Michael Pineda practicing to live up to his potential – MLB News
Michael Pineda is one of the most promising young prospects in Major League Baseball right now. The tall pitcher looked on top of his game in his rookie last season as he earned a decent 9-10 win-loss record with 3.74 ERA.
His performances in first half of the season were the most noticeable though as he recorded an incredible 4-1 record with an astonishing 2.01 ERA in first month. Replacing Justin Verlander in an All Star game on July 10th, he struck out Scott Rolen and Rickie Weeks.
Despite securing no wins in his final seven starts over the last two months of the season, he finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Jeremy Hellickson, Mark Trumbo, Eric Hosmer and Ivan Nova.
The 23 year old was acquired by New York Yankees for Jesus Montero earlier this year. According to sources, the starter has already started to train with the Yankees pitching coaches. He has working extremely hard to improve his fast ball and sliders.
On Tuesday, Pineda showed up early at the Yankees training facility to face Collin Curtis and Melky Mesa. In an interview with a top sports website, Curtis stated that Pineda is an extremely talented pitcher. In addition to his superb throwing abilities, the guy is known for his warm behaviour with his team mates.
"He is a monster," Curtis said of 280-pound Pineda. “The slider was the best pitch I saw. They kind of blocked it out.”
“It’s good, I feel comfortable," said Pineda, who initially seemed shocked that reporters wanted to talk to him about the batting practice session.
“It’s important he works on it in spring training," Girardi said of Pineda, who is scheduled to start Monday against the Phillies in Clearwater. “I am not going to get caught up in numbers. The only way to [improve] is to throw [the changeup]."
Last season, the Yankees pitching attack struggled to contain the batters during playoffs. The ace C.C. Sabathia, who was the leader of the pitchers pack in 2011, will be assisted heavily by Pineda to help the Yankees make it to the World Series. It will be interesting to see if Pineda can live up to the expectations in Spring Training games.
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