CC Sabathia struggled against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, but he is still pleased about his progress this spring.

The left-hander had trouble with his delivery, flying open and leaving the ball up against Washington. He gave up three earned runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three, while throwing 37 of 62 pitches for strikes.

However, Sabathia described himself as "light years" ahead of where he was at this time a year ago.

Sabathia is also continuing to work on his new pitch, a cutter, estimating he threw eight or nine, none of which were put in play.

"It's tough, but as long as I keep it in perspective and don't try to overthrow it, it'll be a good pitch for me," Sabathia said. "I don't know if it's going to come right away or be something that takes me a whole season. When I first started throwing my slider, I was able to pick it up right away and took it right into a game, so we'll see."