Gray tests himself vs. hitters, Martinez challenges Robles

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Day two of live batting practice saw nine more pitchers take the mound to face hitters for a simulated inning of work, most notably Josiah Gray and Cade Cavalli.

Every pitcher has specific things he’s focusing on during these sessions, but the theme is pretty universal: Keep your mechanics in sync and throw strikes.

For Gray, that ties in with a specific change he made this winter as he attempts to close up his stride, finishing more on a straight line toward the plate instead of to his left, which often caused his fastball to tail back over the heart of the zone. If his first session facing hitters this spring was an indication, all of the pertinent parties were pleased with what they saw.

“It was good,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He wasn’t trying to overdo it. He wasn’t trying to step on it. But the ball was coming out the way he wanted it to, and the misses weren’t crazy, which is the big thing we want to do. … The misses were way better than I’ve seen from him before.”

Gray, who had thrown with an open stride his entire pitching life until now, admits it’s not coming fully natural to him yet. But he’s getting there.

“I think it’s still a process, just like with anything you work on in this sport,” the right-hander said. “I think incremental gains every day are going to lead up to big change when April 1 comes.”

Gray also was working on a new pitch today, trotting out a cut fastball for the first time. For a guy who already throws both a slider and a curveball, it may seem odd to add another pitch that breaks in the same direction. But Gray sees value in it, if he can perfect that pitch, forcing batters to have to prepare for something else when they stand in the box.

“Just another contact-inducing pitch to keep hitters honest,” he said. “With hitters, they can pick up the spin on my four-seam fastball pretty well. It’s going to have a little bit of rise, it’s going to have a little bit of run. If I can opposite that with a cutter that has that same sort of rise, but also has a little bit of sweep, it can open up possibilities in the zone and lead to more contact.”

* Several more position players reported to camp today ahead of Monday’s official reporting date. Among them were shortstop CJ Abrams, third baseman Jeimer Candelario and center fielder Victor Robles, who may have an even larger spotlight on him this year.

On the heels of another disappointing season at the plate, Robles filed for arbitration with the Nationals before settling on a $2.325 million salary earlier this month. There’s no immediate competition for him in center field, but with a host of top outfield prospects lurking in the minors, this is probably his last chance to re-establish himself as a long-term part of the puzzle.

And his manager wants him to realize that.

“After talking to him in September, having conversations with him, he understands this has got to be his year,” Martinez said. “He’s got to swing the bat. We know what he can do defensively. We need more offense from him. I’m not talking about home runs. We’re just talking about getting on base, causing havoc. Playing the simple game.”

* Every spring includes countless drills focused on pounding “the fundamentals” into players’ heads. This spring has included a new, and rather specific one: Pitchers backing up throws to third base and the plate.

Each of the last two mornings, pitchers have gone through a new drill. After pretending to throw a pitch off the mound, they race toward foul territory between third and the plate. A coach then yells out either “Three! Three!” or “Four! Four!” and hits a ball toward that base. The pitcher must adjust and scamper to whichever location is called and secure the errant “throw” before it reaches the backstop.

“They don’t seem like big things, but … it could save us a ballgame,” Martinez said. “So we’ve got to do these things. We’ve got to work on them. I saw a lot of times last year, a guy gives up a hit and his head drops and he forgets what he needs to do. I want to be a team that doesn’t forget about that in those moments. Because you know what, if we do overthrow the ball, or the ball kicks, I want our guy to be there to back up. It’s one thing when we give up one run, but it’s another thing if we give up another run because we’re not in position to do what we do.”