In Bowie, Alex Cobb talks about making his Orioles debut

BOWIE, Md. - Today Alex Cobb took the mound in an empty ballpark at Double-A Bowie. It was one last bullpen session before the season begins for the new Orioles right-hander. But it will be very different Saturday. He'll take the mound in Fenway Park, most likely in a packed stadium and in a much different atmosphere, and face the current American League East-leading Boston Red Sox for his Orioles debut.

Signed by the O's to a four-year deal worth $57 million with deferrals on March 21, Cobb's version of a reduced spring training has taken him from Florida to Bowie and soon to Boston.

Cobb made four starts in Florida - three in simulated games and one in an extended spring training outing. It started with a three-inning outing March 25 and then he threw four, five and six innings starts. In his most recent game, he went six Monday in an extended spring game against Minnesota minor leaguers at Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium. He allowed six hits and two runs (one earned) with a walk and eight strikeouts and threw 93 pitches.

Cobb praised the Orioles for how they have handled him the last few weeks and how they tried to provide a normal type spring training environment.

"It has been as different and as difficult a process as you could put down on paper," he said this afternoon outside the clubhouse at Prince George's Stadium. "But the way that this front office handled it and let me have as much input as I've had is all I could have asked for. They trusted me and let me try to build up the way that I feel like is the most important to last the full season. They tried to make this as normal a spring training for me as possible. That is all I could have asked for. They have gone above and beyond."

Cobb, who went 12-10 with an ERA of 3.66 in 29 starts for Tampa Bay last year, threw 60 pitches in his first game and then 48, 74 and 93 on Monday. He said you cannot attack or set up minor league hitters like you might more experienced big league batters, so he didn't even try to.

"You try to play the situation as normal as possible," he added. "It is a little bit difficult because of the experience level of the hitters you are facing. They are not thinking the same way that a big league hitter would. The set up and mental part of the game is non-existant. You don't think along those lines. What you try to do is make sure the sharpness of your pitches is there. I constantly got better each time out and that is what spring training is.

"Buck (Showalter) and front office seem to really pay attention to detail. We did as good a job as we could with throwing games in the stadium down there and having good umpires come. Whether it was a sim game or an extended game. That helped us to make the process more normal."

The Orioles certainly were attracted to Cobb for many reasons, perhaps chief among them were his strong numbers within the AL East. In nine combined starts last year versus Boston, New York and Toronto, Cobb went 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA. In 36 career starts versus those three clubs, Cobb is 15-11 with a 3.21 ERA. He makes his O's debut in Boston, where he is 5-1 with a 3.15 ERA over seven starts.

Cobb's split-finger pitch has been an out pitch for him most of his career. But last year - his first full season after Tommy John surgery in May of 2015 - he never quite had a good feel for the pitch. He threw it 14 percent of the time after throwing it 37 percent in 2014 - his last full year before the surgery. That specific pitch, though, seems to be back as a main weapon Cobb said today.

"It was the best it has been this last start I had," he said. "I'm really feeling confident in it."

Cobb sure seems excited about being an Oriole. He showed that the day he signed in March and stated as much again here today in Bowie.

"You can try to relate to what an organization will be like from the outside and seeing how they go about their business," Cobb said. "But this is a baseball organization. A red-blooded baseball team that does things the right way. The confidence that they've shown in me and just the excitement from watching the potential this team has shown early on and facing them all these years, I know that this team is a playoff team. And that excites me more than anything.

"You don't ask for anything else as athlete than to have a chance to win and to have an organization that will go for it and do what it takes to win. You're seeing that. A lot of organizations wouldn't do what they've already done early in the season like calling up top prospects. Things like that that we need to win. They'll do what it takes to win and that excites you as a player."