SARASOTA, Fla. — In the third inning Thursday afternoon, Aaron Sanchez walked the bases loaded around a strikeout and an infield pop fly. He’d been fuming about a tight strike zone for most of his outing, and while he hadn’t allowed a hit to that point, his pitch count was about to reach 50 with only eight outs recorded. His stuff felt good, but his results weren’t great. Watching the young starter from the dugout, Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker decided it was time for a visit.
He jogged out to the mound and told Sanchez he was just out there to give him a breather. He said Sanchez’s delivery looked good, and that he had to remember to work over the ball. He told him not to let the strike zone get to him, and that if he trusted his stuff, good things would happen. “Anything to just kind of clear my mind,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez wiped his brow with his jersey, took a deep breath, and regrouped. Suddenly, he was in attack mode, coming right at Baltimore Orioles clean-up hitter Mark Trumbo with a barrage of two-seam fastballs. Trumbo couldn’t get anywhere near them, as Sanchez struck out last year’s American League home run leader to end the inning, stranding all three runners.
Walking the bases loaded isn’t exactly a good thing. But maybe in this instance it was, as Sanchez got to face a very tight situation in his third spring outing, one he’ll want to have the wherewithal to handle if it occurs when the wins and losses matter. That’s certainly the way he sees it.
“For me, it was good. I like to be in those situations,” Sanchez said. “It gave me a little bit more adrenaline. It’s something you don’t often see in spring training games.”
Entering Tuesday’s outing with a 60-pitch goal, Sanchez looked terrific in his first two innings, mowing down Orioles with a fastball-heavy approach, despite disagreeing at times with how the strike zone was called by home plate umpire Clint Fagan. In his third inning, Sanchez and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia began to incorporate more of his off-speed arsenal, and while he ran into trouble in those innings, the 24-year-old said all of his pitches were where he wanted them to be.
“A couple good change-ups, a couple good curveballs,” Sanchez said. “I thought they were better today than they’ve been in outings past.”
The only damage Sanchez allowed came on a long Chris Davis home run that led off the fourth inning. Sanchez fell behind the slugger, who knows the young Blue Jays right-hander well, having faced him 25 times in his career. Davis clearly knew what pitch to look for, and he absolutely clobbered it to left-centre field.
Of course, it’s possible Sanchez didn’t want to show Davis too much of his playbook in a spring training game, either, as he’ll have to get Davis out plenty of times this season.
What was more important on the day for Sanchez was the continued development of his change-up, which has been a focal point this spring. Sanchez was happy with the velocity on the pitch, which was more often in the 85-88 mph range than the 89-90 mph he’s thrown it at in the past. Shaving some zip off the pitch will increase the discrepancy between it and Sanchez’s fastball, which the Blue Jays hope will make it more effective.
“I really think it can be a good weapon for me. I just think I need to use it more,” Sanchez said. “It’s just about getting the reps with that pitch. And I think the more I do that, the better it’s going to get.”
Sanchez was also happy with the feel and shape of his curveball, which will continue to be his primary secondary offering this season. He finished Tuesday’s outing after 62 pitches, 37 of them for strikes. In his next start, he’ll push things up to 75-80 pitches, and then even further in his final one before the regular season begins.
“I felt like today was one of those days where I was back to what I did all last year and what I’m getting ready to do this upcoming year,” Sanchez said. “Today was more like a game for me. I’m going out there competing, being aggressive, attacking guys. I took a lot out of today.”
Pillar gets one down
Kevin Pillar had a nice day at the plate Tuesday, going 2-for-3 with a long double to left-centre field that scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Those two hits afforded him the opportunity to work on his newest weapon in his final plate appearance: bunting.
The centre fielder has been diligently honing the skill on back fields at the Blue Jays Dunedin facility and even played in a minor league game over the weekend so he could test it out against live pitching. He’s been paying particularly close attention to his footwork during bunts, studying video of Oakland Athletics outfielder Rajai Davis to try and refine his technique.
Batting with a runner on first in the sixth inning, Pillar made it very clear he was trying to get a bunt down, which brought Baltimore’s corner infielders crashing in when he eventually did on the third pitch of his plate appearance. That made Pillar an easy out, but the bunt he dropped down the third base line was near perfect, and would have easily netted him a base hit if the third baseman had been playing at his normal depth.
It was a promising result for the developing tool, which Pillar hopes to utilize now and again during the regular season, particularly as a way to get on base if he’s slumping at the plate. You won’t see him bunt often, but when the opposition isn’t expecting it he’d like to have the ability to lay one down.
“It’s something I want to have in my back pocket,” Pillar said after his minor league game on the weekend. “It’s something I’ll continue to work on. And hopefully by the end of spring training I’ll be very confident in it and be able to bring it out when it needs to be brought out.”
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