Rule 5 Road: Adcock Starring In Spring

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"I came to spring as a new face with a clean slate just trying to make the big league team. There's a lot of young great talent and a lot of really good lefties. There's a lot of competition. All I can say right now is that since the first day all I've wanted to do is compete with other guys. So far I'm just taking it day by day and I've done all my baseball work and I'll leave all the decision making to the front office.

There's a different feel [to being in big league camp] because I walk in the clubhouse and [Joakim] Soria and [Kyle] Davies, [Luke] Hochevar and all these guys are around and you come in with big eyes, but I've really tried to sit back and watch their mannerisms and how they go about their business. I've really learned a lot about how to do things a professional way and how they go about their work and what they do in their bullpens. That's the biggest thing I've learned so far is how they approach the game.

I didn't know anybody coming into this but a lot of guys introduced themselves to me with open arms and kind of brought me in and it's been uphill from there. I sat back and some of the guys came up to me and introduced themselves to me. Then I'd start conversations with them and get to know them a little more. Aaron Crow came up and introduced himself to me. Steven Shell pitched for the Mariners a little bit last year so we knew some of the same guys and talked about that for a little bit [Adcock was in the Mariners organization before joining the Pirates].

But overall with the big league guys I sat back and stood my position and just watched and as the weeks have progressed I started opening up to them and they started opening up to me. I just stood back and watched how they went about their business and eased in from there.

They say don't try to do too much. You know you've got the stuff to get hitters out. Trust your stuff and I've really been trying to work on that and take it day by day. Do my routine, do my work - it's been a little different coming out of the bullpen, but all in all facing big league hitters I'm just trying to go with the approach that it's 60 feet six inches. The home plate and the pitching mound have not changed at all. You still have to attack the zone and the biggest thing is throw strikes and change speed. Bob McClure, our pitching coach, has really professed just to throw strikes in and out and change speed. That's the biggest thing.

My first game I pitched against [Rangers catcher Mike] Napoli. That was a neat deal. [Howie] Kendrick for the Angels, Peter Bourjus, Torii Hunter. I went against quite a few big league guys but I can't really remember them all because I'm just going out there trying to compete and not worry about the name too much but just look at the catcher, not who I'm facing.

I think the biggest thing for me is mechanically trying to land on my toe so I get out in front of my pitches and it's really helped out a whole lot. I think the biggest thing I've learned overall the whole spring is sitting back and watching these guys go about their business and seeing their stuff and how they do things. Just watching how they watch hitters and how they approach hitters and how they throw things in different situations. You know there's a lot more to pitching than just throwing.

I don't want to think about [making the big league club] too much. I'm just going to go about it day by day and let my baseball do the talking...let the baseball decisions be left up to the front office and the coaching staff. If my baseball playing on the field is good enough then I'll stay. If not then I'll go my separate way, but I'd really like to stay in Kansas City. I've enjoyed my time and I've gotten to meet a lot of good people and they're going to surprise a lot of people. They're going to do okay, or we're going to do okay.