My old stomping grounds and first road trip with Wichita is in the books. The opponent for the first week of the two week road trip is the Arkansas Travelers members of the Seattle Mariners organization.
I was looking forward to heading to Arkansas because I have had success against them in the past. Although these are all new hitters it is a comfort level knowing when I am on their field I have pitched here before with success. It is also fun being the salted veteran who tries to give knowledge to the pitching staff about the ballpark in Little Rock.
A bonus of this trip was seeing an old friend of mine Matt Pierpont who I met with the Colorado Rockies. He was acting as the interim pitching coach for the Travelers. The longer I play the more people I meet and know in this small world of baseball.
I’m not fact checking myself but the game I threw in first in Arkansas was the first game I contributed to a shutout. When I came into the game it was 1-0 in the 7th inning. I promptly walked the leadoff hitter which is exactly what you want to do when you come into a 1-0 ballgame. I haven’t been the best this year with walking guys but I trust the stuff enough to work out of a jam. I went 1.2 innings and we won 4-0 because it started pouring rain the second I came out of the game. The game officially ended in a shutout and the first one I had been apart of.
My second appearance came in the Sunday heat. The heat index was 108° and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We had a bullpen day on Saturday the night before and as far as fresh relievers I was one of the only ones available. In my mind I knew I was pitching and I was going to have to carry multiple innings if possible. It is different than what I was used to in Amarillo or Reno. The more reps the better is how I always look at it.
I went the farthest I had gone in a while going 2.1 and I was cruising until I went out for my third inning. I’m not going to say no and hindsight to say hey if I didn’t throw that extra inning my numbers would look better. The series ended with us on top 4-2 in six games and extending our lead in the division. If we are going to be here until middle of September we might as well win it is the attitude around here.
The second leg of our trip was to Springdale, Arkansas to play the Northwest Arkansas Naturals the AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. This is the only stadium I didn’t travel to in 2019 and it is always nice to travel to a new stadium and experience what it has to offer.
This series was not kind to pitchers. The first game we put up 20 or so runs and each game of the series was high scoring. I threw on Sunday in Little Rock which meant my next outing wouldn’t be until later in the week. It seems most of the rotation here goes on rest and I had the most coming in to Friday. I knew I would be first up out of the pen and was ready to go when they called.
My action came when we were down in the 4th inning with bases loaded and one out. My first time coming in with runners in scoring position and the earliest I had come into a game. I got a groundball that ended in a fielders choice and then another ground ball to get out of the inning. Letting 1 of 3 score isn’t the absolute best but also I’m proud of it and I’m sure the starter appreciates 1 of 3.
In typical reliever fashion I went back out and gave up a home run of my own runners but I finished that inning and even went out for another. The team needed me to get them to the 7th inning and I did it. I’m proud of that even though runners scored and I showed I’ll bounce back. It is typical baseball being out there and you can throw 45 good pitches and that one mistake gets hit. The hitters here get paid to play and they are professional too.
When I am out there and something like that happens I’m always curious how I look from an outsider perspective. I asked a teammate after my outing how my mound presence was and he said it looked like I’m just chillin. No emotion. Which is the way to go. I know internally out there sometimes I have shaky knees or my heart is racing, but when my deliver starts all that fades. It is similar to the crowd noise. Between pitches I can hear people yelling but during the pitch it is nothing. It has been easier for me to make adjustments between each pitch which I know people say don’t worry about mechanics on the mound but it is more about a mindset adjustment. Then the mechanics follow.
I’ve enjoyed my time in Wichita so far and after three weeks I am starting to understand the plan. It boils down to throwing strikes, a mechanical adjustment or two, and creating a consistent profile on my fastball. The thing is until this year nobody has had a concrete plan and closed the feedback loop. Everywhere else I’ve been it’s been hey do this do that but then when it came time to implement the plan with data the coaches couldn’t bridge the gap. I think that’s been the big change for baseball lately as more and more teams are implementing technology.
What else I like is the two pitching coaches to bounce ideas off of instead of the same coach seeing you each day. I’m not saying the Twins have a magic bullet to fix me. In the end I need to be proactive and make the changes and implement the plan. It really is up to me now as they gave me the blueprint and the technology to do it.
What is next for the Wind Surge? We head home to play the Midland Rockhounds, who I debuted against this year with Amarillo. I’m excited to keep this playoff push going as we have seven weeks left in the season or 42 games. How nice would it be if Reno continues their success and I contribute to the success here for two rings in one season? I haven’t contributed to a ring chase in a while.
Seven weeks and 42 to go which means no more messing around. It is August and a new month and as people have been saying, the final full month of the AA season. Very exciting times! Thank you again to everyone who is following along and I’m looking forward to the next update.
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