Twelve High Performance Camp pitchers were on the seven mounds this morning throwing side bullpens - participants included Tristan Garnett, Micah Ottenbreit, Casey Steward, Alex McFarlane, Wesley Moore, Aaron Combs, Tommy McCollum, Luke Gabrysh, Mavis Graves, Gunner Mayer, Andrew Schultz and Jake Eddington.
Big League Early Work :
RHP Jordan Romano continued his early work - he threw a side session on the Ashburn/Schmidt warm-up mounds today, about twenty or so deliveries. Is throwing fluidly and with good pop. Caleb Ricketts caught him. We’ve seen him in about five or so side sessions now.
Fielding Drills :
All position players in camp continued their work in infield/outfield and catching drills.
Coming Attractions :
Multiple professional players train during the off-season at Cressy Sports in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It’s a baseball haven where focused training (combining strength, conditioning and baseball activities) occurs akin to the High Performance Camps the Phillies run. Former Phillies assistant pitching coach and director of pitching Brian Kaplan co-founded the training facility. He was recently hired as the Arizona Diamondbacks major league pitching coach after spending the last three years with the Phillies as a coach/director, previously serving as an integrative baseball performance consultant from 2019 to 2021 with the club. There are current members of the Phillies coaching staff (including Mark Lowy and Matt Ellmyer) with Cressy Sports backgrounds.
After seeing a few videos of RHP Andrew Baker’s work at Cressy this off-season I’m very excited to see him in action this spring. Andrew has streamlined/condensed his delivery, it’s more compact and direct to the target, from what I’ve seen it allows him to stay square towards the plate thru his delivery. If you have read my comments about Andrew before you know that I’ve said that the stuff is big league caliber, upper nineties fastball, excellent slider and curve ball. I’ve also always felt there was too much movement in his prior delivery which got him out of kilter - very encouraged to see what he’s done at Cressy. Andrew told me that he’s looking forward to spring camp and that “I would say the thing I am most excited for is returning knowing who I am as a pitcher fully now with mechanics and a firm competitive mentality that is going to produce a lot more consistency for me this year. The guys down at Cressey this offseason have helped me a lot, and I can’t wait to show everyone how much I’ve progressed.” He said that the streamlined delivery focuses on “staying square and pulling down hard.” It’s good stuff for a very likable young man - I told Andrew that a lot of folks are pulling for him, myself included. I’m anxious to see him up close in bullpens - if the videos I’ve seen are indicative the club may just have a breakthrough candidate on the verge. Sometimes ya just gotta believe and good things happen - just sayin. 🤓
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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