Much has been made regarding the mental makeup and reliability of our big boy closer, Jonathan Broxton. Perhaps though, by adding more pitches to his arsenal in efforts to keep the hitter off balance, Broxton is undergoing a new mental makeup of his own. From Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times…
The batter’s box could be a place where hearts beat faster and palms become moist on nights Jonathan Broxton takes the mound this season.
The Dodgers’ closer with the 100-mph fastball says he intends to pitch inside more this season, part of a concerted effort to increase discomfort for hitters.
“People won’t dive at every pitch,” Broxton said.
Broxton’s own fear is what made him reluctant to use the inside of the plate in the past — namely, his fear of missing his spot and throwing a down-the-middle fastball.
He says he thinks he has found a solution: a two-seam fastball that runs down and in on right-handed hitters.
“I’m starting to throw that pitch this year,” Broxton said. “I didn’t throw it enough the last couple of years.”
If he misses, Broxton said, “it’ll still have some action down.”
Broxton added the pitch at the insistence of pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, who heard from scouts that Broxton’s tendency to pitch away from hitters was becoming common knowledge around the league.
“You never want anyone to have a comfortable at-bat,” Honeycutt said. “It’s about not being predictable. You can’t just live off one side of the plate.”
There’s an old saying that reads, “never does a man grow faster than the day he does away with denial.” By adding new pitches, and adjusting to the hitter’s tendencies, perhaps Broxton realizes that his fastball won’t always get the job done. The desire to improve, coupled with the curiosity to experiment, could start paying dividends almost immediately.
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Quick side note to those of you that missed it (though if you are an avid Dodger blog reader I don’t know how you did)…please check out Sons of Steve Garvey’s Chipotle chronicles from yesterday. Legendary.
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I’m starting to believe that Matt Stairs’ mammoth shot off Broxton in Game 4 of the NLCS was just what he needed to motivate himself to work on his stuff. He was way too predictable.