A chunk of the Texas Rangers' spring pitching staff — Jake Diekman estimates as many as 90 percent — have hit the dead-arm phase of spring training.
Diekman described it has his whole body feeling heavy and tired, and it's something pitchers go through each camp. It's part of the drill, and they still have to grind out their outings and get their work in.
That's what Diekman did Friday.
The scoreboard radar gun didn't have him throwing any harder than 90 mph, and his command wasn't sharp. The result was four runs and only two outs, and the destruction of a box and cursing in the dugout tunnel/echo chamber afterward.