Left-hander Tony Watson has been working very hard at getting the ball in, Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said on the rookie\u2019s recent success.<\/p>\n
Coming off a rough month of August, where Watson allowed 11 earned runs on 13 hits over 8.2 innings, the 26-year-old is getting more confident with pitching inside again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just something I kind of got away from for a little bit,\u201d Watson said. \u201cI\u2019m finding success back in there again so I just got to keep pounding it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the big things was needing to throw inside to open up the plate a little bit more,\u201d Watson said. \u201cMake them aware that you are going to throw in, throw in for effect, throw in for strikes. It just opens up the outside of the plate, the other half and it makes life a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson has made seven scoreless outings in relief in September. Over that span (5.0 innings), Watson has allowed just two hits while striking out four.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s aim,\u201c Hurdle said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting comfortable. Getting the ball in, pitching to your glove side, pitching in off the plate, not worrying about the repercussion. The hardest thing for him is, ‘well, if I miss, I miss back over the plate.’ They\u2019ve got this mentality, \u2018I\u2019ll just get it in there.\u2019 You\u2019ve got to find a way to pitch strong to the glove side of your plate. Especially when you have a good changeup like he has. It becomes much more of an effective weapon.\u201c<\/p>\n
Not only\u00a0has Watson been throwing inside more effectively, Hurdle mentioned that it is something they are trying to address\u00a0throughout the Minor Leagues as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not taught to do it in little league,\u201c Hurdle said. \u201cThey\u2019re not taught to do it in amateur baseball. They\u2019re not really taught how to do it in College. They\u2019re taught to get outs\u2026But as you continue to move up, the quality of the hitter gets better and there\u2019s different ways that more often than not, that your going to have to go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a mentality as much as it is anything else. It is something that we\u2019re definitely going to readdress and re-strengthen our whole mentality next year in our Minor League system and on up. I think it\u2019s all something we all feel it\u2019s time to be re-addressed and re-identified, the purpose, the meaning and the fact that it\u2019s a mentality more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Left-hander Tony Watson has been working very hard at getting the ball in, Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said on the rookie\u2019s recent success. Coming off a rough month of August, where Watson allowed 11 earned runs on 13 hits over 8.2 innings, the 26-year-old is getting more confident with pitching inside again. \u201cIt was just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[616,425,619,1092],"class_list":["post-7676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional","tag-clint-hurdle","tag-pirates","tag-pittsburgh","tag-tony-watson"],"yoast_head":"\n