Whitley, 26, spent the winter working out in Phoenix and said he's completely healthy, calling the lat injury that cost him most of last season "nasty." He's dedicated the last several months to get that right and threw a bullpen on Friday at Minute Maid Park.
"I threw crisp and clean and it felt good to throw off some dirt," he said. "I've been throwing indoors [in the Phoenix area] the whole offseason, so that was nice."
Whitley said the TrackMan data collected Friday provided promising information about his arsenal.
"Everything looked really good," he said. "[Pitch] shapes were good. I threw a slider with almost 25 inches of horizontal break [Friday]. I don't know how accurate that is, but it was good to see. Yeah, stuff's right back to where it was. Got up to 98 [mph] in November, so velocity is still there and I'm bouncing back health-wise and not getting too sore."
Whitely has been asking some of his teammates about how to adjust to pitching in relief as opposed to starting. He said the biggest thing will be slowing things down and not trying to overthrow, which will be a challenge when pitching only one inning.
"When I come in there for three outs, I'm going to want to blow it up and show some good stuff and get guys out that way," Whitley said. "In the past on days like that, I've felt like I've gotten a little shaky and command has been a little bad because I'm moving too fast, but just trying to find a way to manage that and watching guys like [Ryan] Pressly and [Bryan] Abreu, a guy I played with a little bit, watching their routines."
Whitley knows there's some skepticism surrounding his future from those who have heard him say he's ready to take the next step a few times before. But a move to the bullpen, more experience and maturity -- he was married in December -- have him thinking 2024 will see a breakthrough.
"I've gone through so much the last three years," he said. I feel like I've attained so much knowledge on the pitching side -- how to manage the game when you're not in it, routines to stay healthy and all those things. I think having the experience that I've had is going make my big league experience initially a little bit easier. I think this is probably going to be my year."
No comments:
Post a Comment