PORT ST. LUCIE — After a first Grapefruit League outing in which Edwin Díaz gave up a pair of hits — and runs — with scouts noticing some of the same “floating” sliders that hurt him a year ago, even Díaz acknowledged he wasn’t quite right.
Three days after that initial outing, Díaz issued consecutive five-pitch walks on Sunday to the first two batters he faced against Washington and then fell behind C.J. Abrams 3-0.
But Díaz recovered to whiff Abrams and then struck out the final two batters he faced, James Wood and Nathaniel Lowe.
It left him feeling confident that he was in a good spot with a little over two weeks remaining before Opening Day.
The difference in appearances, Díaz said Monday at Clover Park, was in his delivery — which was inconsistent at times last season.
“My mechanics were way better [Sunday] than the first game,’’ Díaz said. “I was more to home plate than side to side.”
Díaz is coming off a tumultuous season during which he missed time with a right shoulder impingement, and was temporarily removed from the closer role.
That followed a 2023 season in which the right-hander was sidelined throughout by a torn patellar tendon suffered during the World Baseball Classic.
While some scouts want to see Díaz keep his delivery consistent before they’re ready to say he’s back, the 30-year-old believes the adjustments he made a year ago — and was able to institute in the middle of his outing on Sunday — give him faith that he’s back.
“When I struggled, it was when I went side to side and that happened a lot last year after a year off [because of the knee injury],” Díaz said. “I talked to [pitching coach Jeremy] Hefner and checked the video and I know what I have to do to get better.”
The issue for Díaz is that when his mechanics slip, so do his pitches.
As he noted, his fastball and slider can both be “flat.”
On Sunday, he said his “fastball had a lot of carry and my slider had really good depth. As of right now, I’m happy. I’m not worried about anything. I settled down, made pitches and got strikeouts. Everything is going in the right direction.”
