tk13
06-03-2006, 01:17 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14730458.htm
Zack is back
Greinke looks sharp on and off the field
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
WICHITA — The best of Zack Greinke wasn’t the rising 94 mph fastball or the hooking curve or even the mechanics that one Royals official said were the best he’s ever had.
No, the best of Zack Greinke’s first rehab start is now, an hour after the game, Greinke in an orange polo and jeans, sitting on the grass outside the Wichita clubhouse signing cards and shooting the breeze with a fan he’s never met.
For one night, at least, Greinke looked like the guy who won the Royals’ pitcher of the year award as a rookie in 2004. For one night, at least, Greinke looked nothing like the guy who took a league-worst 17 losses last year and left the team in February to deal with psychological issues.
His 41 strikes in 65 pitches were nice. Going five innings and giving up just one run on a broken-bat blooper is great. But his smile, his enthusiasm, and especially his jokes — this is even better.
“They said the last time I pitched in extended (spring training) in Arizona was the biggest crowd they ever had,” Greinke says. “And it was just my mom in the stands.”
Greinke laughs, and why not?
The last eight days have been something of a Royals bizarro world. The team that seemed to know nothing but setback won at Yankee Stadium, took two of three at Oakland, received praise throughout baseball for hiring Dayton Moore as general manager, and now, perhaps, the best news of all from here in Wichita.
Greinke looked every bit capable of succeeding in the majors soon during this initial rehab start. There will be at least one more — next Wednesday — but the first signs are gold.
“I saw more angle to his pitches than I’ve ever seen him have,” Royals director of minor-league operations Shaun McGinn says. “Even when we first drafted him. Yeah, it’s a real positive outing for him.”
His fastball was anywhere from 86 to 94 mph, though it stayed mostly in the low 90s. He didn’t have what McGinn calls “that normal Zack Greinke-command,” but the good outweighed the bad like David Wells and Paris Hilton on a teeter-totter.
Original orders from the big club put Greinke at 65-70 pitches and not a word to the media. McGinn and Wranglers officials initially took steps to keep Greinke away from the two reporters at Friday’s 7-1 Wichita victory over San Antonio, but apparently, Greinke said he didn’t mind.
“I was overly impressed to where I couldn’t really believe what I was doing,” Greinke said. “I don’t want to sound like I was doing that good, but, yeah, I felt good. My mechanics were good. The results were good. I felt confident. When I got in pressure situations I felt like I could bear down and make pitches.”
Greinke threw nine sliders and three curveballs. Mostly, Greinke threw fastballs. He said he’d “never had confidence in my fastball” like he did on Friday.
His control was good, if not great. He hit one, walked one, struck out one and gave up four hits.
San Antonio — playing without Jeff Clement, Seattle’s first-round pick last year — scored on a hit batsman, dribbler infield single, and broken-bat blooper. Other than that, they went down in order twice and managed more than one baserunner just once, on consecutive singles in the fifth.
Greinke worked out of that by making a nice defensive play on a sacrifice bunt attempt — he got off the mound quickly and fired to Alex Gordon at third — and retired the next two on a fly to left and a grounder to second.
Wichita announced the crowd at 3,511, which is actually bigger than usual. The concession stands took most of their business with the Wranglers at bat, the fans reacting to most every pitch by Greinke.
“I thought he was pretty sharp,” said Wichita pitching coach Larry Carter. “I’m more worried about how he felt. His last outing he went three innings and about 53 pitches and said he didn’t feel real good after three innings. Tonight he said he felt real good. I think the crowd had a lot to do with that.”
His new teammates are well aware of both Greinke’s talent and reason for being here. A few — most notably catcher Matt Tupman — have played with Greinke before. McGinn said one reason Greinke is beginning his rehab in Wichita instead of Class AAA Omaha is that these are the prospects that will hopefully be Greinke’s teammates for years in Kansas City.
Tupman and Gordon said they would treat Greinke like any other teammate, not going out of their way — “making it awkward,” Tupman said — to talk to him, but welcoming him in the team’s inner circle if Greinke wanted to hang out.
“All I’m doing is letting him be himself,” Wranglers manager Frank White said. “He’s a guy that’s been kind of rushed a little bit. Seems like he’s a guy who needs to have some fun. … That’s the whole deal, get him in a relaxed atmosphere, no pressure to perform.”
The Royals are putting no official timetable on Greinke’s stay in Wichita. Four starts is something that’s been thrown around, a number McGinn stressed could go up or down.
Greinke talked openly of being “scared” his first time through Wichita. He remembered being afraid of Tupman in particular for the way the catcher seemed to scream at everybody. Greinke isn’t scared anymore. He was 19 then, just a year removed from high school. He’s 22 now, a young man.
Two years ago, Greinke “hated” being in Wichita. He was nervous about how he’d perform in front of a crowd, in front of teammates, against live competition.
He’s not nervous now. In fact, he kind of enjoyed it all.
