Jays bat in sync, Cecil not in win over Yankees
Posted March 8, 2012 7:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DUNEDIN, FLA — The Toronto Blue Jays’ offence was in sync during Thursday’s 6-1 win over the New York Yankees in Dunedin. Brett Cecil’s delivery was not.
J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider homered and Adam Lind had a pair of hits as each member of Toronto’s start nine reached base.
“Overall, just a very good approach,” said Blue Jays manager John Farrell. “We worked a lot of deep counts. Some of the things we’ve been talking about and preaching about, guys have been executing that. “
On the mound, it was a challenging day for Cecil. The 25-year-old left-hander managed to pitch two scoreless innings in his second start of the Grapefruit League season but struggled with his balance and fastball command throughout the outing, missing up in the zone on several pitches.
Afterwards, Cecil chalked up his control issues to the near 40 pounds of weight he shed during the off-season.
“I have to get the timing down a little more with a little bit lighter weight and I talked to John (Farrell) about this,” he told reporters following the game. “My arm is a lot quicker than it was last year, so it’s a matter of getting the timing down to get everything to work together, all in one motion, all in one time.
“Before spring training I had thrown five or six, 20-25 pitch bullpens, but I didn’t notice it then because I still had about 15-20 pounds to go, and once I got down to the lighter weight to where I’m at now, 215, I did start to notice it,” he added. “It’s a little bit easier for my body to fall off because everything is quicker on the backside. I’m fine-tuning it a little bit, but there’s still a little bit there to get everything working together.”
Farrell said while agrees there would be an adjustment period for any pitcher who loses that much weight, he’s just not sure how long that would be.
“In some ways he’s dealing with a different body,” he said. “But you would think that as repetition and pitches are thrown, whether it’s in bullpens or in games, that should happen relatively quick as far just the feel and the adjustment that his body is telling him.”
A year ago at this time, Cecil suffered from a mysterious bout of “dead-arm” that resulted in him losing a few miles-per-hour off his fastball. On Thursday, the scoreboard radar gun at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium suggested his fastball topped out at 88 m.p.h., but afterwards both he and Farrell agreed that velocity shouldn’t be a concern, now or during the regular season.
“I did the whole worrying thing about it last year and don’t want to do it this year,” said Cecil. “I know I can get guys out at 88 miles an hour or 92. It just depends on location. I feel I can get guys out at this level. I don’t need a number to tell me that.”
Farrell said because Cecil`s off-speed pitches are so good, it doesn`t matter how hard his fastball is, just where it ends up.
“Location becomes just that much more important,” he explained. “ You just don’t have the power to get away with mistakes, but at the same time, it’s not about radar gun readings with him. It is location. But because he’s got such feel for his secondary stuff, he can make 87 in the low 90s with reaction time to hitters because he can back and forth with the off-speed stuff.”
