Spring Training 2014 began officially this morning when the pitchers and catchers exited their locker room in Bright House Field and entered the outfield in Schmidt Field for calisthenics. For those of you who haven’t been to the Carpenter Complex, I have attaced an overhead shot of the area below.
Spectator access is restricted. We can view the outfields from driveway between Ashburn and Carlton Fields. Bleacher benches are available between Ashburn and Schmidt, and Carlton and Roberts along the baselines. Pitching mounds between these fields prevent access down the foul lines. These mounds are behind a padded screen and limit the number of people who can watch warm-ups during games. These spots are usually crowded with autograph hunters. During spring training, the pitchers use the mounds between the clubhouse and indoor batting facility. Once again there are screens that obscure the view of most of the pitchers, as well as a fence that prevents movement past the batting cage. That gives you an idea of how hard it will be to report on any of the pitchers’ throwing sessions.
After calisthenics, the pitchers did their long toss in RF of Schmidt Field. During this period, I walked over to the practice infield to see Hamels, Bastardo, Horst, Giles, Camp, Manship, O’Sullivan, and Savery working on pickoff moves to first (without a ball) with Ray Burris.
I made it back to the main fields for PFPs. I found Gonzalez and watched his group field softly hit balls from Chris Truby and throw to Joseph or Marson at 1B. The pitchers made a throwing motion to the plate and fielded the ball hit back to them. This group also included Kendrick, Papelbon, and Cliff Lee.
After completing their PFPs, all but Lee went over to the pitching mounds. I had a poor line of sight of the 3 pitchers on the mounds closest to me – Papelbon, Kendrick, and Gonzalez. I noticed him first because of how hard he was throwing. After a dozen pitches, I was finally able to make out his number. He seemed to be throwing hard. Harder than Papelbon and Kendrick. I know this is unscientific, but it was encouraging.
The pitchers started their running programs and would head over to the weight room afterwards, so I went over to Ashburn and Schmidt to watch the catchers hit. Ruiz, Rupp, and Marson were on one field; Nieves, Joseph, and Valle on the other. I watched Ruiz group since it started first, but drifted over to the Nieves group soon after it started. It’s too early to form any opinions but I thought Joseph made nice consistent contact. Valle looked good too, but I expected that since he was still playing ball a week ago.
The only guys I didn’t see at all were Adams, Garcia, Munson, and Pettibone. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there. I didn’t see Sandberg either, and I’m sure he was there.
I’ll try and do better tomorrow.
ACA: I have a hard copy of the minor league spring training schedule. Sunday, March 9th, the A Phillies play the Canadian Junior National Team in the “Prospect Series” at Al Lang Stadium in St. Pete. They’re in camp on the 10th, and start games on the 11th. If you or anyone want a copy, e-mail me at jimpeyton19@yahoo.com and I’ll reply with a copy after I’ve scanned it into a document.
Phuture Phillies 
Thanks! Great report.
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That’s great stuff!! Thanks Jim!
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Thanks Jim. We now can see through your eyes what we have previously only imagined. This is great.
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Good stuff, Jim.
So, those bleachers are available to watch the S/T games once they start for the minor leagues March 11? I’m thinking about a trip down next spring, but I’m gonna want to watch the minor league games. Thanks.
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Understand Ruf and Ache have already started growing their playoff beards.
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Thanks, Jim!
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The whole missive is great…and I particularly enjoyed the overhead shot which set my mind within the many fields of dreams there.
Thanks for all of your efforts.
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Hey thanks so much for offering! I’m actually only going to be down there March 4-8. I’m guessing there’s nothing on the schedule before the 9th? That’s actually maybe not so bad, in those intrasquad games you get to see twice as many Phuture Phillies. My favorite thing last year was watching Hamels throw in an intrasquad. If I remember correctly I think Franco took him deep. At any rate, I saw Franco hit a couple of bombs and got an inkling that he was going to have a big year.
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The other cool thing about the minor league complex, for people who haven’t been before, is that a lot of the minor league guys hang around watching from behind the backstop just like any other fan. You can kind of put faces to the names in the box score. I didn’t talk to any of them, I imagine that might be frowned upon and, well, it’s also a little weird. I don’t want to be *that* kind of fan. But I recall that Perci Garner was really friendly and gregarious, ready to strike up a conversation with folks in the bleachers. So, it’s a fun experience. I highly recommend it, you can usually catch a couple innings at the minor league complex without missing much of the major league game.
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True. Most of the players behind the cage are pitchers who have completed their work for the day. One or two are charting pitches. I’ve found that the Latin players are the most friendly and will always give a friendly looking face a smile. Most of them are just learning English and some look forward to trying it out on us.
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I’ve actually talked to a large number of players at spring training just hanging around, they’re usually very happy to talk to fans who know who they are. They’re polite to a fault although I have to say that the guys from the Carribean rarely speak any English. I’ve also had many terrific conversations with players’ fathers who are also just sitting/standing and watching. What a thrill that must be for them. Doug Drabek once answered my question about how he knew it was time to retire by saying his ball stopped moving and he didn’t know why it moved in the first place. Priceless. Kyle by the way seems like a really nice kid and is easy to root for.
Also, if you’ve ever coached and run practice drills for teams, spring training is a real treat to watch identical drills being run on 4 different fields with hardly anyone standing around for long. They are so well organized its fun to watch. The other fun thing is to watch the minor leaguers’ awe of the major league guys when they come down to play with them which they sometimes do. They’re all just trying to be sponges.
Btw, Perci is a great guy and will talk to anyone who approaches him.
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There are typically 2 minor leagues games every day that start at 1:00. Either the AAA and AA teams or the two A teams play home every day with the other two playing away. There’s often a rookie game against a college team also. Lots to see but they’re done by the time the major league game is over.
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