INSIDE PITCH

Posted on 2012 under Braves | Comments are off

4 Feb

Players have been coming into the clubhouse at Turner Field for the last month, at least, but Jan. 30 marked the first official day of the traditional early throwing program. It's voluntary and open also to the organization's minor-leaguers, who are always amazed that pitching coach Roger McDowell spends as much time with them as with the established pitchers. Because right-handed prospects Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado attract so much attention, it's easy to forget that right-hander Brandon Beachy and left-hander Mike Minor are young pitchers, too. As are left-hander Jonny Venters, right-hander Craig Kimbrel and even, for that matter, right-handers Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson. "It's going to take some patience and some bumps in the road," McDowell says. Of Beachy and Minor, specifically, McDowell added: "They're still young at their craft. The experience that they gained last year was a tremendous asset. You can't replace that in the minor leagues. The atmosphere that they were in the last month of the season, they were able to contribute." Beachy doesn't take a lot of consolation in that, of course, saying: "I pitched poorly in September. But it wasn't because of anything conditioning-wise or being tired or anything I could have done in the weight room. I just didn't execute. "That's going to be what I have to work out on the mound in those bullpen sessions. The consistency of throwing more and more." Meaning, hitting his spots. "Just being able to throw it outside when I want it outside and inside when I want it inside." When he didn't do that last season, his pitch count soared and he didn't last more than five or six innings. Going deeper in games is his goal, not only for himself but to save the bullpen. But if any pitcher can't make it out of the fifth inning, McDowell and manager Fredi Gonzalez are planning to send right-hander Kris Medlen into the breach, saving left-hander Eric O'Flaherty, Venters and Kimbrel to wrap up the close games.