nationals players who were in their extended program or rehab. If you have ever wondered what guys talk about during the game, it is basically wishing the game to move faster and the drinking activities that will take place this weekend.  The guys were trying to get a head count for a beer Olympics, and talking what drinking events would be considered good competition. 

After leaving my drinking companions, I had the 8th inning of the 8 inning game so I had a little time to relax. When I came into the game, I had no idea of the score. 

It wasn’t my prettiest outing but they didn’t score. I gave up a weird hit that on most fields and teams would have been an out, but I was working with the red team defense. I will give my first basemen Castro credit.  He made an athletic play to track down a foul ball near the dugout. The red team defense broke even on the day with me. 

He ended up getting to third somehow with 1 out but I worked out of it and that was that. I didn’t think I did well enough to turn any heads but it was a serviceable performance. 

On a different side of things, we had the first players move up to Rome. One of them was my roommate Caleb Beech and the other was Luis Miranda. The odd thing about Caleb is that they flew him there rather than let him drive his truck. I don’t know if it is a temporary stay for him or if he has to abandon his truck but either way he is out of extended for now. 

Miranda is a reliever like myself. To say that I am not disappointed that I am the first reliever to be moved out of here would be a lie. What can I do besides keep pitching and see what happens? The whole reason I am here is to get out log here because I am pitching well. Right now the brass thinks that Miranda is more experienced and ready to pitch in Rome. That is fine with me because I know I have pitching to work on, and that I will probably get more innings here than I would in Rome right now. That is where I am at with the moving up prospect right now. 

As I have mentioned before I have Sundays off. The next I will pitch is probably Monday or Tuesday. 

Astros

Woo woo first outing against another extended team in the books. Today was the first game against the Astros. To me, this is the opening day for extended baseball. 

The good news is the Astros complex is located in Kissimmee  which is a 20-30 minute drive with no traffic. During extended the games start at 1 pm. This means that we practice in the morning and hit the road before lunch. This set up is the same as the GCL. 

The bad news is that only the Canadians get to play on the big league fields. Today we were on the back fields. We took two teams with us and were running two games. The only problem is that we didn’t bring any extra guys to do the radar gun.  The Astros also do not provide any shade for the fans at the game. There I was, sweating it out for 7 innings on the radar gun before I was relieved to head into the dugout. Then it was my turn to throw the ninth. 

When I came into the game it was 3-0 and I felt good. Four hitters later the game was over and I can say this was my first extended save. My final line was:

1 IP 1 H 1 K 0 BB 0 ER

The fastball command was there but the curve was not in a good place today. 

I am scheduled to throw again against the Nationals on Friday. Besides my outing today some interesting stuff has been going down. 

First, we have a new player, Andrew McKirahan, who was suspended 80 games for a banned PED. He is the second Brave to be suspended this year. We also have Arodys Vizcaino serving his suspension. Vizcaino has been throwing in the games to make sure he is ready in about 65 games and McKirahan has 77 more games on his suspension. They are part of the extended program now. 

Andrew McKirahan

Arodys Vizcaino

Here are the stories about each player and what is going on with their PED situation. 

During extended we do not get a paycheck. We are not on any rosters so there isn’t any reason to pay us, but we do get meal money once a week. Except the last two. There has been a hold up on the meal money for two weeks. I can handle not having meal money for two weeks but I’m sure there are guys strapped for cash right now. 

Now that games have started I will practice every morning until about 10:30-11 then a game at 1. Like always, there are guys speculating on if they are going to move teams and when it will happen. Some guys talk like it is next week, some are still wondering why they are in extended. My view is that when something happens I’ll believe it, until then it is just guys talking to talk. I have no idea how it works with being moved up / down / sideways or whatever so when I find out the process, I’ll let everyone know. 

Until then, it’s about throwing strikes and getting guys out. Getting the curveball across. 

When do I get to do that again? Friday. 

Extended Outing 2

The Canadians. This this the third time I have seen the Canadians. The first two were in instructional ball. 

