Pitcher Notes: Edwards’ Delivery, Strop’s Hammy, Chatwood’s Mechanics, Lester’s Style

With pitchers in camp for the Cubs and things getting underway, we necessarily get a flurry of updates on arms that are mending, changing, improving, etc.

A download on the latest, with a little commentary …

• That new Carl Edwards, Jr. delivery we saw in his bullpen session yesterday? Yes, it’s an actual change to his delivery, and he modeled off of a fellow reliever who fires a cutting fastball:

Edwards also talked about his hitch/pause in his delivery. Believes it helps keep him under control physically and modeled it somewhat off Kenley Jansen's delivery.

— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) February 14, 2019

• Whatever Edwards can do to harness his killer stuff is fine by me. You don’t want to tinker too much, but obviously his command reached a place late last year when he was unusable.
• Pedro Strop pitched in the Wild Card Game, you’ll recall, after a miraculously fast recovery from a hamstring injury (suffered when he was completely unnecessarily asked to pinch hit, but whatever). And then you might recall that part of what made it such a fast recovery is that he was not, you know, actually recovered. Strop said he pitched in “severe pain” – very well, I might add – because he is a freaking tank. He tells Tony Andracki it then took him a month to get over the pain, but he was able to start his normal offseason ramp-up process on time.
• Strop is ready to fill in as the closer if it comes to that (it will):

With Brandon Morrow’s elbow rehab and throwing program to continue into the season Pedro Strop talks about filling in for the closer. pic.twitter.com/Wkhf5IcKbm

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) February 14, 2019

• Tyler Chatwood worked with college coaches to correct a flaw in his mechanics this offseason, sending video to Joe Maddon along the way (he’s mentioned it):

Watch Tyler Chatwood discuss starting anew this season after a forgetful 2018. He's made a slight mechanical delivery change to help his control. https://t.co/pR87ByfWhs pic.twitter.com/l5KmFFeMpf

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 14, 2019

• As things stand, there is no spot in the rotation for Chatwood unless the Cubs go with six starting pitchers out of the gate. That means, absent an injury, Chatwood will have to make the Cubs bullpen. And in either case, he’ll have very little time here in the Spring to show that he’s a completely different pitcher than he was last year, when the stuff still shined, but the command made it meaningless. It just seemed like a guy without great natural control got too many voices in his ears, got into a bad mechanical funk, and then it all settled in between his ears. From there, you’re just not coming back in a given season. Hopefully the reset this offseason worked things out, but I’m still not sure how he realistically gets a chance to prove himself again as a starter with the Cubs absent a rash of injuries. It’s not like he can be optioned to Iowa to wait for the chance.
• Jon Lester talks about being honest about what he is at this point in his career, and how that translates into still succeeding:

Going into his 14th season, Jon Lester knows he's not clocking 95 or the "stuff guy" anymore.

How do you expect him to evolve in 2019? pic.twitter.com/2yoiJfiNCb

— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) February 14, 2019