Nix perfect for four in TinCaps' shutout

Jacob Nix has a way to gather his composure whenever things start to go south. He went to that place again on Friday, even though very little went wrong for him.

"If I feel like there are things starting to cloud my mind between innings, I go through a series of breathing exercises to flush out things I don't want to think about and calm my mind," the Padres' eighth-ranked prospect said. "When I discovered I did not have my best breaking ball today, I just told myself to go out there and do what you can and pitch to the best of your abilities."

The 20-year-old right-hander ended up doing just fine with mainly fastballs as he struck out five over four perfect innings in Class A Fort Wayne's 4-0 blanking of West Michigan at Fifth Third Ballpark. 

"I felt confident," Nix said. "Just like any other day."

The 2015 third-round pick was working under a 45-pitch limit but made the most out of his time on the mound, retiring all 12 batters he faced and getting half of them to ground out.

"I know my strength and I know what I'm good at," Nix said. "I know that I can get a lot of sink on my fastball, whether it's the two-seam or the four-seam. If I can get the ball to where I want it to be, just keep it down the in the zone, it's tough for guys to get on top of the baseball. And that's really what I strive to do."

After throwing 29 of 41 pitches for strikes, Nix has allowing just one earned run over his last 18 innings.

"I don't know if I could've gone nine right now because it's still so early in the season," he said. "I've only thrown maybe 20 innings all year, but that would've been awesome if I could've gone the distance."

The California native lowered his ERA to 2.61 in his first full season after making seven appearances last summer in the Rookie-level Arizona League. And as he makes his adjustments to the Midwest League, the product of the IMG Academy is also trying to get accustomed to his new surroundings.

"The only big thing I've had to get acclimated to is the weather in the midwest," Nix said. "It's rainy and humid and it even snowed in the first few days I was here.

"My first start, I think it was 30-something degrees, but baseball is still baseball. You just wear long sleeves and deal with it. You also don't feel the cold when you feel the adrenaline and when you're in the zone."

Nix certainly was in his zone Friday in 60-degree weather in Comstock Park, Michigan, but he said he also understands the importance of sharpening his secondary offerings as he moves forward.

"I think overall, I just want to get consistent throwing them for strikes, which at times I do and times I don't," he said. "I don't know whether it's mechanical issues or something else. Sometimes I'm not setting my sights at the right level to throw breaking balls for strikes -- which I wasn't doing tonight -- but that's one thing I'm starting to notice as I go deeper into games. I can also start to make those adjustments during the games rather than between starts."

Enyel De Los Santos (2-1) followed Nix and gave up two hits over the final five innings for the win, striking out four.

Padres No. 9 prospect Michael Gettys went 3-for-4 to pace the TinCaps offense, while Peter Van Gansen had the lone RBI with a double in the ninth.