Harper’s throwing style back in line
Zoom was built for showand-tell savvy managers such as Joe Girardi.
He was called upon Tuesday to identify what Bryce Harper had earlier described as a fix to a mechanical problem impacting his body. So Girardi stepped in front of his computer camera for all local media to see and held his hands as if they were feet, exhibiting an open stance. He wasn’t describing Harper’s batting stance, but rather the way he throws a baseball from the outfield.
“He’s throwing like this,” Girardi said into the camera, holding his hands as if they were feet in an open stance, “But what happens when he does that (shifting his hands-feet into a closed stance), is he kind of wrenches his back. But he’s worked really, really hard on it, and so far, so good.
“I never really knew he threw that much across his body. But our staff that sees him every single day, they had noticed it.”
That is, they did when Harper showed them what he’d worked on during the offseason. He said he noticed his throwing posture was a bit out of whack by studying video of himself.
“I’d been doing it 18 or 19 years and nobody really caught it,” Harper said. He estimated he’d been doing that since he switched from catcher to outfielder, shortly after he was drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2010.
“It’s being able to kind of reteach myself to throw properly and not put too much stress on my shoulder, my elbow, my lower back and my legs,” Harper said. “I did that pretty much all offseason and carried it into spring training. I’m feeling strong, feeling good and I just need to watch myself on certain things when I am out there so that I don’t put stress in the bad areas of my body.”
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NOTES » Aaron Nola was roughed up Tuesday for six earned runs and seven hits in 2.2 innings of work, as the Blue Jays routed the Phils 14-5 in a Grapefruit League game. He didn’t get much help in relief, as Brandon Kintzler allowed four hits in only one inning of work, and Tony Watson allowed four earned runs on five hits and only got one out in his stint. Not that it was all bad. “I felt pretty good at the start,” Nola said. “Coming out, the ball felt like it had a little life on it. I’m just kind of working on everything ... Girardi said Didi Gregorius was “grazed” by a pitch on the back of the head and was pulled from the game for precautionary reasons. Gregorius will undergo additional evaluation for the possibility of concussion.