It’s still not the 98mph fastball we’ve seen in the past, but Kevin Siegrist is steadily gaining strength–and the ability to pitch with different velocity on the mound.
His latest example is the two strikeouts in a perfect 7th inning tonight in the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 victory tonight over Miami. Siegrist registered a couple 94mph fastballs on the gun but also dropped down to 71-72 on occasion to keep the Marlins hitters off-balance.
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“It’s been a little bit of a struggle getting back to the way I usually am,” said Siegrist, who shared he felt his strongest of the season before the Cardinals began this recent road trip. “I made some mechanical adjustments–overall, I feel like I’m moving forward in the right direction so just gotta keep working at it.”
Admitting there was “some stuff” he has had to work through, Siegrist has had to adapt his approach on the mound.
“I would say just more, I can’t get away with mistakes–more with my fastball,” he said. “Fastball is usually my strikeout pitch. I’m usually challenging guys with my fastball, so I’m not trying to get away with that but I’m incorporating more off-speed this year than usual. Just trying to get back to my normal self.”
At the beginning of the season, Siegrist was topping out at 92mph. Besides the return of some velocity, he has also not issued a walk in his last five outings, compared to 11 free passes in his first 10 games.
With a workload that led the National League with 81 appearances in 2015 and another 67 last season, it has been wondered and even suggested that this lower velocity is the result and could be the new norm for Siegrist.
The left-hander isn’t planning on that being the case.
“No, I feel like I can always make progress getting back to physically the way I use to feel,” said Siegrist. “It’s been an up and down so far. Everything’s kind of been like day-to-day for me, I’m starting…feels like I can get over this little issue I was dealing with, so I’ll be feeling good.”
photo credit: Scott Kane, Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
