Former G-Stro Troy Patton Trying To Right Ship As He Heads Home

Troy Patton grew up in the Houston area and fulfilled the boyhood dream of being drafted by the Houston Astros and making his MLB debut with the Astros in 2007. He was then traded to the Orioles in the Miguel Tejada deal.  After recovering from shoulder surgery, Patton has become a key piece of the Orioles bullpen.  He had a very successful 2012 appearing in 54 games with a 2.43 ERA and 49 Ks to just 12 walks.  Last fall, he became the first former Greeneville Astro to pitch in the post season.

Today, the Orioles come to Houston to open a three game set.  That will give Patton another chance to pitch in his hometown.  However, he is coming home trying to figure out what has gone wrong in 2013.  In 22 games this year, he has already walked more batters (13) and given up as many runs (15) as he did in 2012.

The Baltimore press has noticed the struggles and have talked to Patton about what he is doing about them.  It look like he is taking a two pronged approach.

1. He is going back to throwing bullpen sessions similar to what he did as a starter.

“I’m just trying to get back to what made me good,” Patton said. “I really just wanted to it to work on duplicating mechanics because my missed haven’t been smaller than last year. Aim small, miss small. My misses have been much more dramatic this season.”

2. He is watching video of 2012.

"We've been looking at some film from last year because things went well last season, and I had good results. Just looking at things I might have changed and then I just need to get my fastball to where I want it to go. Working on different things to get my arm where I can consistently throw the pitches where I want to."

He appears to be on the right track with these strategies.  After amassing a 7.71 ERA in May, he started June with a two inning outing where he surrendered two hits but didn't walk a batter and struck out three.  That was his highest strike out total of the season and accounted for 1/5th of his total strike outs for the year.

I am sure there will be a large contingent of fans at the games this series pulling for Patton to do well.