Bandits' Additon adds up quality starts

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By Steve Batterson | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 10:36 PM CDT | () comments

These days, confidence is carrying Quad-Cities River Bandits pitcher Nick Additon.

“There’s no better feeling in the world than to take the mound and be able to throw every pitch with conviction, knowing that things are going to work out,” Additon said.

“When it’s going well, even when you give up a hit — and that is going to happen — you know that next one is going to lead to a double play. That’s the way it feels right now.”

His statistics complement those sentiments.

Additon hasn’t allowed a run in the past 26 innings he has been on the mound for Quad-Cities.

When Wisconsin shortstop Juan Diaz singled in the fourth inning of a game last Friday in Grand Chute, Wis., it marked the first time in 131/3 innings that an opposing batter managed to scratch a hit off the 6-foot-4 left-hander from Davie, Fla.

The effort followed five innings of no-hit baseball in a start at Beloit, an outing that ended as the River Bandits maintained their tandem-starter rotation.

“I knew he had been throwing well, but the numbers he’s been putting up even caught me a little by surprise,” Quad-Cities manager Steve Dillard said. “He’s strung together a few good ones in a row.’’

In his last six outings — rotating between starting and relieving every fourth day — Additon has given up eight hits, walked seven batters and has struck out 24 while not allowing a run.

He was named the Midwest League’s pitcher of the week on Monday after giving up one hit, walking one and striking out 13 in nine innings last week.

To get to this point with a 5-2 record and 2.30 ERA, Additon had to persevere through some struggles that came after a quick start to the season.

“The thing that didn’t change is that I didn’t start doubting myself,” he said. “By then I knew I could pitch here. I just had to be true to myself and keep doing what Ace (Adams, the River Bandits pitching coach) was telling me.

“By doing that, I put a couple of good outings together and then two grew into three, four, six in row. When you have a defense as good as one the one I have behind me, it’s a good feeling.”

Additon likes the aggressive approach that Adams wants Quad-Cities pitchers to carry with them to the mound, building on the foundation of attacking the strike zone.

“Getting ahead with that first-pitch strike is so huge. When you put a hitter in an 0-1 situation, it’s a big difference,” Additon said.

“At this level, you learn pretty quickly that you can’t make mistakes. If you leave a ball up, it’s going to get crushed. You’ve got to keep it down in the zone, down around the knees and right now, I’ve been able to do that.”

Additon was a 47th-round pick of the Cardinals in the 2006 draft, a draft-and-follow selection necessitated after a torn anterior cruciate ligament brought his senior season at Western High School in Davie, Fla., to an early end.

He recuperated in time to pitch for Indian River Community College in the spring of 2007 and finished strong enough that St. Louis signed him to a contract shortly after the season ended.

“I’m doing what I always wanted to do,” Additon said. “Going back to first grade, when people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, the answer was always the same. I wanted to be a big-league baseball player.

“People would always say, ‘Well, what do you want to do if that doesn’t work out, what is your backup plan?’ and I’d always say I didn’t have one. I want to play in the big leagues and I’m still working to get that done today.’’

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.