Mahle spent the offseason trying to improve his offspeed offerings, Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "It came down to living off the fastball (last year)," Mahle said. "There were days, just like everyone has, that the other pitches would come around, but for the most part, I was just pitching on one pitch. You can't do that, especially in the big leagues with everything they have now. Guys know you are going to throw it. I think that was a big deal last year. Trying to be successful a whole year is tough doing it on one pitch."
Mahle's analysis holds up: His secondary pitches got crushed last season. Opposing hitters slugged .557 against his slider and .604 against his changeup. The question for Mahle is where he'll get to apply that work: He's not currently a candidate for the Reds' rotation, so he'll either be in the bullpen or down at Triple-A Louisville.