Mark Connor
Mark Connor
Mark Peter Connoris a former pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Before his coaching career, he was a minor league pitcher from 1971 through 1972 who batted and threw right-handed...
ahead hitters needs pitcher pitches starting three throwing
Right now he's getting ahead of hitters and throwing three pitches for strikes. That's what a starting pitcher needs to do.
embarrass good hitter needs recognize throws
He needs to recognize when he throws a good pitch, he doesn't need to throw a better one. You just have to get a hitter out, you don't have to embarrass him.
decision felt hitters mound pitch ready seen sure thrown worried
He hasn't made a decision yet but he's going to have to get up on the mound pretty quick. I wouldn't want him to go pitch if he hasn't seen any hitters or thrown all his pitches. I'm not worried yet. He said he felt better today. But I'm not sure he's ready to get on the mound.
ball came closer game january problem since stuff throwing
He has been lights-out since January and wasn't laboring, so I didn't have a problem with that. He's throwing the ball well. He probably came in here closer to having game stuff than anybody.
change fact gets player scared speeds throws
He's the player of the day for me. He was good. I like the fact that he can change speeds and throws strikes. He's not scared out there. He gets after it.
along balls breaking continue eight max threw throw today top
I let him throw some breaking balls today for the first time. He threw about eight breaking balls, not max effort, but getting over the top of them with no problem, so we'll continue along those lines.
ball good moving people progress throwing time
The ball was moving good today. He was throwing it over the plate. If he does that, he'll get people out. There's progress each time out.
everybody guys hands instead interfere relax throws trying until
I told the coaches, hands off until everybody throws at least one or two times. Let them relax instead of trying to make suggestions to guys we don't know yet. They get evaluated in games, so we don't want them to do anything that will interfere with their preparations.
thrown
He probably would have thrown more, but I told him to stop.
affected bigger credit laid last possibly situation table weight
We laid it out on the table for him, what his situation was, and to his credit, he's done everything he possibly could do to get back. He's bigger and stronger. We thought his weight was down last year, and it may have affected his velocity.
ability juan kid matter
We like this kid and his stuff. This kid has got the ability to do anything in the Majors. Like Juan Dominguez, it's a matter of consistency.
start
I don't even want to start to go down that road.
dealing given kim money
But we had given Kim a lot of money and he was dealing at the time.
caught concerned concerns home pitches run
No, I'm not concerned about the home runs. We just wanted him to get in his 18 pitches and come out healthy. No concerns at all. He was fine. Besides, the one home run was just a pop-up that got caught in the wind.