Robbie Ray ready for his spring debut with the D-Backs today
D-Backs lefty set for spring debut
Following a season in which he performed like one of the best and most dominant starters in baseball, Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray isn’t hoping to repeat his success. He’s looking to build on it.
“That was just kind of the floor,” Ray said. “I set the floor where it needed to be.”
Ray’s emergence last year occurred in lockstep with the Diamondbacks’ unexpected 93-win season. He was at the center of the rotation’s historic performance – the club’s starters posted the best ERA in the franchise’s 20year history – and that unit’s success was as responsible as any for the team’s year-over-year turnaround.
Ray makes his spring debut on Monday afternoon, when he’ll face the Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark.
Few pitchers last season were as overpowering as Ray – even fewer when the field is narrowed to lefties. He was second in the majors with 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings and third in hits per nine. His .199 opponents’ batting average was the second-best mark in franchise history trailing only Randy Johnson’s .197 in 2004.
“I feel like I accomplished a pretty good bit,” Ray said. “I came into my own a little bit. I just really embraced who I am.”
There were signs of Ray’s progression over each of his previous two seasons with the Diamondbacks. The explosive fastball he could throw by hitters seemingly even when they knew it was coming. The slider that began to take shape in 2016. The high strikeout games that were often cut short by a climbing pitch count.
But he blossomed last year, thanks to a few changes. For one, he fully rediscovered his curveball, a pitch he
used to throw during his days coming up in the Washington Nationals system. The pitch gained consistency as the year progressed, and the presence of a third pitch made a world of difference in keeping opposing hitters guessing.
He also cut out some offerings, scrapping his change-up and two-seamer, pitches that were ineffective in the past.
“My two-seam wasn’t a true sinker,” he said. “It wasn’t getting any depth on it. It was just side-to-side so it was just in the zone. With my four-seam having that late life and kind of riding through the zone, that was an easy fix. With the change-up, it just wasn’t happening.
“It’s amazing how simple baseball can be sometimes. Less is more a lot of the time.”
One of Ray’s worst starts of 2017 was his last. In his first postseason start, he gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the Division Series, walking four and throwing three wild pitches.
After being needed in relief in the wild-card game, Ray was pitching on short rest. He said at the time it wasn’t a factor. He reiterated that last week.
“Physically, I felt amazing,” Ray said. “I felt good the day before that. If I don’t throw three wild pitches, it’s a different game, and I don’t think that had anything to do with short rest or being tired. I think it was more about being the first time in that kind of atmosphere.”
Ray still sees room to grow. He wants to cut back on his walks after issuing 3.9 per nine innings last year, and that alone should help him get deeper in games.
He had 11 starts last season in which he worked fewer than six innings. Granted, two of those were unusual – there was the night in St. Louis when he was struck by a line drive, and his final start of the regular season was intentionally short – but it doesn’t measure up compared to other top pitchers in baseball. Max Scherzer (five) and Chris Sale (six) had far fewer sub-six-inning starts.
That said, Ray doesn’t need to do much more to be considered among the game’s best. He already is, at least by some.
“He probably is,” Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Greinke said when asked how close Ray was to being a No. 1 starter. “He’s really good. His year was amazing. He’s a top 30 pitcher in baseball and I would consider a top 30 pitcher a number one starter.”
Said Ray: “The expectations are higher now. Not just for myself but for everybody. They’ve seen what I can do when I’m at my best. I’m going to try to go out there and do what I can.” Notes
General Manager Mike Hazen said he would like to see the Diamondbacks be able to use baseballs stored in the humidor in spring-training games, but he isn’t sure if the commissioner’s office will approve.
“I would hope that maybe at a minimum the Cleveland games (March 2627), where we’re at Chase, we could use them,” Hazen said. “I’d love to be able to use them some. Whether or not they give us the clearance to even use them for BP (batting practice) out here, maybe.
“We’ll ask, but we haven’t gotten there yet. Not too, too worried about that. I don’t think there’s going to be a major difference here so I don’t think there’s a ton to prepare for.”
Hazen said the league is in the final stages of testing the humidor to ensure consistency in the baseballs.
Manager Torey Lovullo said right fielder Steven Souza Jr. will make his Cactus League debut Wednesday vs. the Rockies. Outfielder Jarrod Dyson will play in his first game two days later, also against the Rockies.
And right-hander Taylor Widener, who was acquired from the Yankees in the same three-team deal that brought Souza to the Diamondbacks, is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday.
With a split squad on Monday, the Diamondbacks are having Ray face the Reds instead of the Rockies as a way of keeping him away from the inter-division rival.
“We’re going to limit his exposure and when we can we’re going to choose that path,” Lovullo said.