Out in Hawaii Winter Baseball, Yankees' 2007 first-round draft pick Andrew Brackman already has his eyes on grabbing a surfboard and hanging 10.It's good to see him get back on the mound. 16 months without pitching in a game is a long time, so he's obviously going to be very rusty.
Well, that and finally launching his pro career come Saturday night.
"It was a great feeling to get the hell out of Tampa," Brackman said and, yes, he meant Tampa, not Dodge.
Sixteen months since throwing his last pitch and then strengthening his surgically repaired right elbow at the team's Tampa facility, Brackman finally takes aim on scaling the organizational ladder and showing why he commanded a $4.55 million guaranteed major league contract that included a $3.35 million signing bonus.
He'll be thrown into the fire immediately, too, as Brackman is scheduled to pitch in the circuit's opening night Saturday for the Waikiki Beachboys against the Honolulu Sharks, whose roster includes Phillies outfield prospects Michael Taylor and Dominic Brown.
"We want to see Brackman get his feet on the ground," farm director Mark Newman said, listing off a number of benchmarks the Yankees hope he meets, including getting a feel again for pitching and even changing speeds with his arsenal. "If he's doing that, we'll be happy. The competition's great, so the numbers won't mean a lot to us."
(hat tip to Steve Lombardi)
There is a lot more in the article, which can be read here.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment