In spring debut, Fedde rides 28-pitch roller coaster

The last thing Erick Fedde wanted to do in his first inning of the spring Sunday was get into a bases-loaded jam before recording an out, then watch as Nolan Arenado strode to the plate and received a standing ovation for his first at-bat with the Cardinals. And when he promptly spiked a sinker in the dirt to bring home a run, Fedde's 2021 debut appeared on the brink of collapse.

But then, an adjustment. And a flip of the script, turning a potentially disastrous first inning in Jupiter, Fla., into something of a positive for the right-hander.

Unable to locate his bread-and-butter sinker with any consistency early on, Fedde decided instead to try his cutter. And the difference was significant. He got Arenado to foul off a pair of cutters on the outside corner, then got him to commit enough to another one down and away to be rung up by the first base umpire for a strikeout.

Fedde was back in control, and he finished off the frame in impressive style. He made a nice play on Paul DeJong's comebacker, catching Matt Carpenter in a rundown between third and home. And he got Yadier Molina to fly out to end a 28-pitch inning that was far from perfect but minimized the damage.

"The first three batters, my fastball was just kind of all over the place," Fedde said in a subsequent Zoom session with reporters. "So I decided, with the catcher (Blake Swihart), to start mixing that in more (cutters). I threw a lot that were successful, so I was very happy with that."

That was the end of Fedde's first start of the spring. Manager Davey Martinez hoped to get him up over the 30-pitch mark, but because it required 28 to record three outs, there was no reason to send him back to the mound for another inning.

Actually, Martinez was close to pulling the plug on Fedde before the bottom of the first even ended. Major League Baseball has given managers permission to "roll over" half-innings before the third out is made if a pitcher has thrown more than 20 pitches. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt did it with Jack Flaherty after the young right-hander loaded the bases on 23 pitches in the top of the first. Martinez chose to let Fedde try to get out of the jam and was rewarded for his show of faith.

"He got out of the inning," Martinez said. "What I like is that he controlled himself. Things got hot, and he was able to get out of the inning without too much damage."

The roller coaster inning served as a reminder of Fedde's frequent struggles to get ahead of hitters and record quick outs, but also of the potential he still has to become a consistently effective big league starter.

The shift away from his sinker and toward his cutter was evidence of the latter, and perhaps a sign of the 28-year-old's maturity. Rather than relying on his most commonly thrown pitch, he found another way to get himself back on track, forcing opposing batters to adjust to a different pitch that breaks in the other direction.

"As a guy that throws with a lot of arm-side run, (the cutter) is something to make the hitters have to decide if it's going at them or away from them," he said. "It's something that's going to make my other pitches a lot better, if they have to respect both ways."

Fedde finds himself in an all-too-familiar position this spring, competing for the final spot in the Nationals rotation along with Joe Ross and Austin Voth. This is how it's been for a while now, with none of the right-handers fully stepping up to seize the job and all of them showing glimpses of the potential to do it.

As was the case one year ago before the pandemic disrupted everything, Fedde appears to face a tougher challenge to win the job because he's the only one of the trio who still has one remaining option year. The Nationals can send him to Triple-A to begin the season and call him up and down as much as needed without first passing him through waivers.

But Martinez doesn't want him thinking about that right now. He wants him to focus on his strong finish to the 2020 season: a 2.50 ERA and a 1.056 WHIP over his last three starts.

"I think Fedde learned a lot about himself and who he is as a pitcher," Martinez said. Hopefully he comes in this year and he continues to develop and grow. He's toyed around with a lot of different things and his mechanics and everything. This year, he needs to go out there and just pitch."

And to remember his fate for 2021 won't necessarily be sealed when camp ends. Even if he doesn't open the season in D.C., Fedde will be starting games for the Nationals sooner or later.

"I feel like it's been my storyline for as long as I can remember," he said with a laugh. "I guess it's kind of become normal. But I'm rooting for all the guys with me, and I know they're cheering me on. I realize, too, that not everyone stays healthy all year. Sometimes you need to pick each other up. I'm trying to always focus on wanting that position and wanting to be the guy they call on to start the year. But if they need me later, I'm going to be that guy."