Midseason adjustment for lefty Crownover led to surge into postseason

Left-hander Matthew Crownover made a mechanical adjustment this season that turned things around for him after a shaky start.

In his last five starts, he allowed only six runs in 30 innings. During that span, he walked six batters and struck out 30 hitters.

High Single-A Potomac manager Tripp Keister said that pitching coach Franklin Bravo diagnosed the issue with Crownover's delivery and was able to get him to repeat to a point where he was able to get the ball down in the zone better than he was at the beginning of the season.

"Matthew Crownover is another drafted player from last year who started in Hagerstown and really struggled when he came up to Potomac. He had a stretch of starts where he couldn't get the ball down. He didn't have much command," Keister said.

"But he made an adjustment with Franklin Bravo and they really worked on their side sessions in the 'pen, and I think his last four or five starts he was really good. His changeup and fastball, he was really controlling swings. He's got more of a cutter-type breaking ball, a little short slider-type breaking ball."

In Crownover's final start on Sept. 9, he allowed two runs (one earned run) on three hits in six innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. Lynchburg won the game 3-1 to take the series 2-1. He threw 99 pitches, 66 for strikes.

"He really did a nice job, pitched really well in the deciding game of our first round series that we lost," Keister said. "He exited the game down 1-0. We didn't score, but he really pitched a heck of a game and gave us a chance, six or seven innings and really did well."

Crownover is a sixth-round selection in 2015 out of Clemson. He is 23 and 5-11, 205 lbs. He went 5-1 with a 1.17 ERA for the Suns and 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA for the P-Nats. But as Keister said, Crownover finished the season on a surge, winning his last four regular season decisions. That spells good news for the crafty southpaw to help him springboard into 2017.