First day of major league full squad workouts and minor league mini-camp.
Major League Camp :
Batting practice was held both in the stadium and on Roberts Field this morning. Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, Edmundo Sosa, Christian Arroyo, Aidan Miller, Otto Kemp, Buddy Kennedy and Kody Clemens took BP on Roberts. The same group took infield practice before the BP session.
Bryce Harper was ill and excused from practice. Trea Turner and his wife recently had a baby, he was also excused but should be on the field Wednesday.
Live BP :
Christopher Sanchez, Matt Strahm,Tristan Garnett and Mick Abel each threw to six or seven hitters. I thought that Sanchez was really sharp - he peppered the inside part of the plate and got a lot of called strikes from the umpire - pitches were crisp. Strahm was sneaky quick and threw it by a couple batters. Garnett had his top notch change-up on display. The best performance of the four from my perspective though was Abel - Mick consistently threw strikes, showed a swing and miss slider/curve and ended his session on a high note with a called third strike - it was cool that JT Realmuto caught him, to me there was a big boost of confidence today for Mick, the stuff is there, sessions like today help bring success to fruition - definitely something to build on. One other observation - Strahm switches his push off point on the rubber dependent on whether the batter is a lefty or right-hander. He’s on the far first base side for lefties and on the right side for right handers. From what I saw that helps him to come inside on the batters. Speaking of jamming hitters, Garnett sawed off a couple guys today with I believe a cutter and fastball following his change-up - sequencing of pitches is huge in the art of pitching - even in live BP 🤓.
Minor League Mini-Camp :
The minor league practice was pushed to the afternoon since the big leaguers were working on all fields in the morning. It was fun to say hello and catch up with a few of the coaches and players I hadn’t seen since last season. One young man whom I believe is gonna bust out and turn heads this spring is RHP Andrew Baker. He’s in the best physical shape of his young life, has slimmed down but also remains cut and solid. Chatting with him today I could tell that mentally he’s also in the best spot of his career to date. Andrew spent his off-season at Cressy Sports, they simplified his windup and helped to build a stronger focus and linear mechanics. He’s always had a big league caliber power arsenal of pitches but has struggled to date with command, control and consistency. I think that there’s lightning that that has now been unlocked - Andrew throws his first side session in camp tomorrow - would love to see it - I’m really excited about where he’s presently at and where he can go. Lightning in a bottle about to be unleashed - just sayin 👀⚾️.
Players took fielding and did their throwing outside today, hitting was indoors. Back at em tomorrow.
Minor League Transactions :
The following players have been released.
Stateside :
RHP Alex Garbrick
RHP Jonh Henriquez
C Ryan Leitch
DSL :
RHP Gelson Carpio
LHP Eduardo Fernandez
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
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