Despite dismal numbers, Hochevar says he gained confidence
The numbers look rather hideous, but Royals right-hander Luke Hochevar insists a lot of benefit came out of his 2008 season.
His season was cut short by an unusual rib cage/bone bruise injury.
“It was just a freak injury,” he said. “It wasn’t like I could have prevented it by doing more abs or anything.”
Hochevar, 24, will look back at a season in which he went 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA, walking 47 hitters in 129 innings and striking out just 72.
He said he thought he had some breakthroughs.
“No doubt about it,” he told me. “That’s how I look at it. I feel with every start I was getting better, gaining confidence, getting more comfortable. I was seeing it. Result-wise, maybe the results weren’t as good. But I felt I got better as a pitcher, from the beginning of the year until now.”
Hmm. So what exactly did Hochevar learn?
“That you don’t have to be perfect,” he said. “When I first came up, I thought I had to be perfect to get big-league hitters out. As a result, I think I had 30 walks and 40 strikeouts at one point. I wasn’t near the strike zone.
“But when I got more comfortable, I realized that the big thing was just getting ahead, strike one, strike two.”
If it’s just a matter of getting ahead of hitters, why don’t all pitchers do it?
“Well, you get in the mindset that you have to throw perfect pitches even when you don’t have to,” he said. “If you attack the hitters and the strike zone, you then let the hitters do something (wrong). If you get ahead in the count, you put the pressure on them.
“It took awhile, but I started to realize I didn’t have to be perfect. I saw more stretches where I felt I could be dominant. Just go after hitters, blow up hitters, that’s how you do it. You may get hit once in a while, but if you go after hitters, chances are that good things will happen for you.”
If there’s one game Hochevar will remember the most, it will be the Seattle game July 11. He went seven innings, gave up five hits, one earned run, walked none and struck out four.
“My exact words were that the light went on,” he said. “I started to go with the feel of the game, when to go inside, when to go outside, when to work in the breaking ball. Ever since then, I was in that mode. I felt I was making pitches. I was happy.
“That’s what I’ll think about this offseason, games like that.”
Contract’s up
Rhonda Moss’ contract at KCSP is up for renewal this week. One would assume, based on hustle alone, the station would want her back.
Dave Alpert, vice president/general manager for Entercom Kansas City, which owns KCSP (610 AM), said he would not comment on pending negotiations.
But Alpert added, “Generally speaking, just because someone’s contract is up in our business doesn’t mean a renewal has to be done right then. It’s not like they just stop working before something gets done.”
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