Day 3.  Happy Valentines’s Day, y’all.  I arrived at the Complex at 8:30 AM.  Learned that the position players would come out at 9:50 AM and that the minor league mini-camp was moving back to the Complex with a 1:00 PM start.

While mingling with security and the other early arrivals, I could see a group of pitchers on Rollins Field going through their towel throwing exercise.  A short time later the early reporting position players came out of the club house and began stretching in left field on Ashburn Field.

When they split up for BP, the groups looked slightly different.  I say “slightly” but the most ominous change was the non-appearance of Roman Quinn.  I checked a couple times, and he wasn’t on any of the three fields.

• Ashburn Field
• Group One – Hoskins, McCutchen, Bruce
• Group Two – Gregorius, Kingery, Torreyes, Forsythe
• Schmidt Field
• Group One – Mahtook, Walker, N. Williams, Harrison
• Group Two – Haseley, Moniak, L. Williams. Szczur
• Roberts Field
• Group One – Bohm, Gosselin, Listi
• Group Two – Gamboa, Hall, Maton

Villanova’s Matt Szczur was today’s new addition.  He has long been my favorite ball player outside the Phillies’ organization.  He led Villanova to the 2009 FCS championship and later donated bone marrow during baseball season to save the life of a 15-month old Ukranian child.  He was subsequently drafted by the Cubs in the fifth round.

Quinn’s absence is concerning.  McCutchen took BP today (2 days in a row, now).  He looks better than I had originally described.  I’m hopeful that my earlier concerns were mistaken.

It’s hard to get excited about BP.  It is, after all, professionals hitting off older men with fading velocity from 30-40 feet.  It’s more about the batters getting their timing than it is line drives and home runs.  Although, they are fun to watch.

After BP, the outfielders retired to Spectrum Field for their fielding drills.  Infielders completed throwing to loosen their arms and divided into two groups on different fields for their fielding practice.

Group One – Hoskins and Hall 1B, Kingery and Harrison 2B, Gregorius SS, and Gosselin and Listi 3B

Group Two – a coach at 1B; Walker, Maton, and Torreyes 2B; and Luke Williams, Forsythe, and Gamboa SS; Bohm 3B

Pitchers and catchers took to the field by 11:00 AM.  The catchers and the pitcher who were going to throw bullpens gathered on Schmidt Field.  Note that yesterday and today umpires were on hand to call balls and strikes.  The Phillies started doing this s couple years ago during spring training.  Gives the pitchers and catchers an idea of the effectiveness of their pitches.

• Schmidt Field
• Eflin, Garcia, McClain
• Dohy, Suarez, Parker, Rosso
• Dominguez, Gilbert, Guerra, Norris, Warren
• Ashburn Field
• Hammer, Medina, Nola, Romero, Kelley, Llovera, Russ, Sanchez, Wheeler, Brogdon, Cleavinger, Irvin, Pivetta
• Carlton Field
• Alvarez, Arano, Arrieta, Davis, Howard, Jones, Liriano, Morgan, Stock, Velasquez

Pitchers did their PFPs after their bullpen sessions.  They finished with more bunting practice.

After the bullpens, the catchers ran through some fielding drills before before taking BP.  Knapp was still MIA with a rib cage injury.

As I mentioned above, Szczur (pronounced Caesar) arrived.  Only three position players remain as no shows – Segura, Harper, and Martini.  They aren’t due until next week.  And they may be here for all I know.  But, if they aren’t here, 68 of 71 players are.

Minor league mini campers took to the fields in the afternoon.  The position players took BP and fielding practice on Roberts and Carlton Fields.  Pitchers worked out over on Schmidt.  Eight pitchers threw bullpens.  Catchers were put through pop up drills toward the end of practice.

Again, it’s only BP against coaches.  But, Kendall Simmons’ swing is vicious and his contact is loud.  He hit the weights hard this off season, and is hardly recognizable.  It will be interesting to see how this and his little hot streak last season translates to this season.

Identifying players was difficult.  Very few wore shirts with their names and numbers.  I wasn’t sure about some of the batters until they took a defensive position later.  Here’s a rough draft of who I think is here.  Expect some changes and additions in the coming days.

Catchers – Vito Friscia, Micah Yonamine, Colin Fitch, Jack Conley, Herbert Iser, and 2 young Latin kids – 2 of Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Aparicio, Andrick Nava, Rafael Marchan)

Infielders – Jabari Baylor, Daniel Brito, Kendall Simmons, T.J Rivera 2B; Bryson Stott, Luis Garcia, Jonathan Guzman SS; Ali Castillo, Dylan Guthrie, Jose Gomez 3B.

Outfielders – Jhailyn Ortiz, Simon Muzziotti, Carlos De La Cruz, Odubel Herrera, Josh Stephen, Cornelius Randolph, Matt Vierling, Johan Rojas.

Other pitchers – Jhordany Mezquita, Francisco Morales, Luke Leftwich, Jaylen Smith, Taylor lehman, Austin Ross, Ethan Lindow, Spencer Van Scoyoc, Dominic Pipkin, plus at least 5 other pitchers (2 RHP, 3 LHP) whom I couldn’t identify.

Peobables – pitchers Brandon Ramey, Tyler McKay, Jake Kinney, Nicoly Pina, Brandon Leibrandt, Jeff Singer; catcher Nick Matera.  There are certainly other players who might be here.  I just didn’t see them today.

Updates will continue until the Phillies provide rosters.  That might not come until the day after they begin working in their minor league spring training groups.  I’m still waiting for the minor league spring training game schedule.

Players who are apparently still rehabbing include – pitchers Kyle Young, Tyler Hallead, Ben Brown, Sandro Rosario, Trevor Bettencourt, Brian Auerbach, Carlos Francisco (WPT), Josh Tols, Robinson Martinez, Nick Fanti; catchers Edgar Cabral, Rodolfo Duran; INF Grenny Cumana; OF Jose Pujols.  This group was larger just last week.  Some have been cleared for mini camp.

I think we are going to have more than 125 players here before March 1st.

Saturday schedule tomorrow.  I don’t know what that means yet for this season.