Zack Greinke makes 2023 spring debut

n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”rich”,”width”:550},”type”:”oembed”},{“__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”New rules in effect this season restore a more traditional defensive alignment to better showcase athleticism of players and produce more traditional outcomes on balls in play. Two infielders must be positioned on either side of second base when a pitch is released, and all four infielders must have both feet within the infield.nnGreinke, whose 12.5% strikeout rate last year was the lowest in baseball among pitchers who threw 100 innings, said he specifically looked at his changeup when thinking about how shift restrictions could affect him. The pitch had a 72.6% ground-ball rate in ’22. Of the ground balls hit against his changeup, 41% were to the batter’s pull side and went up the middle slightly more than they were pulled (44.3%).nnHaving three infielders on one side of the infield helped cover both in the hole and up the middle against Greinke’s changeup: With the shift on, batters hit .200 against Greinke’s changeup (9-for-45) last year. With standard alignment, they hit .385 (15-for-39).nn“My changeup gets ground balls to the pull side all the time,” Greinke said. “So when there’s only two guys over there, it’ll be a hit more often than it has in the past. I had to make some changes. If it wasn’t for that, I probably would have continued to do what I had been doing.””,”type”:”markdown”},{“__typename”:”Video”,”contentDate”:”2023-02-04T00:09:35.366Z”,”description”:”J.J. Picollo welcomes Zack Greinke, and Greinke discusses his one-year deal with the Royals”,”displayAsVideoGif”:false,”duration”:”00:01:52″,”mp4AvcPlayback”:”https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-02/03/7e27b183-185a7b11-a1860a28-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4″,”slug”:”greinke-signs-deal-with-royals”,”tags”:[{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”teamid-118″,”title”:”Kansas City Royals”},{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”playerid-425844″,”title”:”Zack Greinke”},{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”interview”,”title”:”interview”},{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”press-conference”,”title”:”press conference”},{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”transactions”,”title”:”transactions”},{“__typename”:”Tag”,”slug”:”send-to-news-mlb-feed”,”title”:”Send To News MLB…