Bundy views time in camp as "another step for me"

SARASOTA, Fla. - Dylan Bundy is sitting at his locker this morning. He's still in camp, but not for long. The Orioles optioned Bundy to Double-A Bowie yesterday, which requires him to report to Twin Lakes Park and prepare to pitch for the Baysox. "Obviously, I didn't break camp, so I need to go down there and get more innings in and hopefully build up a workload to start the season," he said. "I've got a bullpen today, so I'd imagine that I'd start in one or two days. I don't know. No clue." It didn't matter to Bundy whether he was optioned to Bowie or Triple-A Norfolk. "Wherever they want is fine with me," he said. "I kind of expected Bowie because I only got four starts there last year. I'll just go there and pitch." Bundy went 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in four spring outings. He allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits in eight innings, with six walks and five strikeouts. The camp experience was a little different for Bundy this spring. The surroundings were more familiar, the comfort zone expanded. "It was fine," he said. "It was more comfortable knowing most of these guys this year, and I did still get to learn from them every now and then. Being with the veteran guys helped. "It's another step. Of course, I wanted to break camp. I think everybody here wants to break camp, but obviously it's not going to happen. So, yeah, it's another step for me." Bundy met with manager Buck Showalter, who pinpointed exactly what Bundy needed to work on, including his time to home plate. "I got my time down to 1.3, but he challenged me to continue to do that, and really that was about it," Bundy said. "We talked about baseball, we talked about life. But mainly, I want to get my secondary pitches more fine-tuned." The trick is to reduce that time to the plate without messing up his mechanics and losing velocity. "If you change something little like that, as far as quickening your drive to home plate like that, it kind of changes a lot of things," Bundy said. "You've just kind of (got to) be careful and have your pitching coaches watch that." It's important for Bundy to reduce the number of walks. "I'm not really worried about it in spring training, but I've still got a little bit of time to work on that," he said. "And that's what I'm doing, working on my mechanics right now."