PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Jason Grilli insists he’s not throwing any differently than he has at any point in his nomadic career.
Maybe, but the results are certainly different.
The 35-year-old set-up man has been the linchpin for one of baseball’s better bullpens. Working almost exclusively in the eighth inning, Grilli is 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 21 games while developing into a strikeout pitcher.
Grilli has fanned at least one batter in all but one of his appearances this season and his strikeouts per nine-innings ratio is a staggering 15.8, nearly six above his career average. It’s heady territory for a player the Pirates claimed off the scrap heap last season.
The former first-round pick says he believes his best days are ahead of him and says being humbled as a young player was a gift.
