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<p>MOOSIC &#8212; Chance Adams kept his goals for the upcoming season simple.</p><p>Consistency. And rack up a lot of strikeouts.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>He wants to continue to improve his changeup, too.</p><p>The 23-year-old right hander will attempt to take the first step in securing his goals when he takes the mound Friday night in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders&#8217; season opener against the Syracuse Chiefs.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s pretty much the same goal I have every year and that&#8217;s what it is this year &#8212; also to keep improving on the changeup. It&#8217;s a pain, but I&#8217;ll get there with it,&#8221; Adams said.</p><p>But it&#8217;s easier said than done.</p><p>Adams was one of the RailRiders most consistent pitchers for most of the season a year ago, but then his performance started to dip after the All-Star break. The 2015 fifth-round draft pick had an ERA of 2.50 before the All-Star break, but it ballooned to 3.28 after the break. Adams saw his strikeout total dip in 2017, striking out 135 batters to 144 the year prior, too. And the changeup has admittedly been a work in progress.</p><p>Still, this doesn&#8217;t stop Adams from trying to improve. And one way was by soaking in as much information as he could during his time at major league spring training.</p><p>&#8220;I talked to CC (Sabathia) and Chad (Green) a lot,&#8221; said Adams, who had a locker near the two pitchers in the New York Yankees clubhouse. &#8220;They kind of gave me advice on how to go about your business and adversity. Just stuff they told me. Stuff like that.&#8221;</p><p>But when it comes to improving on his changeup, Adams struggles with the decision whether or not to work on it in game or just during bullpen sessions.</p><p>His competitive edge often gets in the way during his outings because if he &#8220;spikes a few,&#8221; he&#8217;ll shy-ed away from the pitch in an effort to not let his teammates down. Despite the struggles, it&#8217;s something he continues to work on.</p><p>&#8220;One of these days it&#8217;s just going to click and I&#8217;ll be able to figure it out from there,&#8221; Adams said.</p><p>Adams also has his catchers who can help him pick his spots when it&#8217;s OK to work on the pitch in-game.</p><p>&#8220;At times it&#8217;s our job to kind of know when we can mix it in safely without him getting hurt on it by the hitters. It&#8217;s just probably about repetition,&#8221; RailRiders catcher Kyle Higashioka said.</p><p>Adams&#8217; ability to pitch through adversity could be the difference between being a borderline International League All-Star, like he was a season ago, or on the 40-man roster and candidate to go up and help the Yankees.</p><p>While he still still working toward that elusive 40-man roster spot, it&#8217;s certainly not out of the question this season.</p><p>&#8220;I just want to see him keep progressing from his last few outings,&#8221; RailRiders pitching coach Tommy Phelps said. &#8220;His command&#8217;s gotten better, his arm strength his started to pick up, his slider is getting sharper &#8212; better feel for it. Just for him to get out there and get after it like he&#8217;s done in the past.&#8221;</p><p>After having a veteran catcher behind the plate for him last year in Higashioka and Eddy Rodriguez, Adams has that comfort again this season.</p><p>While Rodriguez did retire, Higashioka is back and 37-year-old backstop Erik Kratz has joined the RailRiders.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s always nice as a young pitcher like myself to see what it&#8217;s like and see them and how they act and what they call and learn from what they call throughout the game, pitch-wise. It&#8217;s nice to have,&#8221; Adams said.</p><p>Entering the season fully healthy &#8212; Adams pitched with a bone spur on his elbow a season ago &#8212; Phelps is excited to see what Adams can do in his second season in Triple-A.</p><p>Now that Adams knows what to expect from pitching at the Triple-A level &#8212; and with success &#8212; the right hander can take that next step.</p><p>&#8220;He had confidence coming here last year, so I wouldn&#8217;t say it&#8217;s confidence, but knowing what his idea is,&#8221; Phelps said. &#8220;It&#8217;s just going out there and being able to execute and do what he needs to do. He knows what he needs to do &#8212; just the ability to go out there and execute his game plan.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders right hander Chance Adams has been named Friday&#8217;s starting pitcher against the Syracuse Chiefs. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_TTL04XX18railriders9.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders right hander Chance Adams has been named Friday&#8217;s starting pitcher against the Syracuse Chiefs. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_TTL04XX18railriders17.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders starting pitcher Chance Adams&#8217; goals are simple this season. He wants to be consistent, strike people out and work on his changeup. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_TTL04XX18railriders17.jpg</photo1><caption1>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders starting pitcher Chance Adams&#8217; goals are simple this season. He wants to be consistent, strike people out and work on his changeup. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>OPENING DAY</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;">SWB RailRiders vs. Syracuse Chiefs</p><p><strong>Today&#8217;s Game:</strong> The RailRiders host Syracuse in the season opener. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.</p><p><strong>Today at PNC Field:</strong> It&#8217;s Opening Night. The first 5,000 fans will receive magnet schedules for the 2018. There will be post-game fireworks.</p><p><strong>On Radio:</strong> All RailRiders games can be heard live on NEPA Sports Radio - The Game.</p><p><strong>On TV:</strong> All games can be seen on MiLB.TV.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta></videoMeta></div>

SWB RailRiders ace Chance Adams looking for consistency in 2018