Mark Connor
Mark Connor
Mark Peter Connoris a former pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Before his coaching career, he was a minor league pitcher from 1971 through 1972 who batted and threw right-handed...
bad balls coming couple dial fifth hard hit spring turned
I thought he was pretty good. Coming out of spring training, he turned the dial up with his intensity, with his stuff. He made a couple of bad pitches, obviously, but I thought he could have been out of that fifth inning and it's 2-0 ... a couple of balls hit hard and that's about it.
ball baltimore couple given good help hopefully liked mechanical rick saw seen shown since
I saw Rick come up with Baltimore in '01 and I liked his stuff. I haven't seen much of him since but he's got a live arm, his ball sinks and he's got a good slider. There's more in there than he's shown and I've given him a couple mechanical things that hopefully will help him.
assume counting late responsibility role
We're counting on him to assume a role of responsibility late in the game.
april biggest change game goal guy happy healthy march monitor pitching push ready
It doesn't change anything for me, the goal is still to have the guy healthy and ready for April 2. The biggest thing is we don't have to push him. If we can get Cordero pitching in a game by March 10 or 12, I'll be happy even if it's a 'B' game or a Triple-A game where we can monitor what he's doing.
ability juan kid matter
We like this kid and his stuff. This kid has got the ability to do anything in the Majors. Like Juan Dominguez, it's a matter of consistency.
affected bigger credit laid last possibly situation table weight
We laid it out on the table for him, what his situation was, and to his credit, he's done everything he possibly could do to get back. He's bigger and stronger. We thought his weight was down last year, and it may have affected his velocity.
cause felt game happy impressed innings league major man threw
You know what I like. He threw two shutout innings in his first Major League game ever and he wasn't happy cause he felt like he overthrew and didn't locate. He's a young man that I've been impressed with all spring.
building closer course feeling felt innings keeps needed pitch
Through my years, I've felt a closer needed to pitch about 20 innings in the spring. But I like the course Coco is on. As long as he keeps building up and feeling good, I think he'll be fine.
fair five goes option pitches six
We want him to keep starting. If he goes 80 pitches and five or six innings, it's fair to say he's now an option for us.
chance gets good matures pitcher starting
He's a talent. As he matures and gets more experience, there's a pretty good chance he's going to be a good starting pitcher in the big leagues.
base believe breaking gave guy hit spring struck stuff telling trust walked
He was perfect. He walked a guy that I thought he struck out. He gave up a base hit and it was probably an error. He commanded his fastball, changeup and breaking ball. I've been telling him all spring he's got the stuff to do this. He's got to believe in it and trust it.
feels pitch
He feels like it's a pitch he can use.
embarrass good hitter needs recognize throws
He needs to recognize when he throws a good pitch, he doesn't need to throw a better one. You just have to get a hitter out, you don't have to embarrass him.
dealing given kim money
But we had given Kim a lot of money and he was dealing at the time.