Chicago Cubs Brooks Raley vows to do better in upcoming games – MLB News
The Chicago Cubs' new starter Brooks Raley on Wednesday, August 8, regretted the inability to keep the San Diego Padres' hitters at bay in his debut, but vowed he will improve. The debutant suffered a disconcerting loss on Wednesday when he gave up no less than seven runs in his four innings.
Raley was recently promoted to the Majors after the Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza was sent to disabled list due to stress reaction in his wrist. Raley was coming from Triple-A Iowa and the first outing was supposed to be stronger; which to his disappointment, did not really materialise.
This was what Raley referred to while speaking about his debut game.
"There were some bright spots and I had some rough spots, but that's part of it," he said. "Obviously, I had high expectations for myself. That was the shortest outing of the year for me. I pride myself on going deep and throwing strikes. I might have been trying to do too much."
The bright spots that Raley needs to focus will be in abundant supply in the days to come. Because uncertainty prevails over the fate of Garza coming back this season, Raley will have enough opportunity in the final two months of the season to make more starts with ever more preparation.
The 24-year-old pitcher has a lot to learn, among others, from his pitching coach Chris Bosio. The young starter spoke of the talk he had with Bosio.
"Bosio took me in the bullpen and after the first 15 pitches, he told me to sit down and kind of collect my thoughts," Raley said. "My first 15 [pitches], I don't even know where they were going. I thought that was the best way to handle that situation.”
All said, Raley confidently thinks he will be successful. The fact that he got a chance to make appearance in the Majors while there were other choices for the Cubs is reassuring for Raley. It remains to be seen if he will come out as successful, by the end of the season, as is expected. His second start will be on Sunday when the team will take on the Cincinnati Reds.
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