Hellickson working on slider, quick-pitch delivery

JUPITER, Fla. - Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson is embracing the notion that spring training is a time to test out new things. One he's growing pretty comfortable with, the other remains a work in progress.

During his three-inning stint this afternoon in a 9-8 loss to the Marlins, Hellickson got more comfortable with a quick-pitch windup designed to keep hitters used to his more deliberate delivery a little more off-balance.

He also threw broke out a new offering - a slider he's been thinking about adding to his repertoire as a strikeout pitch - but said he still has some work to do before he'd be comfortable using it in a regular season game.

"I mean, I've been trying to throw one for a long time, (but) I just never take it into the season," he said. "It's one of those things that I don't want to get beat with a pitch I'm not comfortable with. But nowadays you need a strikeout pitch. I think my curveball, it can be a strikeout pitch, but it's more of a weak contact pitch as well."

Of the sliders he threw today, Hellickson said he got only one swing and miss. Hellickson allowed a run on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts in his second spring start.

"I just think nowadays a slider is a big strikeout pitch and I've just never had one," Hellickson said. "I have the cutter to lefties, but it's more of a trying to get weak contact or something like that. The changeup is my strikeout pitch so it's something different, a little harder going away to righties. It's a tough pitch to throw, been trying to throw one forever."

Having teammates like Max Scherzer and Patrick Corbin who have mastered the pitch and boast among the best sliders in the game, has eased in his transition.

"It's a good rotation to learn a slider from," Hellickson said. "So I've obviously asked all those guys. Corbin coming over with probably the best slider in the game, talked to him a little bit. Yeah, just trying to get comfortable with it, and really like any pitch, try to get to where I can throw it at any count, any situation."

Manager Davey Martinez wasn't surprised to hear that Hellickson wanted to add a pitch to his arsenal.

"That's Hellickson," Martinez said. "He's a competitor and he's going to try to do everything he can to get outs."

The right-hander's progression has moved from thought to flat ground work to trials in the bullpen, then live batting practice, where Hellickson got feedback from hitters on the pitch.

"It's really the first time he's used it," Martinez said. "He knows he's got a little way to go, but it's something else he can eventually rely on."

While it may take a while for Hellickson to achieve a comfort level with the slider - there are four or five more starts for him to tinker with it - he's getting more used to the occasional quickening of his windup, a countermeasure for hitters who have grown used to him taking his time to deliver a pitch. He's been working all offseason to refine the quick pitch.

"If you would have asked me four, five years ago if I was going to switch anything up in the ninth year, I would have said no," he said. "But it's a big pitch that I need and the quick pitch can be a big weapon for me as well."

Hellickson was relieved by right-hander Erick Fedde, who got a 1-2-3 fourth inning, allowed a solo homer to Lewis Brinson in the fifth and then was charged with four of the five runs the Marlins scored in the inning.

Fedde's spring ERA has risen to 18.56 after three outings, though Martinez believes a mechanical correction could get him back on track.

"He pitched well for two innings," Martinez said. "The thing with Fedde is all of a sudden, he loses command of his body. And that's something we talked about and he just needs to work on. He just loses control of where his body goes and he just starts throwing (all) arm and that's why the ball starts sailing in so much. We just got to keep working with him."

* Right-handed reliever Justin Miller underwent an MRI that revealed a strained muscle in his lower back. Martinez said Miller would be shut down until the injury has healed.