by Michael Duca

SCOTTSDALE AZ–The ball that hit Giants outfielder Hunter Pence that fractured his left arm came at the area where all the wrist bones come together. It should not be a major issue on his throwing arm and if his wrist had been bad by the injury he should be able to roll that bottom hand and have the strength to pull the bat through.

It’s a set back there’s no question about it, this is a guy who’s the only person in Major League Baseball whose played every game since mid 2012. He led the Giants in games played, hits, runs scored, RBI’s, stolen bases, and a home run. Other than that he hasn’t contributed much.

Realistically Pence will be out of commission for the next six to eight weeks and the last week of it will be rehab, it will probably take about four weeks in a cast for it to fully heal. He’s going to miss all of spring training and he’ll spend a couple weeks to rehab at Triple A Sacramento to get himself into hitting condition and for him to get used to seeing live pitching.

I’m sure he will stay shape, he will work on his running, he will practice throwing but I’m sure he will not be able to throw it back because his catching hand will be in a cast. With him not being in the line up it will bring the Giants to another time when the Giants remembered what it was like not to have catcher Buster Posey out when he had a broken leg.

Oakland A’s pitcher Barry Zito likes his performance in camp: A’s pitcher Barry Zito has been working with a pitching coach for about seven or eight months now. He said that he squared up his delivery a little bit and he’s getting back to the way he’s been throwing when he was with the A’s years ago.

He never did have anything remotely like throwing an overpowering fastball but he doesn’t need one, he didn’t have to throw 90 MPH and you can ask former Mariners veteran Jamie Moyer who lasted so long with a very successful pitch that didn’t require much velocity and neither did former Braves pitcher Greg Maddox.

For Zito it’s just a matter of placing the ball where you want it and keeping it off the center percussion of the bat and throw some off speed stuff and keep hitters off stride. Zito needs to try to keep the ball from the hitter squaring up and if he does so he’s going to have very successful results. There’s never been a question about his results or his commitment to succeed.

What Zito did on the Giants in 2010 was perhaps the greatest act of sportsmanship that any big league teammate could have done since I’ve been following the game in my lifetime covering or watching MLB. Zito was a healthy scratch for the 2010 post season and sucked it up and supported his teammates. You can rival it with Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum in 2012 who learned everything about that from 2010. Zito was the first guy out on the field in all three rounds of those playoffs and World Series in 2010 and was the last guy to leave the field after the World Series win.

Michael Duca is covering the A’s and Giants at spring training in Arizona for http://www.sportsradioservice.com and listen to his podcast below