The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball.
Everybody here has the ability to throw a fastball down and away or throw a breaking ball in the dirt for a swing and a miss. But are we able to stay in that moment and understand what we're trying to accomplish and see it in our mind before we execute and then make the pitch?
The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.
When I can buy strikes with that curveball, that just lets everything else play up.
You can be a two-pitch guy and be successful, but your room for error is very small.
I threw a good fastball and changeup, but a below-average curveball.
You worry about how you're throwing the ball, how you're executing your pitches.
If I can execute pitches and keep the ball out of the middle of the plate, I know I can have success.
I'm not executing my pitches. I'm not commanding my fastball, and I get behind in the count. When I try to throw strikes, I'm getting hurt. That's not the way I pitch.
If they are going to nibble and try to go below the zone or off the plate a little bit, I want to try and get a pitch in the zone that I can do damage on.
I try to execute pitches and get guys out.
I've always been fastball-curveball and really relied on that pitch, and when it goes away, it just totally changes how you attack hitters.
I think I'm constantly trying to grow as a pitcher. You start going out there, you're learning stuff, you're finding different ways to try to get guys out. Trying to be creative.
You still have to pitch the same game, execute your pitches as best you can. If the shadows end up helping you out, then great, but you can't really worry about that stuff.
Even if I was tipping my pitches, I could have thrown pitches good enough to not be hit.
My changeup needs to be better. Until I feel comfortable throwing that pitch - or any pitch - in any count, I've got stuff to work on.
I think we mixed a lot more curveballs than normal because they were either going after my drop or laying off of it and that's normally my go-to (pitch).
It's going to come down to executing, trying to keep guys off balance and disrupting timing. That's something you can do regardless of how many times you face a lineup or face certain hitters.
