When Bryan Price taught me how to throw a changeup, he made me see myself. All my life, I've been the equivalent of a fastball pitcher - trying to use blazing speed and brute force to wow the people around me.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It took me a while to figure that out and to realize what a gift that I had been given. And when I finally did, I dedicated myself to be the best pitcher I possibly could be, for as long as I possibly could be.
The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.
But because I could throw so hard when I got to college they made me a pitcher.
The three most important pitches I threw in my life were all fastballs.
When I was 12, I had a coach tell me I would never be a championship pitcher. That devastated me. I was crushed.
I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them.
I've done literally everything there is to do on a baseball field as a pitcher.
I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.
I was a thrower. I think I'm more of a pitcher now.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider. Then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it has crossed the plate.