The Canadians are a junior national baseball team. Which means they are 18U. An 18U team should not be able to beat a team of older guys, even if we are the extended group. The good news is that we won 8-2 or sometning like that so it was okay. They were up 2-0 for a second but the offense and poor defense of Canada came around to seal the victory. 

Anyways, I was tasked with throwing the ninth inning. I did something I have never done before, which threw the coaches for a loop. I threw a first pitch curveball out of the bullpen. Even though we were up six runs I wanted to try it and see what happened while also showing that I can throw a first pitch curve. Well it was a ball but that is alright I got it out of the way for later. 

The inning went well and I ended the game with three quick outs. It is what I expected facing younger players but that is what is great about baseball. They can still compete. In football, a high school team vs and older team would be a route. 

Instead of talking about how I pitched and all that I wanted to talk about something else. Someone else rather. My friend Brady Feigl is back in extended spring training from AAA due to an elbow injury. It is likely he will have Tommy John surgery soon. 

Brady was pitching in a men’s league a little over a year ago and signed with the Braves last winter. He pitched in A ball for half the year, and A+ the second half. Then, after a successful season, he was invited to big league spring training camp. Not only was he invited, but he stayed the whole time. He threw about 7 innings and did well. 

Here is a guy who went from out of baseball, to men’s league, to big league spring training, and skipped AA. Then, on the cusp of breaking into the major leagues, he might have surgery and be out over a year. 

It makes me sick. Here is a guy who does it the right way, works hard, and is looking at potentially and major setback. Knowing Brady, he will recover swiftly and be on the cusp of the major leagues soon. 

When I think about him and his situation, it reinforces what every coach says daily, that you have to compete like it is your last game. I don’t think Brady has pitched in his last game, not yet. 

I wanted to talk about Brady because he is a guy who helped me out in instructs and knows what it is like to be out of baseball. For him, it was a couple years coaches before he signed. For me, it was a couple months wondering what I could do to keep playing. We have that in common, and I treat it like a brotherhood. 

A perk of extended is that Sundays are off days. Next week is the first full week of games but I’m not sure when I’ll pitch. We only play the Astros, Tigers, and Nationals when games start. If I had to guess I will throw Wednesday in the game. 

Two weeks down in extended !

Extended Outing #1

First outing of extended in the books. Today was the first game of extended and my first game since April 3rd. 

With the addition of a new group we are able to scrimmage and get this, we scrimmaged in the big stadium. The same place that the big leaguers play their spring training games. This was my first time playing on the big field and hanging out in the big league bullpen. 

When we scrimmage on the back fields the bullpens are basically connected to the field. The bullpen on the big league field is behind the right field wall. Which means I get to do a sweet entrance jog onto the field. Coming in hot from the right field wall. There was no scoreboard, no music, and a handful of fans. With that being said, it still felt great coming in from behind the wall. 

I am in the team 1 blue working group. The guys in my group are, for the most part, guys that went through spring training. The team 2 red group is made up of the new arrivals. I threw for team 1 and faced guys that just showed up last week. Their team is younger, but they are here for a reason so I wanted to go right after the hitters. 

All spring I have been told to command my fastball and throw curves for strikes. 

The first hitter I faced went after the first pitch fastball for a bunt. Base hit. No problem though, it happens. Second hitter, fastball down and in and he rolled into a double play. Next hitter, fastball strike, curveball strike, then tried to throw a bouncing curve but left it up for a ground out. 

My pitch limit was 15-20 so when something like this happens then they extend the inning to face more hitters. A strikeout and a ground out later my extended debut was over. 

Final line: 1.2 IP 1 H 1 K 0 ER 0 BB

For a debut outing, besides striking everyone out, it felt good. I got received good feedback from Moylan, my assigned pitching coach, and if he is happy I am happy. 

Tomorrow is the same schedule, with the red group pitchers throwing. My next outing will be Saturday against Team Canada. If it is in the big league stadium, that’d be sweet, if not, I’m used to the back fields. 

The next step is to repeat this outing next time and build off of it.

Day 4 Hype

First Sunday of extended, and the last Sunday practice of extended. No Sunday practices from here on out, a perk of extended. 

