Andrew Heaney Rebounds in Second Rangers Spring Start
For someone who doesn’t put much stock in these things, Andrew Heaney had plenty to be pleased with after his latest Spring Training outing for the Texas Rangers. The left-hander worked three scoreless innings in Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
The Rangers face the Chicago Cubs today at 2:05 p.m. CT.
Heaney, a free-agent acquisition this offseason, allowed just two hits, striking out four and walking one.
“I’m good, I’m happy,” said Heaney, who spent the last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. Still a couple of things to clean up, couple non-competitive pitches in there, couple longer at-bats. One just kinda 2-0 meatball and then two-out walk in the first, so I mean there’s still a couple things to just stay on top of, but that’s why we’re here.”
Heaney, 31, is in Surprise with the Rangers after signing a two-year deal that could be worth up to $37 million. He’s expected to be one of the anchors of the rotation, despite never winning at least 10 games in a season.
Self-described as one of the “worst Spring Training pitchers there is,” Heaney said after his first spring outing that results aren’t the focus in camp. It’s about working on pitches and getting in the right “headspace” for the regular, which opens for the Rangers on March 30 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Heaney felt good about his changeup against the Rockies.
“I think I threw a bunch of changeups [Monday],” he said. “I think that’s a pitch that I’ll probably mix him more than I did last year. Remains to be seen how much more and then the slider was just okay [Monday]. You just want to get a feel and kinda have an idea of what things are going to do, and then go from there.”
Heaney does have filthy stuff. Last season, he struck out 110 hitters and walked just 19. He was among in the best in baseball in the combination of chase rate (percentage of time hitters chase pitches out of the zone), whiff rate (swings and misses) and strikeout rate. Four pitches were in the 95th percentile in that combo in 2022, with new teammate Jacob deGrom also in that group.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy sure liked what he saw out of Heaney in his second outing.
“Really used all his pitches well,” Bochy said. “Had good life on the fastball and used his secondary pitches very well [Monday]. He mixed it up. He wants to do that a bit more. He threw strikes. When he got behind, he made pitches to get back in the count.”
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