Veteran pitcher Griffin Canning experimenting with amber contacts to improve vision on the mound
Griffin Canning is still looking for his first win as a Padre. He is, however, looking better, perhaps because he’s seeing better. The 30-year-old right-hander had been experimenting with an amber contact in his weaker eye.
On Saturday, he popped amber contacts in both eyes and responded with his best start since his Padres debut on May 3.
“Just some visual stuff I’m trying to see if I can get my eyes working a little bit better,” Canning said, “command a little bit better, not fatigue as quickly and maintain my mechanics throughout the game. ” Canning appeared to check all those boxes Saturday as he struck out six and allowed one run on three hits and two walks while throwing 51 of his 86 pitches for strikes.
While he put a good foot forward in his first start as a Padres , he allowed six runs in 4⅓ in his next start and walked four while allowing six runs in 1⅔ innings in his third start. Through his first six starts, Canning had a 7.16 ERA and a 27-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 27⅔ innings. Amber contacts help allow athletes to better track objects amid bright, glaring skies or artificial lighting and reduce eye strain.
After a handful of starts with the contact in just one eye, Canning doubled up on Saturday as cameras zeroed in on the vampire-like effect it had on the look in his eye.
“I started with one because my left eye is a little bit weaker than my right,” Canning said. “The contact should just make everything a little clearer and the contrast a little bit a little bit greater, so it just allows my left eye to see a little bit better.
I’ve done it for maybe four or five starts now, so I wore two tonight because I think my left eye kind of caught up a little bit to my right eye. ” He added: “I tried some other colors this offseason and it was just the color that seemed to work best for my eyes. … It’s something I’m constantly testing during the week, seeing what feels good and what works and kind of going from there.
”After starting back-to-back games for the second time in six games,to throw the bulk of Sunday’s game. The day off followed Song’s most productive day since his first start in the majors on May 5, when he went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a stolen base. On Saturday, Song went 2-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base and two of the Padres’ three runs. The hits were Song’s first since May 16, a span of 13 plate appearances.
“Obviously I want to play more, but it’s not the part that I can talk or think about,” Song said through interpreter. “I’m always prepared for the game and I prepare for the game to show what I got on the field whenever I get a chance to play. ” Both hits on Saturday were off sweepers.
He’s 3-for-6 in at-bats that end with breaking balls, 0-for-4 against changeups and 3-for-21 against fastballs, which comprise 62.5% of the pitches he’s faced so far. That’s to be expected. The jump in velocity from the Korean Baseball Organization to Major League Baseball is always a hurdle when hitters transition to the United States and that remains the case for Song, even if the Padres highlighted his ability to hit velocity upon signing him to a four-year, $15 million deal.
“The fastball velocity is obviously faster, so I’m really like trying to get my swing to it, and I’m having to sit on the fastball a lot, too,” said Song, who is hitting .194/.324/.226 through 37 plate appearances. “Whenever I’m in the game now, I’m in the bottom of the lineups and I’m just trying to give our team energy for it … and get more pitches out of the pitchers.
” Admittedly, Song was a bit too energetic when he was caught in a rundown to end the fifth inning. He’d already swiped his third base of the season ahead of scoring in the third inning and was on third base whenIn the midst of a season-long funk at the plate, the Padres are trying to create more havoc on the bases, but Song said he needed to make sure the ball left catcherIt did not, as Torrens hard-sold a throw to second base and easily lured Song into a rally-ending rundown in a 1-1 game.
“Our plan on that is whenever the catcher is throwing to second base, you’re trying to crash home, but I was eager to steal home and didn’t see the catcher throwing the ball — I just started running,” said Song, who combined for 46 steals his last two years in Korea. “ … It’s high-risk, high-return baseball.
I’m trying to be part of it, and I wasn’t running that much in Korea either, but we’re adjusting to it, and we’ll be better for it. ”
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