Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson has not had a banner spring. The right-hander has allowed 12 runs (nine earned) on 17 hits and one walk in 13 innings (6.23 ERA).
However, despite poor spring numbers, manager Ron Roenicke has not lost faith in Nelson.
“He was the most dominant pitcher in Triple-A,” Roenicke said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That tells you if we can get back to that guy, then we have a really good major-league starter.
“(The struggles) are because he doesn’t command the ball. When he was in Triple-A, he commanded the ball better, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the confidence he had there. He’s got overpowering stuff but there’s not too many guys who can overpower a major-league hitter if you don’t put it in the right spot. The difference is he’s facing guys that are really good hitters.
“It’s not that he doesn’t throw strikes. When I talk about commanding the ball, that doesn’t mean it’s not a strike. It means when you want to throw it inside, you can throw it inside instead of being outside for a strike. Or if you want to throw it down and you miss up for a strike, that’s not commanding the ball. Commanding it is throwing it in an area you want to throw it, and repeating an offspeed pitch.”