Jason Alexander on developing his changeup into a 'major weapon' and credits WooSox catcher's helping his confidence on the mound
When the Red Sox signed right-handed pitcher Jason Alexander back in February, fans minds immediately jumped to the iconic Seinfeld character George Costanza. At some point, it’ll be the Summer of George at the beautiful Polar Park. Until then, Alexander, who loves the Seinfeld references, is focused on helping the WooSox this season.
The righty has gotten off to a hot start by tossing nine scoreless and hitless innings; he’s also helped anchor down Chad Tracy’s rotation. The Red Sox new pitching focus led by pitching coach Andrew Bailey, Justin Willard and new WooSox pitching coach Dan DeLucia, Alexander knows his role, he needs to throw strikes and attack the zone.
Alexander doesn’t offer swing and miss stuff and he will need to use his secondary pitches to help keep hitters off balanced. He offers a four-pitch mix, a fastball (89–91 mph), a cutter (84–86 mph), a slider (78–81 mph), and a changeup (79–81 mph).
“My main focus going into the season was I wanted to pitch with my changeup a lot more,” said Alexander to Beyond the Monster. “I feel that it complements a lot of my pitches very well. I want to establish that as kind of like my major weapon against a lot of these hitters and just keeping them off balance.”
On April 8, the WooSox played the only Triple-A game in the league against the Syracuse Mets. They took the field after the eclipse rolled through earlier in the afternoon and Alexander was excellent in that start, retiring 19 of 21 hitters, tossing six scoreless and hitless frames.
The righty forced 11 swings and misses during his outing while tossing 71 pitches, 48 of them for strikes, pounding the zone, tossing his slider, sinker, changeup, and cutter.
He threw his slider 26 times and his sinker 24 times, with 36 of his pitches landing in the strike zone. Opposing batters offered at Alexander’s pitch mix 31 times, 10 balls went into play, and he induced seven grounders.
"Actually, that day in the bullpen, my pitches were moving a lot,” said Alexander. “I was feeling really good. I was talking with [Tyler] Heineman a lot early on. As the game went on, I was more trusting of everything he was calling; I wasn’t shaking off pitches. He was reading the hitter well; let’s keep going with your plan, and every pitch he called, I was just trying to execute the best I could.”
Alexander credits the WooSox catchers their prep before each of the team’s games this season for some of his early success on the mound.
“All of our catchers have been great at understanding what the game plan has been going into it,” said Alexander. “Whether it’s from their scouting reports to the team’s scouting reports, I think they call a great game. They’re really good at mixing it up against the hitters and making them stay off balanced.
“They work extremely hard; they are probably some of the hardest-working catchers I have ever played with. It helps my confidence to know they're working hard and trying to win just as much as I’m trying to win.
“I’ve had catchers in the past where they sometimes take their at-bats out there with them or they care more about their game plan than yours. The catcher’s here have just been amazing.”
Through four starts, Alexander is 1-1 with a 4.34 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 1.02 WHIP in 18 2/3 innings. The 31-year-old is laser-focused on controlling what he can during each start he makes. When asked about the possibility of joining the Red Sox due to the injury bug nipping their roster, Alexander stayed humbled and knows what he needed to do to make that a reality.
“I try not to think about that kind of stuff,” Alexander said. “I’ve learned in my career that the time will come when you take care of what you need to take care of. I try to take out all the external factors and just worry about myself. Am I doing all the things I can do to stay healthy, be prepared, and compete out there. I try to not worry about any of that other stuff.”
