photo credit: Eric Kilby
Josh Beckett had his first outing of Spring Training yesterday and, by all accounts, it went well. Beckett looked good according to all that were present, and even though he only threw 35 pitches he made waves in the AL East.
Beckett wasn’t exactly on his game in 2009 and the Red Sox a tough time of it all season long. They could never really get into their 2004 or 2007 form and that just made things hard.
Now that Beckett has shown well in Spring Training I think we can expect greater things from the Red Sox.
Baseball isn’t a one-man sport and Pitchers aren’t saviors, but Pitchers can right already-string ships. In this case: The rising tide DOES lift all ships.
He only threw 35 pitches yesterday, but 25 of them were strikes. You could say, “Well, it was Spring Training, who cares?” However, when you’re talking about homers, hit-streaks, and pitching the venue doesn’t matter. Throwing 25 strikes out of 35 pitches is hard to do!
Beckett also made this telling quote that, for me, says he’s only begun to dominate baseball:
“I think it’s how I felt,” Beckett said. “That’s important in Spring Training. I don’t know what the numbers were, but you definitely are trying to throw strikes right now and make them swing the bat.”
This says to me one thing: “I’m thinking I can be like Greg Maddux now”. Maddux was surgeon on the mound and timing was everything. He could get people to swing the bat and make innings–and games–short. Is Beckett headed in that direction? If he is then everyone oughta look out!
It’s encouraging to see a great Pitcher in the game refine his craft at a whole new level. Most guys that make as much money as he does and have as much “name recognition” as he does stop working at it. Beckett has only begun.
So, if you’re a Boston fan take heart…you’ve got a longterm “surgeon” on deck that can operate on the Yankees. Isn’t that what you need?
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I don’t know, Beckett was 17 and 6 last year and pitched 212 inning the most he ever has. He also had 199Ks (his most ever) and a 3.86 ERA which isn’t bad at all. I wouldn’t exactly call that off his game.
The fact that he’s throwing strikes in spring training tells me, it’s spring training he wants to throw strikes. I don’t think he’s becoming the second coming of Greg Maddux. Beckett throws far harder than Maddux ever could. Maybe someday Beckett will become more Maddux-like but I don’t see that happening this year. For now if Beckett stays healthy he’s still one of best “money pitchers” in the game just pitching as Josh Beckett.
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