Burnes gets acclimated in first spring outing
PHOENIX — It was 50 levels when Corbin Burnes threw his first Spring Training pitch. That’s surprisingly chilly for March in Arizona, however excellent situations for a pitcher more likely to make a second consecutive Opening Day begin at Wrigley Field.
In truth, Burnes could be completely pleased with 50 levels on March 30 in Chicago.
“This would be beautiful on Opening Day,” Burnes mentioned. “If you could pencil that in, I would take it.”
The Brewers would take an prolonged model of Thursday’s sort of efficiency from Burnes in a 7-4 loss to the Rangers, one four-pitch stroll apart. He was scheduled to work two innings, however wound up heading again to the mound for the beginning of the third as a result of he’d solely thrown 19 pitches to that time. Burnes was charged with a pair of runs following a leadoff stroll within the third, however all informed, it was a productive debut for 3 causes.
1. He received some further work in
“We were trying to get ‘up’ twice and get that pitch count to 20-30,” Burnes mentioned. “We didn’t get there after two, so the lucky winner — me – got to go out there for the third. But it was good. It was good to get out there three times.”
Pitchers discuss extra lately about “ups” — the variety of instances they rise up from the bench to pitch an inning — than they do about uncooked pitch depend. Each of the Brewers starters is on a considerably completely different program this spring, based mostly on the membership’s experiences with them and, in some instances, their very own needs. Burnes mentioned he was sad along with his dwell batting observe periods and simulated video games previous to his Cactus League outing in opposition to the Rangers, so he thought-about Thursday a step ahead.
2. He logged his first aggressive motion with William Contreras
“The biggest thing is getting to know William, getting on the same page,” Burnes mentioned. “PitchCom is going to help with that as well. You’re just getting a better flow and a better tempo.”
So far, so good with Contreras, Burnes mentioned. It additionally helps that the Brewers have a returning catcher in Victor Caratini, who caught 119 of Burnes’ 202 innings final season.
“He’s caught me a couple of bullpens, my live BP, my sim games, he’s caught all those,” Burnes mentioned of Contreras. “It was good work today. It’s just getting comfortable back there. They all set up slightly differently; it’s just a little different target to get used to. I threw to Vic a ton last year, so when I throw to him, it’s second nature. It’s about getting that same type of feeling with William back there.”
3. He performed round with PitchCom
The guidelines this 12 months enable pitchers to name their very own pitches through PitchCom expertise, a proper reserved for catchers final season. Before Burnes did so on a handful of events Thursday, the one pitcher to take the reins in one in all Milwaukee’s video games was Kansas City veteran Zack Greinke on Sunday, when he amused Brewers supervisor Craig Counsell and others by shaking himself off on a number of events as he discovered his method across the buttons.
“I actually was texting with [Greinke] about it,” Counsell mentioned. “That PitchCom device, you have to learn how to use it. There’s nine buttons on there in a circle and it’s not easy. He was just pushing buttons until he got to the pitch he wanted.”
Burnes is aiming to be extra exact. He referred to as “a handful” of pitches Thursday.
“It’s just a way to eliminate getting backed up against the pitch clock,” Burnes defined. “I think when we saw guys running into trouble in sim games and early in games, was that if you’re shaking with no one on base, you really only have time to shake once, maybe twice. A guy like me, who throws five different pitches, it could cause some trouble.”
