With Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg making his Spring Training debut against the Tigers at Space Coast Stadium on Tuesday, manager Jim Riggleman decided to have catcher Wil Nieves behind the plate over Ivan Rodriguez, simply because it was Rodriguez's time to take the day off.
Nieves ended up being on the same page as Strasburg, who pitched two shutout innings and allowed two hits in a 9-4 loss to Detroit in front of 4,305 fans.
"He was impressive," Nieves said. "Even those base hits, he was keeping the ball down. The way he carried himself was good. I say he is going to be a star up here."
Strasburg acknowledged that he was nervous before the game, and Nieves was a calming influence to the 21-year-old right-hander.
"You see all those fans are here to see me," Nieves joked to Strasburg, who then started to laugh.
"Wil is great," Strasburg said. "He is a class act. He really kept me loose. He just told me to go out there and have fun. He said, 'Trust in your stuff.' It's the same game out here. It's still 60 feet, six inches. I just tried to pound that zone."
What impressed Nieves the most was when Strasburg struck out Brent Dluhach looking on an 81-mph curveball to end the second inning. Both Strasburg and Nieves agreed that a breaking ball was in order with the count full.
"I called the pitch because I realized he could throw it for a strike," Nieves said. "But he was on the same page. He was thinking about throwing that curveball, too."
Nieves has caught hard throwers like Bobby Jenks and Mike MacDougal during his career, but no one tops Strasburg because he doesn't have control problems.
"With him, Stephen is so easy because he throws a lot of strikes," Nieves said. "He is around the zone. Catching him is easy."
No comments:
Post a Comment