Zack Greinke draws crowd for first bullpen session
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Zack Greinke's initial bullpen session of spring training grew great interest at Salt River Fields on Friday morning.
Cloudy skies didn't dampen anticipation as Greinke took a mound for the first time in a Diamondbacks uniform. All the club's top brass looked on from different vantage points as Greinke -- whom Arizona gave a $206.5 million contract in the off-season -- threw for 10 minutes to catcher Welington Castillo.
Manger Chip Hale looked on from one corner, while Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa was in another. General Manager Dave Stewart and De Jon Watson, the D-backs' senior vice president of baseball operations, watched from the side.
Even Randy Johnson had an eye on Greinke as the Hall of Famer leaned against a fence behind the right-hander.
The vibe from Greinke's presence comes on the heels of a historically impressive season a year ago and after the D-backs stealthily scooped him up off the free-agent market with a record offer for the franchise.
But Greinke quickly laid out expectations should not be through the roof.
"I don't think you can build on it," he said of last season, in which Greinke posted a 1.66 ERA and finished runner-up for the National League Cy Young award. "It's about as good as it's going to be for me and probably not that good."
In his usual steady, deliberate voice, Greinke provided several similarly honest moments of levity in his first media session of the spring. The 32-year-old touched on the Valley's road system, his penchant for hitting, Johnson's demeanor and getting to know his new teammates.
"He seems more normal than what you imagined when he was playing," Greinke said of the Big Unit, before pausing briefly. "But I could be wrong."
On driving in the Phoenix area: "It takes like a week and you know where everything is directions-wise. I don't know if there's any other city that worked it out like that. It's amazing."
On hitting and his six career home runs: "If I get some pitches down the middle that aren't very good pitches there's a decent chance it might be a home run."
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As for the baseball, it was a routine outing but a positive one nonetheless.
"It felt like everything was OK and everything was coming out good," Greinke said of the bullpen session that drew good reviews from Castillo between pitches and from several of the hundreds of fans who watched. "I threw a couple off-speed pitches and they came out of the fingers pretty well. Just try to build on each one. Overall, I'd say I'm pretty happy with the first one. It wasn't perfect but I didn't expect it to be perfect.
"Right now, it's just trying to get ready for the season. Before I used to work on some pitches (during spring training), try to develop pitches. But I like my mix now, get them working how I want."
Hale described Greinke's approach -- even on the second day of camp -- as one of "precision."
"He does not accept mediocrity," the second-year manager said. "He is cerebral and wants to be a leader on the staff and that's very important to us."
Greinke will take the leadership process slowly.
"I let it go at its own pace," he said. "Sometimes I end up not talking to people too much and with others it slowly develops. I would think with most people it's similar. Sometimes you talk to someone and then you go the next month without talking to them that much. Then you'll talk to them all day and then you won't talk to them again for a week. I don't really know. It just kind of happens.
"If you ever try to force anything on anyone it doesn't work out."
Likewise, Hale said the team won't force a particular catcher on Greinke but the manager expects his new ace will like working with Castillo and whoever wins the backup job -- Tuffy Gosewisch or Chris Herrmann.
As for any anxiety issues Greinke previously battled, La Russa said it's in the past.
"When Zack is pitching, the anxiety is (with) the team that's hitting," La Russa said. "He's got it under control. No disrespect to anybody, there some great pitchers, but there's no better No. 1 than our guy. We're looking forward to the anxiety being on the other side, because it won't be on our side."
