Mariners’ Wade Miley off to another fast start on the mound
Apr 7, 2016, 4:02 PM | Updated: Apr 11, 2016, 2:21 pm
BY
Staff report
Seattle rallied Wednesday to win in Wade Miley’s debut with the Mariners, even if the lefty didn’t have the results he’d hoped for. But that doesn’t mean he’s off to a slow start. In a way, it’s actually the opposite.
Miley has one of the shortest times between pitches in the league, ranking as the second-fastest to the plate last season behind the Blue Jays’ Mark Buehrle. According to FanGraphs, Miley averaged 17.5 seconds in between pitches for the Red Sox in 2015. That’s substantially quicker than most of Seattle’s other starters: Taijuan Walker (18.4), Nathan Karns (22.1), Felix Hernandez (22.8), Hisashi Iwakuma (23.6). Injured reliever Charlie Furbush was the Mariners’ biggest doddler last season, pitching every 26.2 seconds.
Related: After opening series, these don’t look like ‘The Same-Old Mariners’
On Wednesday, Miley moved at an even quicker pace, pitching every 15.7 seconds. He told “Danny, Dave and Moore” that he’s pitched that way for a while.
“I’ve been a quick worker ever since college,” he said. “Seems like it works out for me and seems like the defense likes it.”
Miley added: “You get in a rhythm, you get some momentum going and I think it makes (the hitters) think a little bit. They don’t have as much time to make a decision on what they want to do.”
Miley was asked if he minds when batters step out against him, as Texas’ Adrian Beltre did on a few occasions, and if that creates any tension.
“I don’t have a problem if they step out,” he said. “It is what it is. Everybody wants to speed the game up, so I’m just trying to do my part. It doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t know if they get mad; that’s their problem. It doesn’t concern me. I’m gonna get the ball and throw it.”
