TORONTO – Some adjustments to his game and a couple of clean outings have Toronto Blue Jays set-up man Drew Storen sensing some progress.
"That felt good, just building off the last outing," the right-hander said of his clean inning in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers. "It hasn’t been a pretty first month, but you have to look at it from a non-emotional standpoint and understand, OK, here’s where I made my mistakes and make the adjustments."
The numbers remain unsightly for Storen, who carried an 8.10 ERA in 10 innings over 12 games heading into Thursday night’s action.
One of the adjustments he’s made is to the way he starts his delivery.
"I’m actually doing a windup to create some tempo, it kind of helps with flow and that way I’m not trying to get too mechanical, and with a guy on I go to the slide step anyway," Storen explained. "It’s something I do in the off-season, and I do that to create a rhythm for my regular windup. So I was like, go back to it, it feels good, the ball comes out well."
The added momentum may also help with velocity, which is down so far this season. He froze Prince Fielder with a 94 mph fastball for strike three on Wednesday, although Storen insisted the radar gun’s reading isn’t what matters.
"For me, I’m trying to sink it, too. It’s a little different, I’m not just trying to gear back and throw four-seamers by guys," he said. "It’s about pitching, and every time you go out there and try to turn it into the county fair speed-pitch game, it’s not going to work, you’re going to get crushed. You’ve still got to pitch and if the velo’s there, it’s there. It’s feeling good and it’s moving a lot, that’s really good."
According to Brooks Baseball, Storen threw five fastballs, three of them sinkers among his 13 pitches Wednesday. He threw five sliders and three changeups, a conscious effort to go off-speed more often.
"That’s something I’ve done in the past that I’ve gotten away from in the first month," said Storen. "That’s part of the adjustment, being on the same page as the catchers, understanding, OK, here’s what I like to do, my slider’s been my pitch throughout my whole career, and I developed a changeup later and that’s something that’s also a good weapon. To have those kinds of weapons coming out of the bullpen, you’re just trying to miss barrels and you have to utilize them all."
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CECIL VS LEFTIES: Blue Jays manager John Gibbons is encouraged by Brett Cecil’s stuff in recent outings but may use the left-hander primarily against left-handed hitters while he works through his current struggles.
"Until it irons itself out, we’ll approach it that way depending on how many innings we’ve got to (cover)," Gibbons said.
The promotion of Chad Girodo gives the Blue Jays a second left-hander out of the bullpen, and Gibbons also likes the way right-hander Gavin Floyd handles left-handed hitters.
After a rough opening month for the bullpen, Gibbons hopes better results are ahead.
"First and second one out, how about a double play instead of a walk."
— With files from Ben Nicholson-Smith
