On Monday Brandon McCarthy faced hitters for the first time since fracturing his skull.
“It honestly is completely normal,” said McCarthy, who threw behind a protective screen like most of his other teammates. “Anything you would have thought might have been there wasn’t. I was more nervous about where my command was at, where my stuff was at.”
Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was impressed with the right handers return to the mound.
“I think it was a big day for McCarthy,” Gibson said. “I thought he threw the ball really well, kept the ball down. The first breaking ball he threw was really sharp. It looked like his mechanics were good, and he threw the ball really well.”
McCarthy had put together a fine season in 2012 before suffering his injury. In 18 starts McCarthy compiled a 3.24 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP over 111 innings. The Diamondbacks will obviously look for McCarthy to post similar numbers this season after signing him to a two-year contract worth $15.5 million.
