41 Quotes by Mark Connor

He feels like it's a pitch he can use.

He needs to recognize when he throws a good pitch, he doesn't need to throw a better one. You just have to get a hitter out, you don't have to embarrass him.

He's a talent. As he matures and gets more experience, there's a pretty good chance he's going to be a good starting pitcher in the big leagues.

He was perfect. He walked a guy that I thought he struck out. He gave up a base hit and it was probably an error. He commanded his fastball, changeup and breaking ball. I've been telling him all spring he's got the stuff to do this. He's got to believe in it and trust it.

It could be a good pitch for him.

I saw Rick come up with Baltimore in '01 and I liked his stuff. I haven't seen much of him since but he's got a live arm, his ball sinks and he's got a good slider. There's more in there than he's shown and I've given him a couple mechanical things that hopefully will help him.

I was happy with Padilla. He got through two innings, no problem. He threw strikes for the most part. His mechanics were a little off, but he still got through it. It is the first time out for these guys.

It doesn't change anything for me, the goal is still to have the guy healthy and ready for April 2. The biggest thing is we don't have to push him. If we can get Cordero pitching in a game by March 10 or 12, I'll be happy even if it's a 'B' game or a Triple-A game where we can monitor what he's doing.

I thought he was pretty good. Coming out of spring training, he turned the dial up with his intensity, with his stuff. He made a couple of bad pitches, obviously, but I thought he could have been out of that fifth inning and it's 2-0 ... a couple of balls hit hard and that's about it.