Manager Torey Lovullo of the Arizona Diamondbacks likes to describe a player’s baseball education as “a process.” For lefty Robbie Ray, his journey seems to be filled with more challenges and questions.
High pitch counts plagued Ray in the past and present, and prevented the native of Brentwood, Tenn. from going consistently deep into games. Among National League strikeout leaders last season and coming to spring training ready to address the nagging issue of high pitch counts, Ray seemed to settle into a comfortable pattern.
Still, his start at home Friday night against the Colorado Rockies appeared as a microcosm of the “process” of which Lovullo likes to cite.