Baseball in Fort Wayne

MadFriars’ Denis Savage reports that former first round (and number one overall) pick, Matt Bush threw 30 pitches in first instructional league outing. 

The right-hander had experienced triceps tenderness late last week, which pushed his outing back a bit. The tenderness is said to be normal and par for the rehab course, pushing through the scar tissue from his surgery.

Bush threw his full repertoire, tossing fastballs, curveballs and changeups. Control, as expected, was an issue on several of his pitches. The fastballs weren’t of the 98 MPH variety he had thrown when first transitioning to pitcher from shortstop but had considerable zip.

His curveball had impressive spin – more than Bush expected. Balls that started out in the zone careened to the left and outside the zone. It was a pitch that he did not toss for a strike.

The pitch that looked exceptional was the changeup. He had Chalk and Forsythe swinging over top of the pitch anytime he tossed it.

Forsythe was able to put his bat on a fastball and drive it far while Chalk went down and took a low fastball and smoked a liner to left. It was, however, more about finding command for Bush.

Overall, Bush was happy with the outing.

“I felt good,” Bush said. “I just wanted to go out there and not have any pain or discomfort. That is all going away. It feels like that is all going away. I am just trying to throw strikes and get a feel for each pitch and remember how my curveball breaks.

Certainly would be interesting to see Matt Bush return to Fort Wayne and be among a small group of players to be a Wizard and TinCap!

Another former top pick and Wizard, Nick Schmidt is also on the mend from Tommy John surgery and hoping to rebound during instructional league play. He took the mound and thre 25 pitches with slightly better control.