When he spoke at the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up in January, Austin Gomber had already turned his attention from last season to Spring Training for 2016–his first in big league camp. Fast forward to today and Gomber, the organization’s 2015 C0-Minor League Pitcher of the Year, will take the mound to start against Florida Atlantic University in the Cardinals first exhibition of the spring.
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“It’s been a lot of fun so far,” said Gomber of Spring Training. “It’s a lot more interactive than I thought it was going to be with the older guys–the older guys are awesome. Waino, even guys who are young but have a lot of experience like Wacha, Jaime. They’ve all been awesome and the coaches are hands on.”
The 22-year old left-hander has been taking it all in–from learning how the veterans go about their daily business and routines to seeking out Jaime Garcia to work on the run game.
“That’s something I feel I need to improve on–just holding runners, moves to first base, so we’ve had some talks about that,” said Gomber. “We’ve had some talks about that and just how to pitch guys, little things here and there.”
“We talk about mainly prioritizing the run game, how important it is to hold runners–how important it is to be quick going to first,” said Garcia.
“Throw a lot of strikes for me,” said Gomber. “I’m not the biggest strikeout pitcher, I pitch to contact. Since I started in 2014 , my breaking ball has really come along well after they showed me a new curveball grip and that’s why from my first season to my second season my strikeouts spiked up a lot. I do feel like I have the pitch that I can put guys away with when I’m in that spot, but I don’t necessarily look to strikeout. I’m a guy that’s going to throw strikes and try to get deep in the game.”
“If you’re not that guy–that Alex Reyes-type arm that throws 100, you can’t try to pitch like that guy. You’re going to get in trouble. So for my strengths, I feel like I can go out every five days and give the team six, seven innings just by competing and keep us in the game.”
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