Prior Aggression

Nice to see this story on MLB.com today regarding Mark Prior and his desire to be more aggressive in his pitch calling.

"I definitely think I need to have more of an aggressive, not attitude, but aggressive nature in my pitch calling and not wait for them to make a mistake but me kind of try to force the issue on their part more," he said. "Does that mean I throw more inside or more offspeed or whatever? That'll be determined by who you're facing and what type of year that person is having.

"I think once I get rolling, there will be game plans and strategy issues that I'll look at and try to do differently than I did in the last couple years."

I watched him pitch at Coors Field last August and noted at the time that he needed to quit nibbling at the corners and simply go after hitters. Last season he threw 16.96 pitches per inning which ranked him 370th in the majors. By comparison Greg Maddux threw 13.77 pitches per inning good for 13th in baseball and 5th among starters.