One of the reasons why Jack Zduriencik signed Kevin Millwood is because with the young starters he had coming to camp he saw a need for a pitcher with experience. A lot of experience.

From what I have seen through the years pitchers learn a great deal from other pitchers. The pitching coach has a good amount of influence, but it is the conversations that these guys have during batting practice, bullpens, and in the clubhouse that really take things to the next level.

With Blake Beavan, Charlie Furbush, Hector Noesi, Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, Erasmo Ramirez and Hisashi Iwakuma (who has never pitched in the MLB), a veteran in the rotation could help their development. Millwood is a great guy to do that. He already has done it for one of the young Mariners. When Blake Beavan first stepped on the field as a member of the Rangers organization it was Millwood that he worked out with.

"We had some time together in the offseason when I first got drafted," Beavan said by phone from his home in Texas. "I used to condition with him and throw with him at the ballpark there so I got to pick his brain and talk to him."

Beavan was just 18 at the time but Millwood was more than happy to work out with the new draft pick. Beavan says he no doubt will do the same with the Mariners' young starters.

"He is real down to earth," Beavan said. "A good guy to talk to, not a guy you are going to be scared to to talk to. He is kind of open and he treated me very nice, letting me bug him more than I should have, but he answered all of my questions and was glad to."

Millwood talked to Beavan about life in professional baseball. He talked about how he should carry himself and how he should approach his pitching. He also talked to him about the three pitchers he learned from in the Braves organization, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.

"He talked about watching those guys work," Beavan said. "He talked about the way those guys threw strikes and hit their spots and didn't have to throw 94, 95 or upper 90s to get it by people. Watching them get outs with what they had was something you could learn off of."

This is exactly where Beavan is now. As a kid he threw in the upper 90s. When Beavan got to the Texas organization Rick Adair reworked his mechanics and he saw a dramatic loss of velocity. He had been building back up but he has also been learning how to pitch. Last year he added the curveball and it has been a focus of his this off this offseason. He has thrown five bullpens already and said that he hopes to be able to use the pitch more next season.

"The game I used it the most was against the Rangers (on Sept. 16) and that turned out to be a great game for me," he said. "It helped me keep them off balance. The biggest thing I will be working on this spring is getting that balance between all of my pitches."

Beavan said he is farther along this offseason in part because the Mariners will get started earlier this year with the trip to Japan, but mostly because through his experience in the big leagues last year he has a better idea of what needs to be done to be ready for pitching at the highest level. He realizes however that he is just one of several pitchers fighting for a spot in the rotation. He is ready for the competition.

"I am really excited," he said. "I think this must be the most exciting year for me, going into camp having worked harder than I ever have going into spring training. I know there is going to be a lot of competition."

Kevin Millwood is more competition, but competition Beavan is looking forward to seeing and believes others will be as well.

"Anybody with a track record like his, you are definitely excited to meet if you haven't yet," he said. "I will try to pick his brain some more. I love watching those guys throw their bullpens and to see how they carry themselves. It will be interesting to see if he has changed things along the way or if he is doing anything different."

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