They’re here!

Spring Training 2014

The kids are back in town!  According to Larry Shenk, about 50 minor leaguers have been working out at the Carpenter Complex for the past few weeks, and the rest of the 170 invited to minor league spring training reported this past Friday.  I caught most of the workouts held on Saturday and Sunday.

I need to explain that it is near impossible to keep track of particular players.  The organization hasn’t broken the players out into their respective groups, nor have they provided rosters yet.  The kids are wearing light gray T-shirts with their uniform pants.  The white lettering on their backs is difficult to make out from a distance.  The outfielders are usually in the outfield when they aren’t taking batting practice.  So I’m really not 100% sure who is or isn’t here.  It has been easier identifying the pitchers, infielders, and catchers.

The drills are similar to what were performed in the major league camp.  The pitchers have been doing their PFPs.  The catchers were instructed on the nuances of the new collision rule and ran drills practicing leaving a lane to the plate open.  During BP, the coaches hit fungoes to two groups of infielders.  The hitting group runs the bases after each turn during BP.

There are players on all 4 fields of the Complex and a 5th group that is sent over to Joe DiMaggio Field across Old Coachman Road.  Sucks to be that group, they have to walk the half mile or more.  A new 8 foot fence has increased the walk by about 50%.

Each day so far, infield practice was held for a group of players that included the following –  Murphy and Overbeck at first; Negrych and Serna at second; Phillips, Bixler, and Duran; and Cartwright, Tolbert, and Henson at third.  We guessed that this is the potential AAA group with a few deletions or demotions when Franco, Brignac, Cedeno, Blanco, and Hernandez return from the major league camp.

Today, the following also took infield practice together – a coach at first, Encarnacion and a smaller guy at third (couldn’t make out his name), and Mora, Canelo, Cardozo, Morelos, Cuicas, and Cumana split between second and short.

Groups of position players take BP in four outdoor cages set up along the left field foul line on Carlton Field.  The coaches use machines to deliver the ball.  The batters take full swings and also full sets practicing bunting.  Outfielders field balls in right field on Carlton on balls delivered from a machine.

I’ve gone through the rosters from last year, and I think I have seen most of the players.  I haven’t seen some of the position players, yet Sappelt, Hewitt, James, Walding, Parr, Golden, and Knight.  I think I‘ve seen all the pitchers but Kevin Brady.  Some of the guys are wearing red shirts with no names.  We‘ve been joking that these are the DL guys.  One of them is Roman Quinn.  He’s been seen doing agility drills.  He looks like he’s gotten bigger across the shoulders.

Tocci is still thin as a rail.  I’ve heard a few of the guys behind the fence referring to him as “No Tools” Tocci.  He shows no power during BP.

Some of these kids have lost weight or gained muscle over the winter.

I can’t get over how skinny Milner’s arms look compared to the other players.

And, finally, I have seen Larry Greene.  He reported in much better shape than last year.  Let’s hope that translates to a better spring and an assignment to a team at the end of the month.  Last year, I think he was held back a few additional weeks for XST.

I talked to Mike Compton this morning.  He assured me that they are going to adhere to a schedule that has them on the fields at 10:00AM.  So, I shouldn’t miss the beginning of any more workouts.

15 thoughts on “They’re here!”

  1. Great to have eyes on in Clearwater. I’m coming down at the end of next week…hope to see a couple of games. Please post teh groups and schedule when it’s available for those of us stuck in the snow…

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  2. Thanks Jim. What is your sense so far of Franco now that you have observed him for few days now. Is he bigger/smaller, faster/slower than you expected? Also, its great to hear that Green made an attempt this off-season. I always felt that was half the battle with him.

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    1. He looks about the same as last season, but he looked bigger than the 180 pounds they listed him as weighing. I replied with the following to a similar question after the intrasquad game.

      “I was fortunate to see Franco’s half-season in Clearwater. He is slow from home to first. He’s not station-to-station like Howard was the past two seasons. He can got from first to third or second to home, but he needs the first 60 feet or so to build momentum.

      Defensively, he seems quick to me. I’ve seen him charge and barehand balls and dive into foul territory and throw batters out. But, I watched him dive to his right and not reach a ball down the line in Wednesday’s game. I have to believe that all the scouting reports are probably accurate, it’s just not apparent to me.”

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      1. My son tells me that he is throwing live to hitters for the first time on Wednesday so I would imagine the other pitchers will be too. Also I think he told me that their first games are on March 9th.

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  3. The description of Tocci’s physique…’thin as a rail’, still is a bit disheartening, was hoping he put on some upper body muscle/mass Nevertheless, he is only 18 and if in the states, he would be starting his senior year of high school baseball, so there is time.

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    1. the phillies might be trying to let his body fill out naturally without sacrificing any skill sets but I think they are approaching the point thy will need to be more aggressive in adding weight and strength if his body isn’t doing it naturally. By 18 if you have it in you….athletes will be adding muscle and strength. My concern is that he is true ectomorph and can’t be transitioned into even slight variation of a mesomorph. If that is the case he will have trouble advancing any further.

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      1. Worries me too, but knowing that he’s still only 18, it isn’t as big a concern to me. If it’s needed (and I’m hoping it isn’t), I’m sure the Phillies will take a more active role in his weight gain.

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      2. You have to understand, Tocci looks like a really young high school kid, very tall and skinny. Let’s hope he can add some muscle and fill out in the next year or so.

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  4. I wonder if Brady is still around. Jim, you mentioned Quinn looked stronger which is great news. Even better news is that you didn’t mention him on crutches. How is he walking? Limping?

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    1. Someone commented that he said on his twitter account that he was teaching this year. If that is the case, we probably won’t see him this spring.

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    2. No crutches. He seemed to be walking fine, no noticeable limp when I saw him. Later, I viewed him from behind while he was watching batting practice. He looks bigger across the shoulders, as though he did upper body weight training while he was recovering.

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    3. There’s a kid in camp, no name on his shirt, who looks a lot like Brady. I’m waiting for the rosters to be handed out before commenting one way or the other.

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