It has been a long road for Braves pitcher Bud Norris.
After spending the couple of seasons bouncing around between the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles, Norris signed a contract with the Braves as a free agent this offseason.
His role was to be a veteran leader and to occupy a spot in the starting rotation. It was believed he could also provide innings behind ace pitcher Julio Teheran.
However, it didn’t start off well for him.
In his first five starts, Norris struggled to find a rhythm. His numbers weren’t pretty as he went 1-4 with an 8.74 ERA in five starts.
The Braves decided to ultimately move him into the bullpen. The move wasn’t easy but it provided Norris with an opportunity to work on his mechanics. He got with pitching coach Roger McDowell and focused on his posture on the mound.
“For me, it was mechanical,” Norris said. “I had to stay a little bit over the rubber. I was being too quick as far as getting down the mound and that affected my directional line. With that, all your pitches come out of the same spot and I wanted to add a little more deception.”
Norris subtle fix to his mechanics has turned his season around. He was re-inserted to the starting rotation after an injury to pitcher Mike Foltynewicz.
Foltynewicz went on the disabled list with elbow soreness. He couldn’t make his June 4 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
So, Norris filled in as the spot starter.
He went five innings and allowed one run. The start impressed Braves interim manager Brian Snitker and he has rolled with him as the No. 2 starter in the rotation.
“He just been really solid ever since he took that start in Los Angeles a few weeks ago,” Snitker said. “He has been a go-to guy and pitched a lot of innings. He also has stretched a lot of games out for us when we really needed him too.”
Norris says that his mechanics isn’t the only reason for his success. A meeting with catchers AJ Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers have helped him as well.
“They reassured me to trust the game that they were calling,” he said. “I did and it has really worked out well for both of us. I’m glad that we got rolling with both of those guys and I feel confident with both of them back there.”
The catchers wanted him to focus only on the game. The understood it was a tough adjustment to re-enter the rotation after being in the bullpen. So, they aimed to make it easier on him.
“I think all of us have continued to be positive and help him keep a positive mindset,” Flowers said. “It is so much frustration in this game no matter what you are doing.”
One of the things the catchers did was help Norris with the scouting reports of opposing hitters. They came up with a strategy to help him calm down and not overthink the game.
“You can overdue scouting reports at times and even in the head of battle you might overthink a certain pitch or situation,” Norris said. “These guys do their homework and know both sides of the ball.”
In his last four starts, Norris has been consistent on the mound. He is 1-1 and lowered his ERA down to 4.69. In that span, Norris has given up 17 hits, but has three consecutive games of six or more strikeouts.
He hopes to build on that success for the remainder of the season. He said he has the confidence to continue to battle for his team.
“You got to go out there and can’t dwell on it for too long,” he said. “You really got to get it out of the system quickly and know you got to get back out there and put up more zeroes.”
Norris next start will be on Sunday afternoon against the New York Mets in the final game of a four-game series.
