Having been moved from the rotation to the bullpen and knowing that he was going to take over for starter Caleb Smith in the third inning of Friday's 4-3 win, D-backs left-hander Alex Young wanted to keep his preparation as similar as possible.
The problem? A big part of that prep involved playing long toss just before he started warming up in the bullpen -- and there was a game in progress -- so he couldn’t very well just walk onto the field.
So an idea was hatched -- he would use the long paved alley way/road that runs between Chase Field and the railroad tracks on the south side of the stadium.
Young played long toss there with assistant pitching coordinator/pitching analyst Ross Seaton before going back inside and heading to the bullpen to warm up.
“So I got my long toss in, all good,” Young said. “It was a little different. But, I mean, once I got on the mound it felt the same in terms of just going out there and competing.”
Young might want to think about playing catch in the alley more often as he allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings and picked up the win.