Nova’s changes beginning to take hold
BRADENTON, Fla. — Ivan Nova’s line wasn’t much to boast about. Wednesday, Nova started against the Tampa Bay Rays, throwing five innings, allowing three runs and striking out two. But, as manager Clint Hurdle likes to say, spring-training games don’t count, but they matter.
And what matters now, as Nova tells it, is how he feels — and how he can use his spring starts to work through different sequences that he is not usually inclined to try in a regular-season game. That’s the difference between being guaranteed the opening-day starter’s slot and having to clawone’s way onto a roster.
“Once you know that you’re pitching and you have one of the first five games, you can take your time, and take it step by step,” Nova said. “You don’t want to rush it.”
For example, Nova is hoping to develop more comfort throwing on the inside of the plate, particularly against left-handed batters. In 2017, against lefties, he threw to the center, outside, low-center or low outside part of the plate 35.9 percent of the time, according to FanGraphs; he barely worked the inside part of the plate or threw inside balls. Certainly, opposing batters know that, and Nova said he would like to be predictable, or at least work on those pitches in spring.
“Last year, I had a lot of opportunity where I need to go inside, and sometimes you don’t feel that comfortable with it,” Nova said.
“You just go away, and that hurts. Like I said, I want to make sure that I got a good feel for pitching inside, to lefty and righties, go up and in go up and down, whatever.… When it’s game time, OK, you don’t think that way. You got to get people out no matter how.”
That approach, Nova said, also could protect against the possibility of not having enough tools to work with if, say, one pitch isn’t working in a game.
“Let’s say I got the guy on two strikes,” Nova said. “I know that I can put him away with the curveball. And I know that. I feel good about it. That doesn’t make sense every time you got a guy in two strikes and go throw the curveball. What if you don’t have the curveball that day? You got to go with something else.”
So, results aside, the Pirates seem happy with Nova’s progress. Catcher Elias Diaz said Nova was “really good” Wednesday, pointing to his sinker and changeup.
And Hurdle was impressed with pitcher’s offseason work — Nova lost 10 pounds while adding strength — and his approach to spring.
“He understands what he needs to do to become more of a complete pitcher, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Hurdle said.
Curve remains in fold
The Pirates and Altoona Curve announced Saturday a four-year extension of their player development contract through the 2022 season. The Class AA club already was the Pirates’ longest-running minor league affiliate at 20 seasons. Only 23 full-season minor league teams (out of 120) have a longer continuous relationship with their major league affiliate, accordingto a news release.
Eppler goes to minors
The Pirates reassigned right-hander Tyler Eppler to minor league camp Saturday. Eppler, 25, reached Class AAA Indianapolis in 2017, posting a 4.89 ERA in 27 games, including 21 games, for the Indians.