Anyways, today was my bullpen day and my first time on the mound in over a week. It was quick, only 25 pitches, and I threw 7-8 curveballs. 6 were good, 2 were poop. Fastball command was okay for not doing it in a week. Next up is the scrimmage on Wednesday. 

The last few days the new guys arrived. Besides a few guys, all the new players are from Latin countries. They do not know much English, if any, and are around 16-18 years old. There are guys I remember from the GCL, but the majority are new guys. 

I asked a coach today about them and most of them have never been to America before. What a first impression, Orlando, FL. I do not know much about the Dominican, but I imagine it is not as glamorous as Orlando. One of the biggest steps in these their careers is coming to America. They have made it off the island for the first time and see what another country has to offer. From the hotel, the fields, the food, the clubhouse, I imagine it would be overwhelming at first. 

The only comparison I have is going off to college as a 17 year old. It is a new place and new faces, but once you find a routine you are fine. Like I mentioned earlier, the routine here is very familiar to me. It is almost the same thing everyday with a few changes mixed in. When games start, I’m sure it will be the same morning practice and afternoon game schedule as the GCL and spring training. 

The first week of extended spring training has come and gone. I like to think I will not have many more weeks here, but there are a lot of variables in the equation.

I started reading The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst. In the prologue he says:

The bottom line is, you always have a chance if you have a jersey on your back.

First time I have used the quote function of WordPress. I might have to mix in a daily horse calendar quote. 

With all this being said, Wednesday is the next chance to make improvements to my pitching. 

Extended – Day 1

Today was the first day of extended spring training, or spring training 2.0. 

It was a quick day. Practice did not start until 1 pm, and it was a very simple stretch, throw, PFP, run, done. 

There were only about 20-30 guys there because the new additions that were not in spring training have not arrived yet. The basic plan for extended spring training is just like what I did this summer and throughout spring training. Early morning practices followed by a game in the afternoon. I am looking for all the positives of being in extended, and two happened today. The first is that we wore shorts for practice. The second was that we didn’t have to shag batting practice. For the first day, those were two great perks. 

The first Intersquad game is Wednesday followed by a game against Canada on Saturday. The Canadian team is a group of high school guys that are being showcased against minor league clubs. We played against them in the instructional league but I never threw against them. 

Right now I am scheduled to throw a bullpen Sunday, one inning Wednesday in the scrimmage, and one inning against Canada on Saturday. It is the same schedule I was on during spring – pitch, two days off, pitch. 

The coaches that are here are the Danville and GCL coaches. I know the GCL coaches from last year and Rocket was my manager. He seems to be running extended, which is nice because it is someone I have thrown for before and he knows me. 

When we met up before practice, Rocket told the group that we are being watched. Also, that who knows what will happen with guys above us so we need to be ready to go at anytime. He said that when a call comes down, they ask whose ready and who is at the top of their list to move up. Obviously the plan is to show them what they need to see and be the guy at the top of the list. I talk a lot about being the guy and getting out of here, but now the time for talking is over. My pitching ability will determine where I go and how long I stay here. I feel good about being here, and that is because what other choice do I have? I can be a Debbie downer the whole time or look at the situation in a positive light. I like option two better. 

The movement starts Sunday. 

Moving Day

The last day of spring training is in the books. March 6 – April 5. 

Today was the last day and with that the day that everyone on full season clubs departs. Yesterday, the AA/A+ guys started their trek because it is a long trip. Today, AAA/A were the ones to go after practice, and they have a shorter drive. 

With 50 or so guys leaving yesterday, it was nice to have a smaller group on the fields. Today was really easy too, just a scrimmage and done by noon. 

The crappy part about today is the guys I have been practicing and hanging with all spring left to head to Rome. There are 46 players in extended, and only about 10-15 of us that were in spring training. There will definetly be many new faces hanging around the complex. Judging by the names and the ages, I won’t be able to communicate with many of them, but that’s okay I have a couple guys down here that I know. 

