Jim Colborn Quotations

When you commit to a delivery alteration or different focus, which we've done with almost every single pitcher on the staff, it sometimes takes a while to get the consistent release point. It takes a while to be able to throw the baseball without concentrating on that alteration. Once it's ingrained in there to where they can throw without concentrating on that and put all of their focus on getting hitters out, then they pitch better.

Right now, my job is just going to be to observe and learn for a while. But I know there is talent here.

I mainly wanted to see what his delivery looked like compared to earlier in the spring. The pace is much better, his balance is better. So I think we're on the right track.

He's had confidence before and he's had success before. It's in the package. That's what it is all about, for individual players to realize that who they are is good enough. Most of the problems are caused when a player thinks he has to do more or be radically different than what his talents are in order to succeed. In most cases, that's not the case. They just need to be themselves and trust that.

He's consistent and feels very good about it. His balance is good. He's a lot better than the films I saw from last year. I think he'll pitch well.

He looked really good. I was quite surprised that he looked so good. It was a really nice delivery.

Good hitters want to extend their arms, they want to take away the inside of the plate and look middle-to-away. If a pitcher can establish the inside of the plate, it keeps a hitter honest.

He's a lot more than I expected him to be. He's not as refined as he might be -- or is going to be -- but that's my impression.

He's doing fine. But we're going to continue to be cautious.

It happened a couple of days ago and it's gotten worse. I don't know how, but it doesn't take much to aggravate it. It's the size of a large cantaloupe. I think I strained the tendon in the back where the calf connects.

It happened a couple of days ago and it's gotten worse, ... I don't know how, but it doesn't take much to aggravate it. It's the size of a large cantaloupe. I think I strained the tendon in the back where the calf connects.

I was looking at his motion and his balance, if it was a consistent motion and if he repeated it. And on all those counts, I felt pretty good about it. I thought the mechanics were decent.

Staying with Jim was the result of a very fortunate time in my life. I really had two first choices of where I wanted to be, with Jim or with the Mariners, a first-class organization to work for, ... at least one of the top candidates.

My theory on him is that he's essentially still in Spring Training. He's behind, and he may have hit a little bit of that 'dead arm' phase. In general, he's throwing the ball better than he was when I saw him in January. It's consistent, he feels very good about it, his balance is good. It's a lot better than the films I've seen from last year.

My theory on him is he's essentially still in spring training. He's behind, and he's going through a bit of a dead-arm period, something like that.

I was very impressed. He seemed to get stronger as he went along. He stayed in his delivery.

You just never got the feeling you were part of the process. You were part of it, but a dispensable part of it. But that's all right. Maybe they had their own point of view, and they probably figured (we) weren't going to carry out what they wanted done. They have the right to bring in their own people. But I don't really look at it is I did a bad job or that I failed any kind of test. But whatever I had to offer, they didn't think it was valuable.

You are always alert to if there is an exception, and my mind is open. In the case of Zach, I don't really think it is at this point.

But maybe the action on Derek's pitches trumps that.

You do see some deliveries quicker than others. Sometimes, you get a sense that your body is in their body and you can feel the transfer of power. When you do get a pitcher like that, sometimes the smallest thing sticks out with you. I'm not saying that Ryan was exactly like that, but he was close.

It would have been great to be back with them. But Pittsburgh's time seems to be on the rise, too, with some good players and some very good young pitchers, ... Jim wants to bring in as many of our L.A. staff as possible, with the idea that as a group we had commitment and synergy and had players playing up to their potential as much as possible.

Sometimes, you just get a feeling about things. I thought it might take a little longer for him to get comfortable with it, because some different images have to be processed. But apparently, it hasn't. Apparently, he was just doing it wrong before. Now, he's doing it right, and it's easier for him.

Actually, we want them all to throw 100 mph on the first day. We want to teach them how to throw from both sides, too. I think that would help the team, a bunch of ambidextrous pitchers.

Athletes can often undermine themselves with too much thinking. That might be one thing that happened to Oliver last year.

A lot of times what you see in the spring can change radically in the season. It can go from good to bad or bad to good. So I'm not too interested, I don't concern myself with their performance in the spring.

It's like something got reconciled in him, ... who he was and who he can be.

It's important for a hitter to know that you can protect the inside of the plate. The reason the inside of the plate is so important is because slow pitches away become that much more effective when you can control it.

It takes patience because you have to be willing to get the wrong answers. But in the end, it's a better technique.

They certainly have talent, but what you really notice is that they're beyond their years in knowing how to pitch. They have an instinct.

These Pirates ... They're a great team waiting to happen. I honestly feel as though I have this grave responsibility to shape this young staff into what it could become -- and what it could become is frighteningly good.

In all my years as a pitching coach I've only done what I feel is right to help a pitcher get better, and my experience has been that I've been able to help a lot of pitchers.

I'm more worried about location. He doesn't have to strike out 225 guys in a season to win 20 games.

His breaking ball, change-up and fastball are sharp. His command is good. So I'm pleased. That's what you want more than anything, that they execute what they're trying to do and he was doing it fairly well. There were three hits that accounted for his runs -- two doubles and a homer. Of the three, only one was a little bit of a mistake.

His delivery was a little more consistent than what we've seen here before. The main thing that shows is he's a competitor. And when the stakes are on the table he pitches his best.

He's shown significant improvement. He's in the top few guys in terms of tidying up his delivery.

I don't really pay attention to velocity with anyone.

He allows me to have my own program and supports me and makes me feel like I am appreciated and respected.

The truth is, we're trying to get him to throw exactly like he did in previous years. It's a sense of timing and knowing where your body parts need to be in the delivery on the way to home plate. It's timing of the different parts.