PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- To be 37 years old, 15 months removed from major back surgery and a few years after reconstructive elbow surgery, and to throw 79 pitches on March 4 without any worries, says much about the enduring ability of Tim Hudson and his current physical state.
He wasn’t too pleased with the results: four innings, six hits, two runs, one walk and two strikeouts. But Hudson, who missed the first month of the 2012 season while recovering from lumbar-fusion surgery, was encouraged again by how well he felt after throwing 46 strikes in 79 pitches in his third start of spring training in a 4-2 win against the New York Mets.
“It was good work for me,” he said. “I wasn’t worth a crap today, but I was able to have big-situation pitches pretty much every inning, and it helped having the kid (catcher Christian Bethancourt) throw out a couple of runners. I was able to work out of most of them, make a decent pitch here and there. It was a great work day. Obviously I’m not going to be happy with it at all if this is June. But that’s what spring training is for.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he would’ve replaced Hudson either way after facing Ruben Tejada, who grounded out to end the fourth inning.
“There’s always a limit with the pitches,” Gonzalez said. “But he feels great. He went out there and gave us four innings, and he battles. Now he’ll go on to his next start and we’ll keep building him up.”
Hudson hasn’t had any problems with his elbow, back or a bone spur in his ankle that caused some problems last summer.
“My pitch count was pretty high but I felt pretty fresh,” he said. “My legs felt strong, considering this is real early in spring. You never want to throw too much this early in spring, but it was a good day to get some work in. It wasn’t a great day from a production standpoint, but it was a good day as far as getting the work in and getting your pitch counts up, getting some stress pitches.”
He smiled and added, “About 75 of those were stressful pitches.”
By stressful pitches, he meant with runners on base. Hudson was glad to get into – and out of – those situations several times
“Physically I feel as good as I have in a really long time,” he said. “Obviously from my arm strength wise and arm conditioning wise, I’m not where I want to be. But my legs are under me, my ankle feels pretty good, arm feels good, so I couldn’t be happier with where I am physically. It’s just a process of getting to game speed and getting game-ready and executing pitches.
“That’s the one thing I’m pretty far away from, is actually executing pitches to both sides of the plate right now.”
Justin goes deep: After watching his brother B.J. hit his first homer for the Braves on Sunday, Justin Upton hit his second on Monday. His first-inning homer hit the top of a palm tree beyond the left-field fence at Tradition Field.
It was impressive, if not as much so as the tape-measure blast he hit Feb. 25 at Champion Stadium, which was estimated at more than 450 feet and nearly made it to the players’ parking lot well beyond left-field grass seating berm.
“Justin is swinging it,” Gonzalez said of the younger of the Braves’ Upton brothers, who is 7-for-21 (.333) with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs in eight games.
Short hops: Joey Terdoslavich singled in his only plate appearance to make him 8-for-9 in his past four games and 11-for-17 (.647) for the spring. He was tied for the Grapefruit League hits lead before Monday…. Evan Gattis had a pinch-hit single to make him 8-for-18 (.444). Gattis is competing for a spot as a backup catcher or backup outfielder/catcher and pinch-hitter….. Lefty reliever Luis Avilan had two strikeouts in a perfect inning and hasn't allowed a run in 4-1/3 innings over four appearances…. Prospect David Hale allowed one hit and one walk in two innings, the only baserunners he's allowed in four innings over three relief appearances…. Prospect Alex Wood gave up a single and a walk in the ninth inning, then induced a game-ending double-play grounder for his first save.
