Manny Corpas and other Rockies are working out at Coors Field, and Corpas is ready to compete with Huston Street for the closer's job. Patrick Saunders points out two things that Manny Corpas has done to put himself in line to battle Street. First:
“I watched a lot of tape and I realized what I was doing wrong,” Corpas said.
Simply put, Corpas was dropping his arm to the side instead of throwing with more of an over-the-top motion. As a result, his pitches were spinning over the plate last season, resulting in a 4.52 ERA that was more than twice as high as his 2.08 ERA in 2007.
Second:
Last season, at age 25, Corpas ballooned up to 230 pounds, and he admitted the spare tire around his mid-section was a contributing factor to a disappointing 2008 season.
“I started feeling more tired,” said Corpas, who blamed with weight gain on too many late-night meals of chicken, rice and beans.
Apparently Corpas is down to 216 and wants to be a little lighter before the World Baseball Classic starts.
Corpas did have a 4.52 ERA last season, but he also had a 3.88 FIP. Remember, FIP tells us how well a pitcher pitched without regard to his fielders. If we look back to 2007, Corpas' FIP was 3.51 and his ERA, as mentioned above, was 2.08. So, with these changes by Corpas and a better defense in 2009, the truth about Corpas will likely be somewhere in the middle of his last two seasons.
Huston Street, don't start feeling comfortable.