GLENDALE, Ariz. — In his first major league action last year, Ryan Pepiot established one thing. When he threw strikes, he was very difficult to hit.
He just didn’t throw enough of them. And he knows it.
“It was a combination of trying a little too hard, trying to do too much and not being myself, not knowing that me being me and just doing what I can do was enough,” the Dodgers’ pitching prospect said. “You get in this clubhouse and you’ve got these guys, then you go out there and you’re trying to earn respect, build a reputation so that everyone wants you around. Just trying to do too much. Then it was a little bit on the mechanical side.
“I kind of got away from what I do best and going out and attacking the (strike) zone. Everything was just leaking away from me and I couldn’t control it.”
Over nine games with the Dodgers last season (seven starts), Pepiot walked 27 batters in 36⅓ innings and hit three more. Only 59% of his pitches were strikes. He went to a full count nearly once out of every four batters faced. He managed to throw 77 pitches in just three innings in his major-league debut and 74 in just two innings in a September relief appearance.
“He was happy, obviously, that he got called up last year and made it to pitch for us,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said. “But he obviously knew there was a lot of things he had to work on.”
If he had a difficult time attacking the strike zone in the big leagues last year, Pepiot didn’t hesitate to attack his problems this offseason. He spent most of it in Arizona, working with minor-league pitching coaches Rob Hill and Sean Coyne at the Camelback Ranch complex and working with the performance staff to get in better physical shape, dropping 15 pounds in the process.
There were no major changes to be made, Pepiot said.
“No. Just get back to what I do best – attacking with the fastball, the changeup going down rather than my changeup running 4,000 feet off the plate…
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