Royals’ Jesse Hahn finally feeling good about all his pitches
Jesse Hahn’s slider was once lost, but it was found again, at least for one inning Wednesday afternoon. The Kansas City Royals’ right-handed reliever pitched his first scoreless inning of the spring after two previous rocky outings.
Hahn’s scoreless stanza, the third inning of a 9-7 Cactus League win over the San Diego Padres at Peoria Stadium, featured his usual mid-90s fastball unfurling from his 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame. He allowed one hit, a leadoff single, but retired the next three batters in order on a pair of flyballs and a harmless grounder to second base.
“At first I think I was a little Rusty, shaking off a couple years of rust,” Hahn said. “Now, I’ve become pretty comfortable with everything. Every pitch for me right now feels comfortable in my hand. For a while there I was struggling finding my slider. I felt like I lost my slider a little bit. Today, I felt like I threw some good one. Even though I gave up a hit on one, it was kind of the shape that I wanted to see in it.”
The Royals acquired the hard-throwing right-hander in the trade that sent slugger Brandon Moss to the Oakland Athletics in January 2018, but Hahn underwent reconstructive surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Hahn, who turned 30 at the end of July, threw just six innings in 2018, and he had 3 2/3 innings in four appearances in the minors last season before joining the big club as a September call-up last year.
“I think that September just gave me a huge confidence boost,” Hahn said. “It let me know that I was healthy and I could go out there and compete at a high level. I kinda knew this offseason I needed a little rest and then I could finally work on baseball stuff. The last three or four years for me has all been about health, do what you can do to feel good. This offseason I was actually able to get on the mound a lot, work on a lot of things.”
Hahn is one of more than a dozen pitchers vying for jobs in the Royals bullpen this spring. He’s out of minor-league options, so he could end up on another team if the Royals don’t keep him on their roster coming out of camp.
He said he hasn’t thought about any of that this spring, and he claims to be taking things “day-by-day.”
Building towards the season
Royals starting pitcher Mike Montgomery pitched a scoreless first inning and worked around a two-out double into the left-field corner by former KC draft pick and top prospect Wil Myers.
Montgomery, who’d pitched in just one game this spring, allowed three runs on two walks and two hits in the second inning, and he admitted after his outing that he started to get tired in his second inning.
“Just lost the fastball a little bit, but that’s spring training,” Montgomery said. “That’s the beauty of getting ready for the season. You’ve got to experience those things. You gotta get fatigued and keep building those pitch counts up. I think I finished with 40-something. All in all, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at.”
Montgomery said he was happy with the velocity and shape of his pitches thus far in spring training.
Isn’t he?
Wil Myers, a former third-round draft pick of the Royals (2009), was the San Diego Padres’ starting first baseman Wednesday.
Ranked by Baseball America as a Top 10 prospect in all of baseball in 2010 and 2012, Myers was part of the deal that brought pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis to the Royals. Wednesday’s Royals starting pitcher, Mike Montgomery, pitcher Jake Odorizzi, third baseman Patrick Leonard and Myers went to Tampa Bay in the trade.
Myers doubled to left field in his lone at-bat against Montgomery. Former Royals star Eric Hosmer did not play for the Padres Wednesday.
The Padres’ first-year manager, Jayce Tingler, is a native of Smithville, Missouri, and was drafted into professional baseball out of the University of Missouri.
On the mend
Left-handed pitcher Eric Skoglund has not appeared in a Cactus League game since the spring opener on Feb. 21.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said Skoglund had been dealing with “tenderness” in his arm and the staff had decided to slow him down. He had thrown on the back fields, and Matheny said he’ll be on the mound soon, though it’s not clear when he’ll appear in a game.
Schedule change
The Royals announced a schedule change Wednesday that will alter a regular-season series at Kauffman Stadium.
In order to accommodate the Kansas City Chiefs potentially opening at home at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, September 10, the Royals’ series against the Oakland Athletics will now conclude on Sept. 9 and will include a split doubleheader on September 8. The first game of the doubleheader will start at 1:05 p.m. CT, while the second will start at 7:05 p.m. CT.
The series was originally scheduled to go September 7-10, but September 10 will now be a Royals off-day.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 5:22 PM.
