In December 2008, Nova was selected by the San Diego Padres in the Rule 5 draft. However, he was returned to the Yankees after clearing outright waivers at the end of the 2009 spring training, during which he had an 8.31 ERA, allowing eight earned runs and 13 hits in 8 2⁄3 innings.
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Ivan Nova, in contention for one of the back-end spots in the Yankees’ rotation, looked sharp in his first exhibition start, Sunday’s 7-3 victory over the Phillies.
“Real good,” Joe Girardi said. “You look at the six outs he got, four ground balls. That’s what we want from him. I thought he looked really good.”
Nova, 24, doesn’t lack for confidence. The righthander smiles easily, and he broke into a wide grin when asked what he has liked best so far.
“Right now I’m happy with everything,” Nova said. “The first thing I’m happy with is we have a spot open in the rotation. Everything’s going well, I have really good command right now and I feel great. I like everything.”
Girardi is fine hearing that, as are the Yankees. Barring any trades, they need Nova to excel.
“He should believe in himself,” Girardi said. “I believe in him. This kid, I think he’s got a bright future ... This kid’s extremely talented and we like his stuff.”
Nova got groundouts by Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez in the first inning and started the second by freezing Ryan Howard on a curve ball. Placido Polanco grounded back to Nova, who then ended the inning by striking out Domonic Brown.
“I got to face really good hitters,” Nova said. “But you just have to go out there and throw strikes and be aggressive.”
That Nova had a good first two innings wasn’t surprising. He looked good early in the majority of his seven starts at the end of last season, only to run into problems the second or third time through the lineup.
“For Nova, I thought the issue was when he got into trouble, getting out of it,” Girardi said. “He did it the one day in Toronto but the other days he struggled with it.”
The day Girardi referenced in Toronto was Nova’s first big-league start, Aug. 23, when he worked out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam.
“My confidence, I’m not thinking too much, like ‘Oh, I have to face Ryan Howard,’ “ Nova said of the difference he feels this year after going 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in 2010. “Just throw the ball. I know I can people out. I have really good stuff and I just have to throw strikes.”
Girardi said maybe too much was made of the problems Nova had as the games wore on.
Source:http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/other_mlb/view/2011_0228nova_sharp_in_first_exhibition_start/srvc=sports&position=recent_bullet
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