DUNEDIN, Fla. — After a very efficient outing Wednesday, Marco Estrada started talking about his cutter, and the way he’d like to use it in 2017. Maybe he could throw to this location against lefties; or use it in these situations against right-handers. He had some ideas. And then, a realization came over him.
“Hey, actually, I don’t even know if I should be saying this,” Estrada said. “Let’s scratch all that.”
And so we did. We’re not here to reveal any secrets or expose any game plans with less than two weeks left until the beginning of the regular season. Everything will become clear in time. But it’s worth noting that Estrada has liked the way his cutter has been coming out of his hand this spring, and that it could be a bigger part of his repertoire in 2017.
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And if his starts this year look anything like the one he threw on Wednesday, he’s going to have a lot more people trying to learn his secrets. That’s because Estrada made things look easy against the Detroit Tigers in his fourth spring appearance, allowing just two hits and a run over five effortless innings.
Both those hits came within the first three batters of the outing. From that point forward, Estrada retired 14 in a row, a streak that was halted only because he came out of the game after throwing 72 pitches, 46 for strikes.
“I like what I did today. Just throw everything. That’s what I needed to do,” Estrada said. “The more repetitions I get behind every pitch, the better I’m going to feel about them.”
Estrada’s confidence is on the rise, especially when it comes to his most important weapon—the change-up. It’s the ultimate feel pitch and Estrada has spent most of his spring searching for it.
He’s gone to it frequently during games—eight of the 10 pitches he threw in his fifth and final inning Wednesday were change-ups—and has thrown it almost exclusively during his bullpen sessions. That’s notable because Estrada often doesn’t throw bullpens during the regular season. But he rarely misses one during camp.
He says all that work has paid off and that the pitch was where he needed it to be against the Tigers.
“I haven’t been too happy with it. But I think I can forget about that now,” Estrada said. “It’s coming out much better. Today, I saw what I wanted to see with swings. I had a few guys out in front. That shows me that it’s coming out pretty good now.”
Estrada was also happy with his curveball on the day and continued to feature the 90-m.p.h. fastball he’s carrying into the season. He’s throwing the pitch a tick harder this year thanks to being fully over the back injury he pitched through in 2016.
And he’s also happy with the progress of that cutter, a pitch he developed and introduced last season and wants to feature more often going forward. He just can’t talk too much about how he’ll use it.
“I’m really close,” Estrada said. “Mentally, I feel great. Physically, I feel great. I just need to keep it going and I’ll be ready to go for the season.”
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Donaldson gets back in the field
Josh Donaldson, who suffered a right calf strain early in camp, played third base for the first time this spring Wednesday, logging four innings of work. He successfully fielded a grounder and a popup, but his truest test came on a bunt attempt when he had to explode off his right foot and break in to field the slow roller.
“After I did that I was thinking about it, like, ‘well, all right, that felt pretty good,’” Donaldson said. “It feels normal. I don’t really have any worries about it.”
Donaldson has yet to measure himself on the base paths during a game but he has been working on his running on the side, sprinting from first to third and second to home in drills he completes each morning. He’s experienced no issues during those exercises and will be ready to play third base on opening day as expected.
The biggest benefit to Donaldson’s time at third Wednesday was getting used to balls hit off live bats once again. It’s difficult for the Blue Jays to recreate the reactionary situations he’ll face in games during batting practice or with fungos.
“Honestly, I feel like that’s really the only thing I would need out of spring training,” Donaldson said. “When the actual games start for me during the season, it’s a different intensity and different focus than it would be in spring training.”
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Travis set to make his debut
Devon Travis went 0-for-3 in a minor-league game Wednesday, playing five innings of second base in the latest test for his recovering right knee. The 26-year-old is expected to suit up for the Blue Jays Friday versus the Boston Red Sox and play five innings at second in his first big-league appearance this spring.
“I felt good today—really good,” Travis said. “I’m looking forward to Friday, I can tell you that. I’m pumped up.”
Travis lined out to right field in his first at-bat, flew out to left field wall in his second, and struck out in his third. He saw just one ground ball in the field, but it was an important one nonetheless—his first of the year.
“That was nice—I was begging for it,” Travis said. “I was like, ‘please hit me one. I just need one.’ It was nothing crazy—just hit to my right a little bit. But it was good to get it out of the way.”
