How Nelson is changing his repertoire to bounce back in '24

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- At the end of each inning, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo would ask Ryne Nelson if he was OK to continue pitching, and each time, the right-hander answered emphatically that he was.

It was Game 4 of last year’s World Series and the Rangers were putting a hurting on the D-backs, who were using a bullpen game.

By the time Nelson entered the game in the fourth inning, Arizona was down 10-0 and on its way to falling behind 3-1 in the series.

Nelson had been unimpressive in his previous two relief appearances in the postseason, and his shaky outings later in the regular season caused the D-backs to take him out of the rotation in mid-September.

Nelson had been champing at the bit to get back out on the mound, desperate to not just get himself back on track before the winter started, but to contribute to the team.

“I just wanted a shot,” Nelson said. “I just wanted a shot to kind of prove that I could do it because my first couple postseason outings weren’t too great. They kept asking me, 'You good? Can you keep going?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna stay out there as long as I possibly can.' I told them they were going to have to come take me off the mound because I wasn’t going to tell them to take me out.”

Nelson wound up allowing just one run on three hits while striking out six over 5 1/3 innings. The D-backs creeped back into the game with six runs late, but they ultimately fell 11-7.

Arizona would lose Game 5 the following night, but it had a chance to be in that game because the bullpen wasn’t completely empty thanks to Nelson chewing up innings in Game 4.

“The last month and a half or two months of the season was tough on me personally,” Nelson said. “But it was really cool for the team. I just wanted to be a good teammate and do what I could, so to finally be able to contribute was good for me.”

The outing allowed Nelson to go into the offseason on a good note, and he spent the winter working hard, determined that 2024 would not be a repeat of '23. The one thing that Lovullo and staff told Nelson was that he needed to be able to throw his offspeed stuff, particularly his slider, more often this season so he would not be so fastball reliant.

Nelson grabbed the No. 5 spot in the rotation last spring, and this year he is back fighting for it once again.

It’s a spirited competition to see who will fill the slot behind Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt.

Nelson and left-hander Tommy Henry entered camp as the frontrunners, but Slade Cecconi looked good in his first spring outing. Not to mention other young arms at camp looking to make an impression on the staff.

But so far, so good for Nelson, who threw two scoreless innings in his first outing of the spring and followed that up with one run allowed and five strikeouts over three innings in the D-backs' 2-1 win over the Giants on Thursday at Salt River Fields.

More important than the results is the fact that his slider has looked sharp.

“It's a focus on trying to keep [opposing hitters] off balance, keep them guessing and make sure that they can't just key on the fastball,” Nelson said. “When I’m just pumping heaters in there, it’s pretty easy to lock in.”