Employing a lower arm slot, the righthander threw 25 of his 34 pitches for strikes,...
Astros pitcher Forrest Whitley gave up two runs on four hits in his spring debut but said he “felt really good” in his first trip to the mound of 2023.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Forrest Whitley’s last Grapefruit League appearance came amid chaos. Former pitching coach Brent Strom labeled him “not physically ready” to compete for a major league roster spot upon arrival in camp, but the Astros still used him in relief against the Washington Nationals on March 11, 2020.
Whitley is one of four non-major league starters on the 40-man roster. Two others — J.P. France and Shawn Dubin — haven’t thrown a major league pitch. France is shut down in camp with an injury the team hasn’t disclosed. Lance McCullers Jr.’s elbow injury will strain the team’s starting pitching depth during the beginning of the season. In the aftermath, general manager Dana Brown deemed “it’s Whitley’s time” and intimated his clock is ticking.
Whitley tried to showcase it on Monday. He started without worrying about his health or that of the world around him — already an improvement from his last spring training appearance. Tommy John surgery and the ensuing rehab caused him to miss almost all of the past two camps. Whitley threw “a pretty good rep of every pitch” in his arsenal from a lower arm slot than he is accustomed to using. Whitley lowered it, in part, to increase his velocity, though it’s unclear how hard he threw on Monday. Ballpark of the Palm Beaches has no radar guns, nor is it equipped with Baseball Savant’s technology to track the numbers.
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