WEST PALM BEACH, FL (SportsRadio 610)- Forrest Whitley thought he would have some nerves. Monday marked his first Grapefruit League start in three years, but that turned out not to be the case.
"I felt surprisingly loose out there," Whitley said. "I wasn't as nervous for the first spring outing compared to the last few, so I feel like I can take a lot of good things from today."
Whitley tossed the first two innings of the Astros 4-3 loss to the Marlins, allowing two runs on four hits while throwing 35 pitches, 24 for strikes, five of them swinging, while using his entire pitch arsenal, but maybe the biggest positive for Whitley on Monday was he that did not issue a base on balls after walking close to 16 percent of the hitters he faced in Triple-A last season.
"I think that's the number one priority in camp, just filling up the zone," Whitley said. "I know I've got competitive stuff to get good hitters out, just gotta get in the zone and get ahead in the count, and just put the pitches in the right spot with two strikes."
Peyton Burdick's second inning home run to right-center that was aided by a 13 MPH wind accounted for Miami's runs against the Astros 2016 first round pick. Whitley didn't have any regrets about the 1-1 fastball.
"I thought I missed his barrel a little bit, and it just kind of ended up pushing over there and getting out over the fence, but it was a fine pitch. I just really think I should have thrown a different pitch there, maybe a slider.
Once one of baseball's most prized prospects, Whitley has dealt with injuries and a suspension in the seven years that have passed since the Astros drafted him, which culminated in Tommy John Surgery two springs ago, but Whitley is healthy now and throwing from a lower arm slot, which he says is due to an increase in velocity, though there was no velocity reading made available to the public.
2023 is a big year for Whitley. The Astros are on their third general manager since he entered the organization, and talent alone can't keep him on the 40-man roster. He has never thrown 100 innings in a season and hasn't hit the 60 inning mark since 2017, but Whitley finished 2022 on a normal starters rotation and this season offers a chance to build on that.
