Ty Blach, the San Francisco Giants’ fifth round pick in 2012, kicked off his first full year in pro ball with the San Jose Giants, San Francisco’s high-A affiliate. The strike-throwing lefty has been experiencing success, posting a 2.73 ERA and 2.21 FIP in nine games started.
In 52.2 innings pitched, Blach has struck out 48 and only given up five walks. Having good control and throwing strikes has been a key to his success.
“One of the things I always pride myself on is throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead of hitters,” Blach said. “It just comes from executing strike one and executing every pitch one at a time.”
Blach tries not to get ahead of himself and believes that as long as he throws the strikes, the outs will come.
“I trust that if I could throw it over the plate, [with] good location, hitters are gonna get themselves out,” Blach said.
Regardless of the ballpark, he keeps the same mindset whenever he takes the mound, even if it’s in a park that’s more hitter-friendly — like High Desert’s Maverick Stadium.
“It’s just about having the same approach and making sure I keep the ball down in the zone,” Blach said.
He credits the San Jose coaching staff for being helpful, especially with the mentality he keeps while pitching.
“They’ve helped me develop a mindset that I need to take out there every time I pitch and kinda know who I am as a pitcher,” Blach said. “[I] just work hard as I can every day and good things will happen.”
Blach calls San Jose’s environment “awesome” and a great place to play, with great fans — making his transition from college ball to pro ball a good one.
“It’s been a fun league to play in,” Blach said, also saying that there’s been a lot of good competition.
The Giants are currently 33-19 and lead the North Division by 2.5 games. They also have the best record in all of the California League. Their home record, however, is 12-12 and they have been dominating on the road with a 21-7 record.
“We’ve played pretty wall,” he said. “Hopefully, we could start playing a little better at home. We’ve played really well on the road so far.”
With four games left in the current homestand, Blach hopes that the Giants can get a winning streak going to improve their home record.
Meanwhile, Blach’s focus on his own pitching is getting the outs, not the strikeout numbers.
“They all count the same in the scorebook,” Blach said. “So just as long as I could get my team a chance to win and I’ll be happy.”
Covefficient 