Eugene Emeralds' pitcher Jack Choate on trusting his offseason and off-speed work
In the Eugene Emeralds' season-opening 1-0 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils, pitcher Jack Choate dominated his first four innings of work in the 2024 High-A season.
The third-year pro pitched just four innings, but struck out four and allowed just a single hit while throwing 54 pitches. The more important development for the imposing lefty, however, is 38 of those pitches were strikes.
"He was commanding his fastball and he's got a really good change-up," Emeralds manager Jeremiah Knackstedt said. "It's tough when he's that tall from that angle for guys to lay off of it. He had both of those working tonight."
Known for his off-speed change-up and slider a year ago, Choate split time between Low-A San Jose and Eugene last season, but combined to throw 68 innings over 10 starts with a 2.25 ERA.
The 6-foot-6 hurler from Assumption College worked extensively over the offseason honing in on his off-speed pitch and attacking batters.
"A lot of it is just setting the sights right, with the off-speed especially," Choate said. "If your pitch moves so much you have to start it in a different spot. So I focused on changing the sights and being confident in it and trusting that it's going to be right where I want it."
As the season gets underway, Choate will look to continue to find the zone for the Emeralds in starts and keep trusting his off-speed and offseason work.
"I want to keep throwing strikes and keep feeling confident," Choate said. "I've just got to keep building that confidence and know that I'm right where I should be."
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Jack Choate trusting his offseason as Eugene Emeralds season begins
