Mike Minor says starting for Rangers on Opening Day isn’t on his mind, but one pitch is
Opening Day arrives three weeks to the day from Thursday, when left-hander Mike Minor took the mound for the Texas Rangers for his third spring start.
He is expected to start the Rangers’ opener, March 28 against the Chicago Cubs. Manager Chris Woodward said earlier in camp that it was likely, and Minor has done nothing this spring to suggest that has changed.
But he encountered a couple of hiccups against the San Diego Padres, primarily one of those dry-air Arizona homers that are long outs at most MLB ballparks. That “blast” accounted for three of the four runs Minor allowed in three-plus innings in an 11-8 loss.
It wasn’t a bad outing, as Minor accomplished much of what he was hoping to do. He wanted to work on his curveball, and he estimated that he threw 12 to 15 of them as he tries to refine the pitch to give him another off-speed offering for the regular season.
“I liked it, until that last inning,” Minor said. “I threw some good curveballs today and some good off-speed, and the fastball was there. Mostly just trying to mix it up, trying to throw all four pitches at anytime.
“I want stuff to be either bigger breaks or different locations or kind of use the whole strike zone. The slider’s so hard and the changeup’s so hard, I want something that’s a little bit softer in there and I can throw for a first-pitch strike or bury it late.”
Speaking of burying pitches, Minor said that he hasn’t given any thought this spring to being the Opening Day starter, though he said toward the end of last year that it would be an honor to do so.
The goal now, he said, is to continue building arm strength and zeroing his command ahead of the lid-lifter or whichever game is picked for his first start.
“I’m excited for the team more so than Opening Day,” Minor said. “I’m excited to get the season started.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2019 at 5:23 PM.