“I had fun,” he said. “That’s an important thing.”
Zack is back
Greinke looks sharp on and off the field
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
WICHITA — The best of Zack Greinke wasn’t the rising 94 mph fastball or the hooking curve or even the mechanics that one Royals official said were the best he’s ever had.
No, the best of Zack Greinke’s first rehab start is now, an hour after the game, Greinke in an orange polo and jeans, sitting on the grass outside the Wichita clubhouse signing cards and shooting the breeze with a fan he’s never met.
For one night, at least, Greinke looked like the guy who won the Royals’ pitcher of the year award as a rookie in 2004. For one night, at least, Greinke looked nothing like the guy who took a league-worst 17 losses last year and left the team in February to deal with psychological issues.
His 41 strikes in 65 pitches were nice. Going five innings and giving up just one run on a broken-bat blooper is great. But his smile, his enthusiasm, and especially his jokes — this is even better.
“They said the last time I pitched in extended (spring training) in Arizona was the biggest crowd they ever had,” Greinke says. “And it was just my mom in the stands.”
Greinke laughs, and why not?
The last eight days have been something of a Royals bizarro world. The team that seemed to know nothing but setback won at Yankee Stadium, took two of three at Oakland, received praise throughout baseball for hiring Dayton Moore as general manager, and now, perhaps, the best news of all from here in Wichita.
Greinke looked every bit capable of succeeding in the majors soon during this initial rehab start. There will be at least one more — next Wednesday — but the first signs are gold.
“I saw more angle to his pitches than I’ve ever seen him have,” Royals director of minor-league operations Shaun McGinn says. “Even when we first drafted him. Yeah, it’s a real positive outing for him.”
His fastball was anywhere from 86 to 94 mph, though it stayed mostly in the low 90s. He didn’t have what McGinn calls “that normal Zack Greinke-command,” but the good outweighed the bad like David Wells and Paris Hilton on a teeter-totter.
Original orders from the big club put Greinke at 65-70 pitches and not a word to the media. McGinn and Wranglers officials initially took steps to keep Greinke away from the two reporters at Friday’s 7-1 Wichita victory over San Antonio, but apparently, Greinke said he didn’t mind.
“I was overly impressed to where I couldn’t really believe what I was doing,” Greinke said. “I don’t want to sound like I was doing that good, but, yeah, I felt good. My mechanics were good. The results were good. I felt confident. When I got in pressure situations I felt like I could bear down and make pitches.”
Greinke threw nine sliders and three curveballs. Mostly, Greinke threw fastballs. He said he’d “never had confidence in my fastball” like he did on Friday.
His control was good, if not great. He hit one, walked one, struck out one and gave up four hits.
San Antonio — playing without Jeff Clement, Seattle’s first-round pick last year — scored on a hit batsman, dribbler infield single, and broken-bat blooper. Other than that, they went down in order twice and managed more than one baserunner just once, on consecutive singles in the fifth.
Greinke worked out of that by making a nice defensive play on a sacrifice bunt attempt — he got off the mound quickly and fired to Alex Gordon at third — and retired the next two on a fly to left and a grounder to second.
Wichita announced the crowd at 3,511, which is actually bigger than usual. The concession stands took most of their business with the Wranglers at bat, the fans reacting to most every pitch by Greinke.
“I thought he was pretty sharp,” said Wichita pitching coach Larry Carter. “I’m more worried about how he felt. His last outing he went three innings and about 53 pitches and said he didn’t feel real good after three innings. Tonight he said he felt real good. I think the crowd had a lot to do with that.”
His new teammates are well aware of both Greinke’s talent and reason for being here. A few — most notably catcher Matt Tupman — have played with Greinke before. McGinn said one reason Greinke is beginning his rehab in Wichita instead of Class AAA Omaha is that these are the prospects that will hopefully be Greinke’s teammates for years in Kansas City.
Tupman and Gordon said they would treat Greinke like any other teammate, not going out of their way — “making it awkward,” Tupman said — to talk to him, but welcoming him in the team’s inner circle if Greinke wanted to hang out.
“All I’m doing is letting him be himself,” Wranglers manager Frank White said. “He’s a guy that’s been kind of rushed a little bit. Seems like he’s a guy who needs to have some fun. … That’s the whole deal, get him in a relaxed atmosphere, no pressure to perform.”
The Royals are putting no official timetable on Greinke’s stay in Wichita. Four starts is something that’s been thrown around, a number McGinn stressed could go up or down.
Greinke talked openly of being “scared” his first time through Wichita. He remembered being afraid of Tupman in particular for the way the catcher seemed to scream at everybody. Greinke isn’t scared anymore. He was 19 then, just a year removed from high school. He’s 22 now, a young man.
Two years ago, Greinke “hated” being in Wichita. He was nervous about how he’d perform in front of a crowd, in front of teammates, against live competition.
He’s not nervous now. In fact, he kind of enjoyed it all.
“I had fun,” he said. “That’s an important thing.”