M’s notebook: Hultzen continues to impress in return from injury

Despite missing over a year recovering from a devastating shoulder injury, pitching prospect Danny Hultzen has been one of the best sights in spring training.

BY SHANNON DRAYER

Mar 3, 2015, 1:50 PM Updated: 1:54 pm

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PEORIA, Ariz. – Danny Hultzen on the mound continues to be one of the best sights in spring training. He has missed over a year after surgery and rehab for a devastating shoulder injury but the guy on the hill today looked nothing like a pitcher in recovery mode.

“Good!” he exclaimed, when asked how his first live batting practice session went (see video above). “Arm felt great, breaking stuff wasn’t very good today but that is just another battle that everyone faces, but other than that everything was awesome.”

Hultzen displays a fierce intensity on the mound in games and he brought a little of that to the hill today. Although it was just BP (facing minor leaguers) he still crossed the field before the start so he could enter from the third base side. He sprinted to the mound, took the ball and fired his warmup pitches. During the session he shook off his catcher, walked around the mound in between at-bats and snapped at the return throw when he missed his location a couple of times. Not typical live BP behavior for most but normal for Hultzen.

“Yeah!” he said with a smile still amped one hour after he threw. “That’s how I pitch, I guess. I wanted to make it as game-like as possible. Even though it was just live batting practice I did my best to try and slow it down a little bit. It is easy to get out there and fire pitch after pitch. I did my best just to calm down a little bit, take a little break.”

Hultzen threw 28 pitches on Tuesday and has been throwing all of his repertoire since the beginning of camp. He said he was throwing at 100 percent and it looked like he was. The fastball has zip and it will be interesting to get velocity readings on it. He is very strong right now, has put on good weight (reported at 220 pounds) and has a slightly different delivery, eliminating the cross-body motion and not having as an exaggerated crouch at the beginning. Good work has been put in and his body has responded.

“This whole process has gone better than I thought,” he said. “I would expect to be a little sore tomorrow but lately I really haven’t, which is good. My body feels great, my arm feels great. It is just good to be able focus on the actual baseball part, working on my pitches, not necessarily how my arm feels or my body responds. It is awesome just focusing on getting people out.”

The Mariners are being careful with Hultzen, giving him an extra day here and there, but by all appearances game action should be next for him. That is what he is hoping for.

“I’m not sure what the plan is but I feel great,” he said.

Notes

• Tomorrow the Mariners take the field against the Padres in the annual charity game. Both teams have seen significant upticks in spring training ticket sales this year. Taijuan Walker will get the start for the M’s while Jason Lane will go for San Diego. Also scheduled to pitch for the Mariners tomorrow are Sam Gaviglio, Mike Kickham, David Rollins, Rafael Perez, Carson Smith and Dominic Leone.

• Wednesday’s game and all 30 Cactus League games can be heard on 710 ESPN Seattle, some on delay. The first six games will be live. You can find the whole schedule here.

• No “Hot Stove” show tonight, but “The Cactus League Report” will air Wednesday from 6-7 p.m. If you are in Peoria stop by the Salty Senorita after the game where we will be taping the show from 6-7 p.m. Arizona time. Guests will be announced Wednesday morning.

• The Rangers have announced Russell Wilson will visit their camp in Surprise March 28.