Hammel not impressed with his spring

ROGER MOONEY
rmooney@bradenton.com

WINTER HAVEN – Jason Hammel is one of five pitchers vying for the three openings in the rotation, and if you ask him, he’ll tell you the other four are having better springs.
“I haven't performed as well as I wanted to,” Hammel said Thursday after pitching 4 1/3 innings in the Rays 4-4 tie with Cleveland. “There's a lot of good arms here. I've given it my best, and we're making adjustments, and we're improving, and we'll see how it all falls into place.”
The right-hander allowed three runs on four hits Thursday. He walked two and struck out three.
Hammel found himself in trouble in the second inning when he walked Kelly Shoppach with one out then allowed a home run to Andy Gonzalez one out later.
He fell behind in the count often and needed 86 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings.
“When he broke out his slider he started pitching a little more. I liked it,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I think in the beginning of the game he was trying to force his fastball, and it wasn’t there command wise.”
Jeff Niemann, who pitched the final four innings and allowed just one run, Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine and J.P. Howell are the other four finalists.
Howell and Sonnanstine have ERAs of 1.00. Niemann’s is 1.50.
Jackson has a 5.40 ERA, while Hammel lowered his to7.64 on Thursday.
Earned runs are not the deciding factor on who makes the rotation and who doesn’t. Maddon wants his pitchers to pound the bottom of the strike zone and pitch to contact.
Despite being somewhat wild Thursday, Hammel did that.
So did Niemann.
Maddon said Niemann is very much in the mix, but of the five, Niemann is the one who will probably begin the season in Triple A Durham.
Of the remaining four, the two who don’t earn a spot in the rotation will likely begin the season in the bullpen. Howell seemed destined for the bullpen until the injury to Scott Kazmir opened up a third spot in the rotation.
Hammel has followed a rough outing against Cleveland on March 10 when he allowed nine earned runs with two good outings.
“I felt all right (Thursday),” he said. “I made some good pitches when I needed to, but I probably put too much pressure on myself, got behind in the counts. I got to work on getting ahead with the fastball again. That was basically the only problem.”
When asked if he felt he showed enough to gain a spot in the rotation, Hammel said, “No honestly. There's other guys who have thrown better than me. I haven't pitched to my potential, but I'm going to. I can definitely get better. I'll keep working hard and it will take care of itself.”
Maddon was pleased to hear Hammel’s self-evaluation.
“I like it. We talk about guys being accountable, and I kind of like the fact he’s not pleased with himself,” Maddon said. “I’m pointing out the better things he did (Thursday), but he knows there are some things he could do better, and I like that. This guy is not afraid. He has great make up, great poise. He just has to be able to make better quality pitches when he wants to, and he knows. His self-evaluations will permit him to get better.”
Maddon said he will announce the rotation Sunday.

Niemann goes four
Jeff Niemann pitched a season-high four innings, though it would have been three had he got out of the ninth without allowing the trying run to score and force an extra inning.
Maddon was pleased with the way the 6-foot-9 Niemann held Jose Constanza on first in the ninth, which enabled catcher Josh Paul to throw out Constanza as he tried to steal second.
“He’s a big man and he can’t be ultra-quick to the plate, because he has long limbs, and he takes a long time to unload the ball,” Maddon said.

Weber goes yard again
Jon Weber, trying to make the squad as the fifth outfielder, raised his average above .200 with a 3-for-5 day that included a home run to right field. He also scored a run.
It was Weber’s second home run of the spring, and it game with two-out in the fourth inning of Cleveland’s Paul Byrd and tied the score at 2-2. The non-roster invitee is now batting .222.

Up next
The Rays play the Yankees for the fourth and final time Friday night in Tampa. It is the Rays lone night game of the spring.
Andy Sonnanstine will start for the Rays. Darrell Rasner is scheduled to pitch for the Yankees.
The Rays are 3-0 vs. the Yankees this season.

This & That
Dioner Navarro hit his second home run of the spring. He also batted second, doubling to right field in his first at-bat … Jonny Gomes played moved from right field to center in the sixth inning, playing center for the first time this spring … Reid Brignac tripled … Former Ray Jason Tyner, a non-roster invitee to the Indians camp, had two hits in five at-bats and scored once. He’s hitting .294 this spring … Catcher Shawn Riggans is expected to play Saturday, a week after bruising his left hand when he was hit by a pitch. He made the trip to Winter Haven and warmed up the pitchers in the bullpen.