DUNEDIN, Fla. — In an ideal world, Joe Biagini would have liked to accomplish a couple different goals Sunday.
First of all, he was hoping to continue building up his stamina by increasing his workload. After pitching 3.1 innings on Tuesday, four innings would have seemed like a logical next step. And along the way, Biagini was planning to apply some of the adjustments he has been working on in bullpen sessions with pitching coach Pete Walker.
“You’re trying to make adjustments that you wouldn’t normally be able to make during the season because of the risk,” Biagini explained. “This is a chance to work on that stuff.”
Ultimately the right-hander fell short on both counts. He allowed one run to score for every one of the five outs he recorded against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-0 Grapefruit League loss. Part of the reason for those struggles? The adjustments he attempted didn’t go as planned.
Biagini does feel encouraged by his improved rhythm this spring. However, his other adjustments remain a work in progress. Among them: modifying his arm action on his change-up and concentrating more of his pitches in the bottom of the zone. On Sunday, those changes didn’t work out as planned, particularly with respect to his off-speed pitches.
“Because of that, I felt like opposing hitters were pretty aggressive on my fastball, because I didn’t have a huge threat of those off-speed,” Biagini said.
The final three batters Biagini faced would seem to reinforce that point. Shortstop Kevin Kramer tripled to right-centre field on a 94-m.p.h. fastball, designated hitter Adam Frazier homered to left on a 92-m.p.h. fastball and then right fielder Gregory Polanco homered to right on a 93-m.p.h. fastball. The fastball to Polanco would be the last pitch Biagini threw.
“Really, I don’t want to overanalyze it,” manager John Gibbons said. “It’s just that he was off today.”
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Biagini threw 49 pitches against the Pirates, but said afterwards that he’s confident he’ll have ample time to build up for the regular season without making any drastic jumps in workload. His two or three remaining starts give him time to get close to 100 pitches by opening day, especially since he has been pitching multiple innings all spring.
“I think your arm just kind of gets used to it,” he said. “It can handle more.”
That’s an important consideration for the Blue Jays given that Marcus Stroman won’t necessarily be available for opening day due to shoulder inflammation. Stroman is scheduled to throw a bullpen session in the coming days, but if he needs time to build up, Biagini would open the year in the big-league rotation.
To prepare for that possibility, he must pitch with competitiveness, and also with an awareness that these results don’t count before March 29. In that context, Sunday’s outing was frustrating, but the attempted adjustments were necessary.
“I actually felt pretty decent today,” Biagini said.
“That’s how it goes. You have to battle through that and just keep working and make sure you don’t lose confidence when you’re trying to prepare, but also test things out in game situations and adjust.”
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