You hear this a lot from me because it’s true: when it comes to pitchers who are locked into roster spots, the game-outcome-results from performance to performance in the spring matter infinitely less than how the guy feels, how his velo looks, how his arm is building up, etc. These guys, while they don’t WANT to get blown up in starts, have much more specific goals for each outing that generally sit outside the runs up on the scoreboard.
So, with that in mind, I actually found it encouraging that Cade Horton, a young player who is nevertheless locked into a rotation spot, spoke about yesterday’s bad-results outing the way he did.
Over 3.2 innings, Horton gave up 6 hits to the Rangers, including 3 dingers, plus 2 walks and 6 earned runs. Were it the regular season, you’d certainly call that a rough night.
But it’s not the regular season, and Cade Horton, even as such a young pitcher, knows how to process it.
“I think the results can lie to you sometimes,” Horton said after the start, per The Athletic. “That first inning is a great example of that. Probably the first two balls hit weren’t over 80 (mph). But you look at the scoresheet and you’re like, ‘Oh, he gave up two hits and a three-run shot.’ It’s not really like that. I made two really good pitches, and they dunked in. One swing later and we’re behind. That’s where it’s about focus on the process. I made good pitches so that builds confidence to move on.”
To that point, there’s a great example in Sahadev Sharma’s write-up at The Athletic of how that process plays out (and how it might differ in the regular season):
‘Horton felt his off-speed pitches were working and was largely happy with his day, despite poor results. But the results also showed him a moment he can learn from. With the count 1-1 on Josh Smith, Horton threw two non-competitive curveballs and fell behind.
“So guess what?” Horton asked. “He’s ready for the heater 3-2 because he knows those (off-speed) weren’t competitive. That was one of the only times I wasn’t able to land what I wanted. You go back to Seager’s second at-bat, landed a curveball, first-pitch out. That’s what happens when those pitches are competitive.”’
In the regular season, is Horton making the same pitch choices? Is Moises Ballesteros behind the plate making those same calls? The answer is: it doesn’t matter. This is Spring Training, and it was an opportunity for Horton to work on something. He did, and he took away some valuable information from it.
Of note: Cade Horton got in his 60 pitches, and his velocity was normal. He felt fine. On to the next practice start.
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