January 9, 2024
Left-handed pitcher Jimmy Robbins got a brief taste of Triple-A Buffalo last season, and the experience was valuable as he was facing high quality hitters every night.
“In Triple-A, you notice the quality of the hitters top-to-bottom in the lineup,” said Robbins. “You’re facing a lot of guys who have big league time. I faced several lineups where seven of the nine guys had some big league time. You’re facing big league quality talent every day, and the margin of error is a lot smaller.”
Robbins spent the month of August in Buffalo and the rest of his 2023 season with Double-A New Hampshire.
Pitching 93 1/3 innings between the two levels; Robbins finished the season with 91 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.65.
His 93 1/3 innings was a career high for Robbins, but he feels that he didn’t throw enough strikes last season.
“First and foremost is throwing strikes and being competitive in the strike zone,” explained Robbins. “I think I got in my own head in general last year. I was pressing, trying to do too much, maybe looking down-the-road a little too much rather than focusing on each individual outing. I’ve realized when I throw strikes, my stuff is plenty good enough to get high quality hitters out on a consistent basis.”
And throwing more strikes is one of the focus areas of Robbins’ off-season preparation for 2024.
“Once I started getting back on the mound, I’ve kind of broken my bullpens into halves,” explained Robbins. “The first half of the pen is solely focused on the strike percentage. I’m just trying to really be in the zone and consistently be competitive with myself about the strike numbers going up each and every bullpen. That has been really successful so far.”
Keep grinding!