Piniella: Samardzija Needs To Work On Secondary Pitches

With an open slot in the rotation following Carlos Zambrano's trip to the DL, the Cubs could have considered Jeff Samardzija. But skipper Lou Piniella doesn't think Samardzija has the stuff to be effective as a starter.

"He needs to work on his second and third pitches," Piniella said. "It's hard to pitch up here with a fastball only.

"You have to get people off your fastball, whether it's Samardzija or anybody else," Piniella said. "Any pitcher at the big-league level needs to have a second and third pitch that they can rely on and get people off the other pitches. You have to throw awfully hard and locate the ball awfully well just to count on one pitch being your dominant pitch."

Via Chicago Sun-Times

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