SURPRISE, Az. – The Texas Rangers are Nate Robertson’s seventh organization since 2010, so he figured it was time to try something new.
Robertson, who was a 13-game winner for the 2006 American League champion Detroit Tigers, is still left-handed, and still wears glasses.
But, as he puts it, “I’ve basically reinvented everything I’ve ever done.”
Robertson, 35, is now a reliever, not a starter. He also is throwing sidearm, from a low three-quarters arm slot, rather than over the top.
It all happened almost by accident.
Robertson was starting in Triple A for the Toronto Blue Jays last season when a line drive struck him in the elbow, forcing him to the disabled list.
When he returned for the final two weeks of the season, the team had no room in its rotation, and needed him as a reliever.
Bob Stanley, the team’s pitching coach, asked Robertson to “drop down” and lower his arm slot. Robertson had success, and decided to stick with it.
Mike Grouse, a s
Found February 18, 2013 on
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