Stroman ready for new season

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Marcus Stroman wasn’t as consistent as he wanted to be in his first full season in the major leagues last year.

So the Blue Jays right-hander streamlined his mechanics in an effort to turn things around.

“Mechanically I got a little out of whack at some point and I just simplified everything on my own,” he said on Monday, speaking to reporters for the first time this spring.

“That’s something I’m going to do this year, kind of in my delivery and my motion, but I feel great.

“I’m excited for what I’m going to do.”

Stroman was part of a Toronto rotation that led the American League with a 3.64 earned-run average, a .236 batting average against, and a major-league best 995 1/3 innings pitched last season.

The 25-year-old accounted for 204 of those innings, making him the only Blue Jays starter to surpass 200 on the year. But while he showed durability, Stroman’s numbers weren’t so impressive: he finished with a 9-10 record and 4.37 ERA through 32 starts.

This year he wants to do better.

“I take unbelievable care of my body. I pride myself on that,” Stroman said.

“(I’m) five-foot-seven, but that’s something that I’m very confident in is my body and what I’m able to do out there. I’m pretty sure I can go out there and throw 200, 220, 240 (innings), I feel like I can do that year-in, and year-out, that’s the goal, as well as being dominating each and every outing.”

Stroman also announced that he’d be playing for the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic next month.