Jim Tracy
Jim Tracy
himself mission pitch rotation starting
He's on a mission to pitch himself into the starting rotation and right now he's succeeding.
ability area command innings latter needs pitches pleased progress strikes throw
He really understands that he needs command and the ability to throw strikes when he pitches in the latter innings of games. I'm very pleased with the progress he has made in that area this spring.
adjustment ball count early forced fourth himself kept opposition order pitch swing
Ian Snell made an adjustment from what he was doing early on and got the ball down to where he could be very effective. He forced the opposition to have to swing the bat. He got himself some early-count outs. As a result, he kept his pitch count in order and was able to go through the fourth inning.
advocating approaches ball continuing couple guys pitch smart swung taking time
I'm not advocating taking a ball on the first pitch every time up there. A couple of times (yesterday), the first pitch was there, and we swung at it. But I'm continuing to see these guys take smart approaches to hitting, and that's encouraging.
advocating bad good pitch preaching swing time walk weak winning
I'm not advocating we take the first pitch every time we walk up there. But, if you're going to take a swing at a first pitch, have it be a really good swing. If we keep preaching that, there won't have to be a whole lot said if you make a weak out on a marginally bad first pitch. It's not the way you play winning baseball.
keeping mind open pitching question
No question there's a lot of pitching here. And we're keeping an open mind to everything we see.
deserves duke earned home opener pitch
Zach Duke deserves to pitch the home opener in Pittsburgh. He's earned that right.
arm consistent continue dead gets life pitches problem saw struggle throw until
I didn't see a dead arm. I saw some pitches with a lot of life and a lot of movement. The problem was that Oliver didn't do that consistently. Until he gets a consistent arm slot, he's going to continue to struggle to throw strikes.
ahead entering good hitting life pitch seen
Go ahead and take that gun. What was important was the life of the pitch when it's entering the hitting area. That was as good as I've seen him.
biggest chance element fifth good last pitcher starting
Did the starting pitcher give you a chance every fifth day to go out there and win? -- that's the biggest element I look at. (Santos) was pretty good at that last year.
duke last pitcher type
Zach Duke showed us last year, and in his first start, what type of pitcher he is.
catch pitch
You've got to be able to pitch and you've got to be able to catch the ball. If you can't, you probably won't be very good.
build definitely game kid pitches
The kid has the pitches to be very good. This was definitely a game for him to build on.
afraid attack ball certainly close paying pitcher
If I'm a pitcher and I'm paying close attention, I'm certainly not going to be afraid to attack somebody's bat. I want the ball in play -- because they're going to make plays.