Marte Hoping For Healthy Season, Locke Makes Drastic Move To Find His Form
BRADENTON, Florida (KDKA) -- The official kickoff to Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training is only a few days away.
Already, the players are making their way to sunny Bradenton, Florida.
One of the team's stars is talking about the upcoming season, and how he spent his off-season.
Pirates' outfielder Starling Marte hit the cages for the first time this spring on Thursday afternoon.
He spent the off-season resting and relaxing in his native Dominican Republic.
"Everything I did in the Dominican was fun. Working out, talking, hanging out with my family, my friends, everything was great," said Marte.
The star shines bright for Marte if he's not dealt with another nagging injury like last season.
Marte: "If I get healthy for the whole season, I can be better than last year."
KDKA's Rich Walsh: "Are you healthy now?"
Marte: "Yeah, I feel good."
Walsh: "Is there something that you want to work on specifically in Spring Training?"
Marte: "I've been working on everything."
That's exactly what he thinks of this year's Pirates team, they're going to be better.
"I'm working on everything, and try to get better and better," Marte said.
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Over on the Pirates pitcher's mound, Jeff Locke has made a drastic move to help him find his form from the first part of 2013 when he was an All-Star.
Locke is competing for a spot in the starting rotation and has completely changed his delivery this off-season, hoping for better results.
"We changed my delivery around about 100 percent different. We're just working on being a little bit more consistent with the pitchers to home plate," said Locke.
Walsh: "What's the difference with your delivery?"
Locke: "I go over the head with my hands now. I'm not turning as extravagantly, it's lining up my direction to home plate much better, it's enabling me to throw on both sides of the plate a lot easier, really stress-free. It's a work in progress, but it's coming along much better than anticipated."
Walsh: "Is it hard to change your mechanics?"
Locke: "I think it is to an extent but everybody here is pretty athletic. For us, it's all about repetition, too. So, whatever we decide – if it's going to be the deliver or the wind up – we just hammer it until it's going to be instilled in your brain like second nature, muscle memory."
Walsh: "Are you close with getting it down?"
Locke: "Yeah, it's down. It's ready to go. We're just not ready to go yet. The deliver, everything feels good and everything feels healthy."
