This is the first in what I hope will become a daily report.

We are still over a month away from pitchers and catchers, but we have players at the Complex.

We were at the Complex for about 2-and-a-half hours.  There are two distinct groups of players present – rehabbers and mini-campers.

The rehabbers include about 2 dozen players most of whom ended the 2022 season on an injury list.  They ran through their normal calisthenics and then threw some.  One, Tyler Phillips, offered that he is ready to go.  He had thrown sliders in the morning and would move on to curve balls next week.  He remains a dark horse to contribute this season.

The mini-campers began with exercises and throwing.  They split up to do some fielding drills.  The outfielders worked on line drives while the infielders worked on ground balls.  Kendall Simmons worked primarily at second base.  The pitchers closed out the morning with some PFPs.

There were a lot of new faces among the coaching staff.  Mattingly was present.  He is probably responsible for many of the the new faces among the development staff.

Random Observations:

Aroon Escobar (Ronald Acuna’s cousin) is solidly built.  He took balls at third.

Justin Crawford looks taller.  He was listed at 6’3 when he was drafted, but looks like he might be a couple inches taller.

Arturo De Freitas (home from Australia with an ankle injury) says he’s feeling better.

William Bergolla and Nolan Beltran took ground balls at second.

Bryan Rincon and Juan Villavicencio took ground balls at short.

Lee Hao Yu took balls at third.

Tommy McCollum is a big person, scary shoulders and arms.

Micah Ottenbreit looked comfortable throwing off flat ground.

I saw a lot of players.  Mini-campers were easier to identify with their names on their jerseys.

Campers – Andrew Baker, Nolan Beltran, William Bergolla, Justin Crawford, Carlos De La Cruz, Jordan Dissin, Aroon Escobar, Jaydenn Estanista, Cade Fergus, Tristan Garnett, Mavis Graves, Estibenzon Jimenez, Orion Kerkering, Lee Hao Yu, Casey Martin, Tommy McCollum, Alex McFarlane, Jerrfson Pena, Jose Pena, Baron Radcliff, Bryan Rincon, Enrique Segura, Kendall Simmons, Gus Sosa, Billy Sullivan, Juan Villavicencio.

Rehabbers – Arturo De Freitas, Drew Garrett, Nate Karaffa, Christian McGowan, Micah Ottenbreit, Tyler Phillips, Brett Schulze, Eduar Segovia, Jordan Viars, Cam Wynne.

There are more players here than those listed above.

As we left the Complex, JT Realmuto was having a catch in left field of Ashburn Field with Greg Brodzinski.  Jose Alvarado is also here from the 40-man roster.

I was wrong about the level of baseball drills that would be performed during the mini-camp.  This is a High Performance camp and not a Strength and Conditioning camp.  It’s set to run 3 weeks, Phantasy Camp is next week.  Hopefully, we get to see more drills and some batting practice before the campers and rehabbers are driven inside the stadium during Phantasy Camp.  FYI, if anyone cares, Ruben Amaro is one of the legends at Phantasy this year.  Legend?