Strasburg gets his work in, Doolittle works on his off-speed stuff

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The day began with Stephen Strasburg on the mound for the first time against an opponent this spring. And Strasburg's outing - two innings of one-run ball, plus another 20 pitches in the bullpen afterward - was important, in that he needed to make his first start of the spring at some point and begin the process of ramping up before the season begins.

These days, though, there's not that much new for Strasburg to do in spring training. After several years of tinkering, he's found a program and a pitching method that works for him. He began throwing exclusively out of the stretch last spring, and it worked well. He decided to de-emphasize the slider that caused him elbow trouble two years ago, and that has worked well.

So there's only so much to say about a Strasburg Grapefruit League start at this stage of his career.

"I mean, I don't know, it's the first outing of spring training," he said more than an hour after his 29-pitch effort against the Astros. "And I felt really strong. It's a new season, so there's going to be ups and downs, and you just got to keep plugging along."

At this point, we know what Strasburg throws: an upper-90s fastball, a low-80s curveball, a high-80s changeup, plus the occasional slider mixed in to throw off hitters a little more. He threw all of those pitches today, topping out at 98 mph in the first inning.

His manager noticed that number of the radar gun.

"Yes, I did," Davey Martinez said. "It's early, but I did. It's early, but it's nice knowing that he feels that good."

Strasburg was a little shakier in the second inning, though there was only one clean single off him to go along with a bunt hit, a wild pitch and an error on a pickoff attempt. Still, when he walked off the mound, only one run had crossed the plate and his pitch count sat at 29.

And as Sean Doolittle entered to pitch the bottom of the third, Strasburg made his way back out to the bullpen to throw an additional 20 pitches. Was that the plan all along, or did he realize he needed more work after two fairly efficient innings in the game?

"I don't know," he said. "They said if I wanted to go down there and throw some more, feel free. So I did."

So he did, pitching out of the spotlight while Doolittle took center stage. And though the Nationals closer wound up throwing only 16 pitches in total, his outing proved more interesting than Strasburg's because unlike the starter he actually was working on something new.

Having developed into a major league closer almost entirely on the strength of one pitch - a well-located fastball - Doolittle is now trying to branch out more. He is working on perfecting both his slider and his changeup this spring, and today offered an opportunity to try both pitches out in a game, against good hitters: Marwin Gonzalez, Derek Fister and Carlos Correa.

Doolittle wound up throwing five off-speed pitches out of his overall total of 16: two sliders, three changeups. And he was happy with the outcome: He got Gonzalez to pop up on a slider, and he caught Fisher and Correa off-guard with some changeups.

"It's definitely been a point of emphasis," Doolittle said. "I think in the two outings I've had (this spring), I've thrown more sliders to righties than I think I have in my whole career. I'm not exaggerating, either. I've been pretty pleased with the results."

Martinez likes what he has seen so far.

"He wants to nail one of those two pitches down, I know. Maybe both," the manager said. "I mean, it's just another weapon for him. For him, it's all about changing the eye level of the hitters. We all know he throws high fastballs. He's very successful, but he wanted to develop another pitch."

Doolittle isn't sure what it'll take before he knows he's 100 percent confident using both pitches in key spots in a real game. (He did become comfortable enough with his changeup to throw it more consistently late last season than he ever had in the past, but the slider remains a work-in-process.)

No matter what, Doolittle sounds determined to do this, recognizing the benefits it could have for him both in any particular save situation and over the long haul of a season.

"That late in a game, guys are geared up for the fastball," he said. "Over the course of my career, I've been able to use the energy of that moment to exploit their aggressiveness. They want to tie the game. They want to put that exclamation point on it. And I've been able to command the fastball well enough that I've been able to take advantage of that stuff. But I think that if I have off-speed stuff to go with it, it can make me more efficient.

"It can make the fastball much more effective. Maybe I don't have to throw two or three fastballs to set up the high fastball for the potential strikeout. Maybe I can get a ground ball on a changeup in the second pitch of an at-bat. Yeah, I've had some injury history, but maybe over the course of the season, if I can keep my pitch count to 12-15 per inning, that goes a long way."