This young D-back already impressing

This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

We talk a lot about looking beyond the numbers when it comes to Spring Training, and I wrote something last week about what GM Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo will be watching for over the first couple of weeks.

I wanted to give an actual example, so I talked to assistant pitching coach Barry Enright about Drey Jameson's outing against the A’s on Saturday.

Jameson made four starts for the D-backs last September, going 3-0 with a 1.48 ERA. This spring, the D-backs' No. 9 prospect is competing for the No. 5 spot in the rotation.

Against the A’s, Jameson allowed just one hit and a walk over two scoreless innings, but what impressed the Arizona coaching staff more was the way he handled himself. Jameson was called for a pitch-timer violation to open the bottom of the first inning, putting him behind the leadoff hitter 1-0, but he did not allow that to rattle him.

“Then there were a lot of close pitches,” Enright said. “You go back and look at the report that came back, a lot of pitches on the edge that just weren't called, but honestly good umpiring. Despite the close calls, Drey held it together.”

For Enright, who has worked with Jameson in the Minors before, it was a sign of some real progress.

“Sometimes, when you get behind in counts or you don't have your perfect command that day, you can kind of get outside yourself, and that had been an M.O. of his in his early years, and a place of growth for him,” Enright said. “I think he just kept attacking -- even without his best location or his best command -- and got through it and threw up two zeros on a day when he wasn’t completely on point.”