Neftali Feliz improved on his first Cactus League start on Wednesday, as the former Rookie of the Year award winner pitched three innings against the Colorado Rockies, allowing just one run on four hits, while walking one and striking out three.
Once again, Feliz was working on developing all his pitches.
"You have to feel confident in all your pitches," Feliz said. "When you're pitching, you can't rely on your fastball. You have to use every pitch to get outs."
Feliz worked mainly on his offspeed stuff in his first start against the Chicago White Sox, and it looks like he repeated that again on Wednesday against the Rockies.
"He pitched well," manager Ron Washington said. "He went out there once again and used the whole strike zone and used all his pitches."
It certainly seems like Feliz is accomplishing what he set out to do this spring, mixing in all of his pitches and being comfortable doing so. In addition to three strikeouts, Feliz induced two double plays, which helped get him out of jams.
If Feliz' transition is successful, he should in time give the Rangers another top of the rotation pitcher. We're still probably a year or two away from that, though, as Feliz will be on an innings count this year, but he certainly has a talent to pitch at the top of the rotation -- it's just a matter of if he can put it together.