Sheffield finding his way with Travelers

When Justus Sheffield was sent down to the Texas League on June 15, he only had one thing on his mind -- get right.
The fourth-ranked Mariners prospect wasn't looking to make excuses and didn't find anything productive in feeling sorry for himself. He had put together a string of rough outings for Triple-A Tacoma and knew something was "just off." So he decided to watch footage of his previous starts -- going all the way back to Spring Training -- and he figured it out.
Sheffield identified a mechanical flaw in his delivery and corrected it upon joining the Travelers. Thursday's performance further reinforced that claim.

The southpaw yielded two hits and a walk while fanning five over seven frames as Double-A Arkansas blanked Springfield, 2-0, at Dickey-Stephens Park.
"When I came down here, I went back to the film and figured out there was a thing with my mechanics that was causing me to fly open," Sheffield said. "So I made one or two minuscule adjustments to my delivery and I've just been sticking with that. The ball is coming out easier and freer, and my secondary pitches have been sharper too. So I've just been riding that since I got here."
The 23-year-old has made four starts for the Travelers and has not allowed more than one run in any outing. Over that span, Sheffield (2-0) has racked up 29 punchouts and five walks, posting a 1.00 ERA and 0.78 WHIP. He's also limited opponents to a .174 average.
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Against the Cardinals, MLB.com's No. 74 overall prospect retired the first eight batters he faced -- with only one of those outs recorded beyond the infield -- before Rayder Ascanio laced a double into center field. A three-pitch punchout of Justin Toerner left Ascanio stranded in scoring position.
"I knew coming into tonight that they only had one lefty in the lineup, so the plan was to attack in hard and saw them off and then go soft away," Sheffield said. "And it just seemed to work, I was just able to execute that plan all game. And [catcher Joseph Odom] called a heck of a game. I think I just shook him off once the entire time. He called a great game back there and everyone else made all the plays behind me."
After recording the first two outs of the fourth on eight pitches, Sheffield could not field a slow roller off the bat of Johan Mieses cleanly and the speedster legged out an infield hit.
However, the southpaw got rolling again from there -- sitting down the next nine Cardinals he faced, whiffing a pair -- until Brian O'Keefe worked a five-pitch walk with two out in the seventh. After a mound visit from Arkansas pitching coach Pete Woodworth, Sheffield won a seven-pitch battle with Chris Chinea by coaxing a groundout to third. He finished with 98 pitches, 71 for strikes.
"My confidence has been there all year, even when I was struggling there a little bit. I never lost my confidence and that's something I take a lot of pride in, being confident and being competitive every time I take the mound," Sheffield said. "It was really just a few small adjustments with staying over the rubber, figuring some things out and then just trusting my stuff and going out there and doing it. But I never lost my confidence."

Right-handers Jake Haberer and Art Warren tossed a scoreless inning of relief apiece to complete the shutout. Haberer fanned a pair over a perfect frame, and Warren worked around two walks and struck out two to notch his 10th save of the year.
Seattle's No. 7 prospect Kyle Lewis put the Travelers on the board in the first with an RBI base knock to left off right-hander Alex Fagalde (1-1) that plated 28th-ranked Donnie Walton.  Mike Ahmed drove in Arkansas' other run with a sacrifice fly following a triple by Luis Liberato in the second.