Dave O'Brien at AJC, reported that Mike Hampton mixed in breaking pitches in his bullpen session for the first time since this past fall. Bobby Cox seemed quite happy with the results but we never seem to hear him say one of his pitchers was throwing poorly. Hampton had a much less optimistic view of his performance saying this:
"I'm not ready right now"
"I don't feel like I could go out there for 30 pitches and consistently let all my pitches go with confidence that everything's going to be all right."
"I'm not getting on the mound till I can help the team,"
While it isn't good to hear that Hampton isn't 100%, at least he isn't being rushed back before he is ready. This team's chances really hinge on a healthy Hampton, who can throw at least 170 innings so if we have to start the year with Lance Cormier that would be fine. Fortunately it looks like he will only miss a couple weeks of spring training and it sounds like the plan is for him to be able to go out for five innings at the beginning of the regular season. Last year that would have been bad news but with this rebuilt pen, I feel a bit safer than I would.
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