Mike Minor: only silver lining Atlanta Braves can find in Spring Training so far - MLB Update
Shrugged off by many as a wasted pick as he was drafted way back in 2009 MLB Draft, Mike Minor is all set to prove his mettle in the season. While most of pitchers are being hammered cheaply in every next game Braves are playing in training, only Minor has
stood out as a player not has been scored a run against so far in the training.
Glance at his career though is not going to guarantee much as one may feel so after looking at his 4.74 ERA, it is an intelligence he has exhibited in outwitting batters in last few games that will permit one to expect a spectacular performance from him
in the season. Although he has not been that fast, his pitching repertoire has certainly expanded.
His slider has impressed everyone, not to mention the curveball he has been employing so incredibly to send batters into a guessing zone, only to leave them tricked later. Only thing he has to work at is his change-up.
“I keep telling this to everybody, Mike keeps getting better and better,” Brian McCann said. “From the first time he came up here, his debut [in 2010], to right now. It’s almost scary. You don’t know where his ceiling is. You don’t know how good he can get.”
Regardless of his performance, one thing he has attained in Spring Training and that is the confidence of his manager in terms of fetching a spot in opening day roster. Very little are the chances as happened last season when he was held back for the fifth
spot making way for Brandon Beachy, that he will meet the same fate.
“We always bring up that one game in Milwaukee [last April]. The next time he came up he was better, and in September he was better. He showed us that he was progressing in the right direction,” said Braves’ manager
Fredi Gonzalez.
Despite the presence of equally fierce competition in the side (evident from the existence of names like Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado and Kris Medlen, top 2012 prospects of Braves), Minor holds an edge on various fronts this time around.
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