After taking a day or so to think about the spring and the decision of the management, I’m remaining optimistic. The first day I was not happy, but the way I feel won’t change. I can either prove them right or prove them wrong. I talked to a few management guys and they all seemed optimistic and enthusiastic about my future. They could have been lying right to my face, but I think I’ve earned honest answers. Getting a straight and honest answer all spring has been hard, because some of the coaches do not want to challenge the status quo. 

I’ve reflected on my first spring training and I realize I’ve made it further than people expected. At this time last year I was playing a conference week at third base. I thought I would be through a spring training, but I am taking the road less traveled. 

Right now I am grateful I still get to play, and I’m looking forward to extended starting on Thursday. Get to work again and show the coaches what they need to see.  

Judgement Day

Today was the final day of cuts and the day that everyone finds out what ball club they are on. It was also my last outing of Spring Training. 

It was an interesting day to say the least. When guys are being released from a team there is always a weird mix of sounds coming from the locker room. There is a lot of silence, random chatter, random laughter, and some guys who know they are safe that go about things like nothing is changed. 

I’ve already talked about how guys being released makes me feel, and that it sucks no matter who the person is. It could also be a good thing for some guys, a change of scenery might benefit some players. Sometimes it is a numbers game, which means the Braves had too many guys and needed to keep trimming it down to make rosters. Sometimes it is a person who has had years in the system, but didn’t meet the expectations. It could be a freshly signed free agent who didn’t fit the mold. The point is that guys get released for different reasons, but in the end it’s always a sad situation. Everyone reacts differently, and it is weird that the day someone is gone, everyone rationalizes it differently. Guys start saying.. Well he did this.. Or he didn’t do this.. That’s why I avoid the locker room, too many rumors and negative comments. 

As far as my outing went, it wasn’t as bad as my final GCL outing, but it didn’t make me feel confident closing out the spring. The first two hitters flew out on four pitches. After that, I don’t know what happened. I became wild. Maybe I was rushing. I clearly didn’t make an adjustment quick enough to throw strikes. Luckily, the guy behind me bailed me out and I only was on the hook for one run. 

My final line was:

.2 IP 1 H 1 BB 1 ER 2 HBP. 

After the outing, I did not receive any advice on what I was doing wrong. Maybe there is no advice to give, and I looked fine, just couldn’t throw a strike today. 

Which means my spring training total was:

7 IP 7 H 5 BB 5 K 3 ER. 

Bring my total with the Braves to 22 2/3 IP. Not including instructional league.

Obviously a decent amount of walks and hits. This summer I gave up fewer hits in twice the innings, and didn’t have nearly as bad of control problems. Whatever I was doing this summer I should get back to that and start throwing strikes again. 

On a positive, I don’t think that this outing had any effect on my placement for the spring. Well I should say my lack of placement for the spring. I have been assigned to extended spring training, which means I have some work to do to make a club.

The past few outings I have been told to throw more offspeed, that could be why I am staying here, more offspeed practice. I am a good candidate for extended, still being a freshly converted pitcher who needs more consistentcy in his pitches as well as his delivery. 

Mad isn’t the way I would describe how I feel about being left off a roster. Disappointed is a better word. I know I tried my best to make a team, and thought that compared to the other relievers I was doing better than some. Except I didn’t get paid as much, drafted as high, or have the same amount of experience as them. Besides all those reasons, I thought I did well enough to break camp with a full season team. 

A good thing that happened today was I got to see my friend Dakota who pitches for the Nationals. He’s in a similar boat as me right now, starting in A+, where he pitched all of last year. He gave me some good advice on my mechanics, which I will take and use throughout extended, now matter how long I am here for. 

I do not know what to expect from extended, except I have heard only negative reviews. I think it is the same as what I have been doing, only more practice. It will probably be very similar to what I did this summer in the GCL. 

At this point I feel like I am rambling some, but I also don’t want to write anything too negative about my current situation. This must be how Kris Bryant feels being left off the opening day roster. It makes me feel a little better knowing that we have something in common.

Now my goals have changed, and making the proper adjustments to get out of extended training are on the top of the list.