WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Kohl Stewart is adding to his repertoire. The right-hander is adding a slider this spring, a pitch he continues to throw in game situations. He threw it to mixed results Saturday in his third appearance this spring.
Stewart went 2 2/3 innings during his team's 10-6 loss to the Nationals and gave up two runs on three hits and walked three in a 54-pitch (31 strikes) outing.
“Obviously, this time of year there’s a lot of things that we’re focusing on,” Stewart said. “I’m obviously mixing it up a lot today -- a lot of sliders, a lot of curveballs. I'm still working through some ‘feel’ things. I didn’t get ahead as much as I wanted to.
“But those are things we’re going to continue to clean up through Spring Training. Obviously, I’ve got to do a lot of those things better. I wasn’t very happy with the performance today. But there are adjustments I can make. Obviously, getting ahead, the command thing I think is going to get better and we’ll go from there.”
Adding the slider is his biggest adjustment and he threw it a lot Saturday.
“I’m going to keep throwing that,” he said. “It’s just small adjustments that need to be made. It’s pitch location and making sure my sights are right with certain things. Those are things that this time of year you’re working through. I’m pretty comfortable with those things moving forward. We’ll go back to the drawing board and make more adjustments this week.”
The slider is a pitch that Stewart believes will become a compliment to his curveball.
“Obviously, throwing that pitch in games is a thing that I’m going to continue to develop,” Stewart said. “It’s going to be very important for me to get that pitch figured out and developed and get the location of that pitch a little bit better moving forward.”
Stewart is committed to the pitch and expects to have it “game ready” by the start of the season.
“It’s going to be a big pitch for me this year,” he said. “So I’m going to continue to work on it in spring and make sure that we hammer out the kinks and make sure that pitch is ready to go when the season starts. I’m feeling good about it. I’m excited about the direction I’m heading in.”
Stewart combined to go 5-8 with a 4.28 ERA with Minnesota, Triple-A Rochester and Double-A Chattanooga last season. He was called up on Aug. 12 by the Twins and made his Major League debut the same day, going 4 1/3 innings against the Tigers, allowing eight hits and three runs. He started four games last season for Minnesota before transitioning to a bullpen role, making four relief appearances.