As seamless a comeback as Brandon Beachy has made coming back from Tommy John surgery, with four consecutive quality starts since his seven-run outing against the Rockies, he is still working to get a feel for his slider.
It’s a common problem for pitchers coming off elbow surgery, and Beachy knew just who to go to for some advice on how to handle it. He approached former Brave John Smoltz, now an analyst for MLB Network, when the Braves were playing the Nationals in Washington a couple of weeks ago.
“He has one of the best sliders in the game,” Beachy said. “And he dealt with what I’m dealing with.”
Smoltz demonstrated his follow-through on the slider as he and Beachy talked, and Beachy said Smoltz gave him some ideas of mental cues he can use.
“He told me, like pretty much everyone else, it’s pretty much the last thing that comes, the feel for the breaking ball,” Beachy said. “He had a few things that I can key on in my mind while I’m throwing it to try to help me.”
Beachy struggled to command his slider his first start back against the Rockies, while throwing 19 sliders in 84 pitches. So he backed off it, over his next two starts, throwing only two in 98 pitches against the Phillies and three in 99 pitches against the Marlins.
But he made a point to work it back in for 10 of his 81 pitches against the Phillies. And on Tuesday night against the Mets, Beachy threw only three sliders in his 86 pitches but he got quality results with all of them – a called strike, a swinging strike and a groundout.
“The more I throw it the more I can feel it coming off my fingers out in front,” Beachy said. “A month ago, I’d throw it but I couldn’t tell the difference between a good one and a bad one out of my hand. Usually you can tell immediately. I’m getting closer to that.”
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