LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Alex Wood has always used any skepticism or criticism as fuel for the inferno that motivates and drives the Braves left-hander. So when he read or heard some things this winter about how his funky delivery made him susceptible to arm injury and better suited to relief pitching, well, that did the trick.
“People pick you apart,” he said, and by you he meant him. “It’s always the same stuff: How I throw, or how do you feel? Like, even if I do well, people saying things to you, people asking you things, people tweeting things to me, just stuff like that.”
Wood, who turned 23 last month, was a second-round draft pick out of the University of Georgia in June 2012. Fourteen months later, he went 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in five August starts, part of a rookie season in which he posted a 3.13 ERA in 31 games (11 starts) for Atlanta, while going back and forth between Triple-A and the majors and between the big-league bullpen and starting rotation.
Now the kid with the live-wire energy is competing for a rotation spot with the oldest Brave, the seen-it-all, nothing-fazes-him 37-year-old, Freddy Garcia. The one that doesn’t get the job might go to the bullpen, where Wood could give the Braves a second lefty to complement Luis Avilan at least until Jonny Venters is ready in May or June.
Garcia has pitched five perfect innings with five strikeouts in his first two starts. Wood makes his second spring start Friday against the Red Sox, after allowing three hits and no walks with two strikeouts in two innings Sunday against the Tigers.
“I had good results the first time, but obviously a lot of stuff to work on,” Wood said. “It’s good to get your feet wet, get back in the swing of things. In our live (batting practices) we throw behind the L-screen. It’s different when you get in there (in a game) and there’s no L-screen, in terms of making adjustments.
“I threw a good bullpen this week and feel it starting to come back every day. So I’m excited to see how I feel tomorrow.”
It will be a livelier atmosphere than most early spring games. He’ll face the Red Sox in Fort Myers, where they draw good crowds and their Jet Blue Park is built to resemble Fenway Park, including a Green Monster wall in left field.
“It’s exciting,” Wood said. “I’m sure it’ll be a good crowd tomorrow and it’ll be nice to pitch against some guys that I’ve watched for a while. Just got to go out here and compete and throw strikes, you know? Get after it.”
Being in a competition for a starting spot just means that Wood doesn’t have to create one in his head.
“For me personally, that’s kind of how I go about it anyway, so it’s not that much different,” he said. “But at the same time, it makes it more real when it’s actually what is happening. But I mean, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I feel like it makes me better and makes me work even harder than I already do.”
Braves general manager Frank Wren reiterated last week that the Braves view Wood as a starter — now and for the long term — and are preparing him that way this spring.
The hard-throwing Charlotte native was impressive as a rookie. Yet Wood couldn’t help but notice – or maybe he was looking? – there were still some skeptics this winter. To be fair, most of those who expressed any doubts now limited that to his ability to stay healthy in a starter role, not his ability to excel at the major league level. He proved the latter in 2013.
Although he hasn’t had arm issues since Tommy John surgery in his senior year of high school, some people can’t seem to get past wondering aloud whether he puts too much stress on his arm to pitch 175-200 innings as a starter (he’s not pitched more than 140 innings in a season so far).
Wood looks like something out of an old black-and-white news reel when he pitches, all arms and elbows coming at the batter, making a sort of circle in the air with his throwing hand at the back of his delivery before getting the ball up to the traditional three-quarters release point. Then lurching backward with his body after releasing the pitch.
Before last season, a writer at the popular Frangraphs website opined: “You don’t see many starting pitchers with deliveries like Wood. For me, his mechanics scream ‘Reliever.’”
And when he was still at UGA, an April 2012 pre-draft article on Wood included this: “The overall mechanics and look no doubt provide deception to the hitters and Wood repeats them exceptionally well, as evidenced by his command and walk numbers. The biggest effect of Wood’s mechanics, though, is what will likely keep him from being a first round pick and give scouts some question as to whether he can remain a starter all the way up to the big league level.”
Wood said of those skeptics: “They want it to look nice…. (But) it’s like with hitters. You see so many guys do so many different crazy things. But as long as you get to a good position, it doesn’t matter what you do before. I’m the same way. I mean, if you break it down on film, I get to as good a position as you really could possibly get to.”
