Spring Break
Former ISU player comes back home
Gary Willard
Issue date: 11/2/04 Section: Sports
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You only need to drive two hours north to see Neal Cotts pitch for the Chicago White Sox. Cotts recently sat down to discuss his first full season in the big leagues, how he got there, and what he expects in the future.
Gary Willard: Having been through the motions before, do you anticipate being much more at ease when Spring Training rolls around next February?
Neal Cotts: I'll be going in there prepared, trying to win the job. I've got a year under my belt. There were a lot of ups and downs I can build off, the good stuff and the bad stuff.
GW: When a young ballplayer is making his first several appearances, is there anything the coaching staff, in particular manager Ozzie Guillen, does to help you feel at ease?
NC: Ozzie has a good relationship with the team as a whole. He treats everybody fairly. When he played, he was always having fun, joking around, it's the same way now. There's a serious side to him, but when we're out there, we have fun.
GW: You gave up 13 homeruns in just over 65 innings pitched, and had an ERA of 5.65 last season. What do you look to do to improve upon your individual production before next season begins?
NC: Home runs definitely. ERA, you can look at it both ways. Numbers don't mean everything. The homeruns though I definitely look to improve on. I ended the season with four outings terrible in terms of that. (4 HR, 6.1 IP)
GW: When you are on the mound, what process do you go through in order to achieve your objective, what do you look to do out there?
NC: You just look at making pitches. You can go in there, throw awesome, and give up some runs. You just go in there, work hard, and see what happens.
GW: Having grown up just outside St. Louis you were not subjected to the American League rivalries growing up. You are now pitching for an AL team - do you feel any extra contempt for teams like Minnesota or Cleveland yet?