McCullers says he’s on track to be ready for opening day
Houston right-hander Lance McCullers felt strong following Saturday’s simulated game. His next stop could be a Grapefruit League mound, maybe as early as this week.
McCullers has been on a tailored throwing program this spring as he works his way back from an elbow strain that shortened his 2016 season.
He threw 43 pitches to catcher Evan Gattis on a back field in an outing that simulated three innings, showcasing a fastball that touched 95 mph.
“It went well,” the former first-round draft choice said. “I’m feeling good. I’m feeling better and better every time I go out as far as my ability to make pitches.”
Astros manager A.J. Hinch wanted to wait until he learned how McCullers felt today before committing to a date for McCullers’ first spring start.
Walking to the mound under sunny skies and a blustery 20-mph wind, McCullers joked in the direction of Jake Marisnick, Alex Bregman and Juan Centeno — the three batters he’d face in the first inning — that they shouldn’t dig in.
“If I hit anybody, I’m sorry,” he told them. “There’s a lot of wind.” That didn’t turn out to be an issue. Working from both the wind-up and the stretch, McCullers threw all four of his pitches for strikes, including a particularly nasty sinker that drew a swinging strikeout from Marisnick.
McCullers is working to add a change-up to his fastball, sinker, curveball arsenal. On Saturday, that pitch both darted and sank.
“Me going out there and throwing changeups and then being bad isn’t going to be OK with me,” McCullers said. “I’m going to throw it and I’m going to expect it to be good.”
McCullers was 6-5 last year with a 3.22 ERA. He had a 3.22 ERA as a rookie in 2015.
Despite the relatively slow start to spring, McCullers says he’s on pace to be ready for the start of the season.
“I think I’m on a pretty normal pace, especially for the fact that this was the plan all along and I knew back in January that this was going to be my pace,” McCullers said. “Everything’s been going well so far, so, no, I don’t feel behind. I should get plenty of starts in and as long as I’m feeling healthy, I expect to pitch well.”
McCullers, 23, isn’t the only Astros pitcher on a personalized pace for spring.
So is 2015 American League Cy Young award winner Dallas Keuchel, who is working his way back from a shoulder injury that limited his 2016 season.
Keuchel threw a bullpen session Saturday and is slated to throw a simulated game Tuesday, a day off for the Astros. If all goes well in that outing, the next step for Keuchel would likely be a Grapefruit League start. on his decision. “It was all me,” he said. “They were fully supportive of me going. I came to them last night and I made the decision on my own.
“They were obviously happy that I did that, but they certainly weren’t involved in the decision at all.”
Manager Mike Matheny said Carpenter isn’t likely to play for a few more days, although he was part of defensive drills Saturday. Later, Carpenter worked privately with a strength coach and did some conditioning drills, but he didn’t think he would be playing again until Friday.
For full coverage of the Cardinals, go to stltoday.com/sports.
Gio Gonzalez encountered a problem he usually doesn’t face in his start against the Cardinals on Saturday: He was too efficient. Gonzalez needed just 29 pitches to hold the Cardinals scoreless over three innings in his second Grapefruit League outing. The brisk pace forced him to diverge from his plan and log a third inning after being scheduled for two.
“They were being aggressive so it was tough to (throw) some of the pitches I wanted,” said Gonzalez, who surrendered one hit, issued one walk and didn’t record a strikeout in Washington’s 1-1 tie. “So I was like, ‘You know what, let me start mixing them in now.’”
Gonzalez has made at least 31 starts in six of the past seven seasons, but he has never been mistaken for efficient, so the pitch total was a positive sign for the lefthander. He posted a 4.57 ERA — 17th-highest among qualified starting pitchers — in 2016.
“Last year, a lot of times he would get 0-2 and then end up 3-2 and then end up walking a guy or something, and you add two or three pitches per batter,” manager Dusty Baker said. “That adds up quickly and then it gets up there high in a short period. He doesn’t want to come out but I got to take him out. And I told him a number of times, ‘I don’t want to take you out.’ ... If he wants to stay out there longer, you got to minimize the amount of pitches you throw in a short period of time, stay away from the high pitch-count inning. “He was very, very good today.” For full coverage of the Nationals, go to washingtonpost.com/sports.