That was the message Clint Hurdle, Ray Searage and Neal Huntington had for Steven Brault last year during the player exit interview. While he had encouraging strikeout numbers, it was still a rough first full big league season for the lefty, finishing with a 4.61 ERA and -0.4 WAR. The root of his problems was his 5.6 BB/9 clip.
Brault agreed, and he had a suggestion the brass liked: adopting a 12 month throwing schedule. It would be the first of several changes he has made this offseason.
“Last year, when I was having problems throwing strikes, my in my head was, ‘I need to return to when I used to throw strikes,’” Brault said.