Philly.com · Mar 19, 2017
Eickhoff strikes out 9 in loss to Rays
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Jerad Eickhoff pitched Sunday as if he was ready for real baseball to start. He worked at a quick pace. He flung curveballs that generated a handful of bad swings. He toyed with a change-up, a pitch that could be crucial to his continued big-league success.
It is a spring cliché for a pitcher to prioritize his change-up. Most spend the spring fooling with one. Eickhoff believes he has found something.
"I've always been trying to take something off of it, get some movement with it," he said. "I don't necessarily know about the movement today, but the speed difference was definitely different and I got some swings and misses. That tells you a lot."