SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 It has long been a battle for Matt Waldron.<\/p>\n
Now, on the precipice of either making the Padres roster or perhaps being finished with the organization, he appears to be better for having surrendered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m out of options this year,\u201d Waldron said, referring to the fact he cannot be sent to the minor leagues without being made available to other teams via waivers. \u201cSo that\u2019s one thing they kind of just free-reined it a little bit and said, \u2018Hey, take this under your control a little bit more and compete the way you are.\u2019 And \u2026 how I felt before going into the game, it was just like, be myself. And it wasn\u2019t like confined at all or constrained by a percentage. Just go out there and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
After pitching two scoreless innings at the start of the Padres\u2019 10-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, Waldron was not even aware how much he had thrown (or not thrown) his knuckleball.<\/p>\n
The answer, he found out, was 33% of the time. That was eight of his 24 pitches. And it was well below the 50% or so the Padres had at times pressed him to use the wacky pitch that has been his signature offering over parts of three seasons in the major leagues. Waldron was, in fact, generally more successful the more he threw the knuckleball.<\/p>\n
He threw the pitch 41% of the time while compiling a 2.76 ERA over a 14-start stretch in the middle of 2024, compared to less than 34% of the time while posting a 7.84 ERA in his other 12 starts that season.<\/p>\n
But he always seemed to be in a state of angst over his identity as a pitcher. And the Padres believe was a big factor in his struggles at the end of \u201824 and throughout the \u201825 season he spent almost entirely in Triple-A.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the past, we\u2019ve definitely tried to steer him towards using the knuckleball more without trying to put a percentage on it,\u201d manager Craig Stammen said. \u201cBut at times we were frustrated he wasn\u2019t using it enough. But I think we\u2019ve kind of freed him up. \u2026 Pitching is all about having intent and conviction with the pitch that you\u2019re throwing. And right now, that\u2019s what it looks like when he\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waldron can hit 94 mph with his fastball, much faster than knuckleballers have historically. And he has a sneaky sweeper in addition to a sinker and cutter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can land backdoor sweepers arguably better than a lot of people can \u2026 and I can move the fastball around,\u201d Waldron said Saturday. \u201cSo why not use that as a weapon and continue to try and be the best version of myself?\u201d<\/p>\n
Waldron, who is competing with five other pitchers for what is no more than two spots in the starting rotation, did use the knuckleball more than any other pitch Saturday. That included his finishing off a strikeout for the third out of the second inning. But he stayed away from it for stretches as well. He threw his four-seam fastball seven times, twice topping 94 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cWaldy looked great,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cHe put in a lot of work this offseason, transforming his body a little bit, transforming just everything about him as a pitcher. I think he\u2019s in a really good mindset right now and doesn\u2019t view himself necessarily as just a knuckleball pitcher but a really good pitcher. I think that has freed him up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matsui announcement coming<\/p>\n
Team Japan is expected to announce in the next day or so that it has lost reliever Yuki Matsui\u2019s services for the World Baseball Classic after he left a live batting practice session early on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Padres clarified Saturday that what was initially called a groin issue is a low-grade left adductor strain. (The adductors are a group of muscles high in the thigh that move the leg toward the center of the body. An injury to the adductor causes discomfort in the groin area.)<\/p>\n
Stammen said it would be a \u201ctough road\u201d for Matsui to pitch in the tournament in March. But the Padres are waiting for Team Japan to make the official announcement.<\/p>\n
According to members of the Japanese media who kept vigil Saturday, Matsui did not play catch as had been expected.<\/p>\n
Seeing, hearing is believing<\/p>\n
With one final grunt, Walker Buehler hopped off the bullpen mound and headed toward Field 2 at the Peoria Sports Complex to throw his first live batting practice.<\/p>\n
There, the former Dodgers star again grunted (and cursed) loudly a few times while impressing onlookers with his command and movement.<\/p>\n
Buehler sat between 92 and 93 mph on his fastball, well down from his prime. But the right-hander, who signed a minor-league deal this week and is trying to win a rotation spot, confounded Manny Machado in three at-bats with some well-placed curveballs and cutters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalker looked great,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cYou can see his competitiveness \u2014 or hear his competitiveness. That\u2019s what he brings to the table. \u2026 He looked really good. Liked what I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 It has long been a battle for Matt Waldron. Now, on the precipice of either…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,853,4,43,137,18,4339,4338,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-585624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-padres","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sandiegopadres","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116111404317923667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}