Luis Heredia made his final start in extended Spring Training today against the Baltimore Orioles’ minor leaguers. Heredia went 4.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, with two walks and two strikeouts. The right-hander will fly to West Virginia tomorrow, where he will join the roster after the All-Star break. The post-break rotation hasn’t been set yet, so no word on when Heredia will throw. He won’t throw Thursday or Friday, since that is less than five days rest.
Heredia was throwing his fastball in the 89-91 MPH range today, and was mostly working fastball/changeup. He mixed in a few curveballs, as well as his new slurve. The slurve was added last year to try and get more strikeouts. He still throws his mid-70s curveball, but will be using the mid-80s slurve more as an out pitch. Heredia can sit 92-94 MPH with his fastball, and can touch upper 90s, but has been slowing it down to work on command.
He will be under an inning limit in West Virginia, similar to what he’s done in the past and what Tyler Glasnow is currently doing at the level. He will be capped each start at around 4-5 innings and 75 pitches due to his young arm. He will probably also work mostly off the fastball and changeup.
Joely Rodriguez and Orlando Castro were each promoted to Bradenton today, which will open up spots in the rotation for Heredia.
