 |
Price is yet another relief pitching prospect for the Indians. Photo Credit: Tony Lastoria |
Price, who turns 24 in two weeks, pitched the entire season in the Double-A Akron bullpen going 6-3 with a 3.25 ERA in 40 appearances. In 69.1 innings he allowed 75 hits, 22 walks, and had 69 strikeouts. Currently, in five appearances in the AFL, he is 0-0 with a 9.53 ERA (5.2 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 2 K).
“I feel like overall it [was] a pretty good year and I just want to end strong," Price said in a recent interview.
Price made the full time transition to the bullpen this season. Since being a 1st round pick out of Rice by the Red Sox in 2008, coming into the 2010 season he had started in 35 of his 38 games (172.2 IP, 184 H, 87 ER, 17 HR, 51 BB, 170 K).
Price was a raw pitcher coming into the draft as he only had 65.2 career college innings, so most felt even at draft time that his future was in the bullpen. The Indians made good on that projection by placing him in the bullpen to start this past season, and is a role he will now stay in for good, which pleases Price very much.
"I like it,” Price said. “The bullpen is where I have always felt comfortable. The Red Sox wanted me to be a starter for the beginning just to work on some stuff, but I have always told everybody I wanted to be in the bullpen. I don't know, you just come into pressure situations and it is a little more intense. When starting you are worried about lasting six innings, but in the bullpen you can just go and give it your all for however long they need you. Also I didn't really like the whole five days where if you throw badly you had to wait around forever, but if you go out there and pitch badly in the bullpen you can go back out there and pitch a few days later."
Part of what makes Price an interesting relief prospect for the Indians is he has two above average pitches with his fastball-slider combination. His fastball sits at 91-93 MPH though has topped out at 97 MPH in the past, and the slider is considered a major league pitch with good tilt and an ability to miss bats.
One pitch which may “finish” him off as a prospect to get him over the hump and make him a true option for the big league bullpen at some point next year and beyond is a splitter he started working on this past season and has shown a lot of progress with it.
"I have been throwing a splitter as a third pitch now,” Price said. “We started it [in July], and I feel like I have had some success with it and I can get people out with it, but I still feel like it is a pitch I should work on this offseason to get it to where it is a little more consistent and down over the plate a little more. Sometimes I am leaving it out too much and hitters are lying off it. But yeah, I feel like it is definitely a pitch that can help me in the long run."
The splitter will give Price an additional weapon to attack hitters, especially left-handers.
"It is mainly for lefties because my slider works pretty well to righties,” Price said. “I try to stick with it to lefties more than righties, but occasionally I will throw it to righties to keep them honest. It gives me something down and in instead of down and away. It is just like the two-seamer where you work on it going down and in and so it just keeps them from leaning over the plate too much."
The biggest thing Price is working on in the AFL and will continue to do so into the offseason is his pitching mechanics. The Indians feel he has made some good adjustments with his delivery and has the mentality to be an aggressive power arm out of the bullpen, but he needs to continue working on repeating his delivery to better complement his stuff.
“I feel like I [lose] my delivery a little bit,” Price said. “I have worked to get back to maintaining it at this point in the season.”
There was cause for alarm when Price sprained the rotator cuff in his right shoulder on April 20th, an injury which put him on the disabled list for about three weeks. It was an injury which could have been a lot worse, and when he returned he actually pitched better with a 2.83 ERA in 35 games (60.1 IP, 61 H, 19 ER, 5 HR, 19 BB, 59 K).
"I have felt pretty good since then,” Price said. “It took awhile for my velocity to come back as it took about a month and a half before I really got it all back. I feel like I am back, and I feel like my arm is fully recovered from that injury."
Rotator cuff injuries are serious as a tear can ruin a career, but Price was able to exhale when he got the news that he was able to escape with just a sprain.
"That was the first time I was ever on the DL, so I was a little unsure,” Price said. “It was just one of those things where I was pitching with it so I knew it wasn't too serious, but at the same time it was hurting occasionally so I knew something was wrong in there. I actually did not have any symptoms until one game when I felt it. I waited a couple days and pitched again and felt it again, so I just told them at that point. It was a little scary, but I am just glad to be over it."
When the AFL wraps up in two and a half weeks, all of Price’s attention will immediately shift to his wedding in January. After his honeymoon, he will get right back to work to get ready for the 2011 season, a season where a major league opportunity may await.
“The only goal right now is to go out there and pitch well,” Price said. “That's really what I have set all year, to compete and pitch well and see where it takes me. I don't really have a numbers goal or anything like that, I am just going to go out there and try to do the best I can and see where it ends."
Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. His latest book the 2010 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is also available for purchase on his site for a special year end closeout sale of $10.00 (including shipping and handling).
Everything on this site is free, but for those interested in making any monetary contributions to help support the stability and growth of this site please click on the "Donate" button below.
0 comments:
Post a Comment