Padres Spring Training Report – Feb. 24, 2014

Hit the buckets on the throw in and you get to keep going!

Ok…when do the games start?  It’s that time of spring when real games can’t come fast enough!  Three days to go before the annual Cactus League Charity Game opener for the Padres against the Seattle Mariners.  Why are my sites set on the start of games now?  Because these guys are ready to face someone in a different uniform.  Thank goodness the Pads have a coaching staff that keep things fresh, as demonstrated in the photos attached to this post that show Glenn Hoffman using some unorthodox drills to have some fun while still getting the work in.  The bottom line is the pitchers and catchers have been working out for 11 days, and everyone has had 4 days of live BP…it’s time.

Sometimes teams will do a couple of days of intra-squad games before their first contest against an opponent, but Buddy has opted not to do that this year.  It sounds also like they will back off the live batting practice the next two days as well so that the pitchers can have a couple of days to catch their breath.  It’s not uncommon to be a little achy at this point after a fairly consistent schedule of throwing almost every other day for 11 days.  There might be a couple of guys who may still throw to some hitters, but for most it will be a brief respite to get ready for Cactus League play.

So what took place in camp today? First Buddy announced that Eric Stults would be the first pitcher to throw in thursday’s game.  He’ll go one inning, and while Buddy was not ready to reveal the entire pitching schedule he did share that Donn Roach, and Kevin Quackenbush would also get an inning of work each.

The fundamental drill today was pop ups, and Glenn Hoffman proved that he is as viciously accurate with a wheeled ball machine as he is with a fungo.  Fighting a high sky, and a glaring sun the Padres fielders adeptly fielded every awkwardly located ball without a single miscommunication – unusual for such a drill at this time of year.  Yonder Alonso in particular proved he has no fear when it comes to sky high pop ups with nasty back spin, making difficult running catches on several of them.

A couple of things struck me during this exercise.  First, in all seriousness the Padres are pretty darn good at covering that no man’s land between the infield and outfield where most of the miscommunication problems occur, and catchable balls embarrassingly fall in.  A big part of why you don’t see these “I got it…you take it!” disasters by the Friar defense is because there’s no one on their infield who is afraid of the ball in the air.  I know that may sound silly, but the truth is there are MLB infielders, in fact I’ve played with defensive gold glovers and HOFers, who will have nothing to do with a pop up if they don’t have to.  Such is not the case with the Pads on the infield skin.  In fact, they have one of the best I’ve ever seen at covering ground behind him in Everth Cabrera.  The other thing that struck me was the presence of Carlos Quentin going after balls hard in the outfield.  It was unusual because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Q in any kind of drill like this because of his knee problems the past two years, let alone running in them at full speed!

Which is the perfect segue to mention what a different spring it has been for Carlos.  As I just mentioned he’s been able to participate in all the drills, and batting practice sessions, and maybe equally important he’s been able to enjoy himself more than I’ve ever seen.  He mentioned back at Fanfest how excited he was about this spring training mainly because of his health.  His knees feel as good as they have at any time since joining the Pads, and you can tell it’s affected in a positive way his ability to prepare for the season physically and mentally.  It can be burdensome to come to the park everyday knowing you’re not 100%, and Q carried that load a lot the past two seasons.  Fingers crossed that his body will continue to allow him to keep his mind free to focus on crushing fastballs instead of playing over pain.

After the pop up drill was a full infield practice.  It’s not something you see very much any more and it was really fun to watch one of baseball’s oldest, and when done cleanly, graceful routines.  Jackson looked good at 3rd again today.  Yesterday he showed off a better that average arm on relay plays, and today he showed it off again on an athletic play deep behind the bag, and on an off balance charging play. Pads appear to have picked themselves up a fine glove man to back up the starters in Jackson.

All went well during the live batting practice today for pitchers and hitters.  As mentioned above this can be a time when guys may need to fight through a little stiffness, but Benoit looked strong, and Vincent and Quackenbush were sharp once again.  In fact, I don’t think I saw a single ball put in play against Quackenbush today…literally. It’s almost like he throws an invisible fastball – guys just swing right through it, and he has a sharp bender to go with it.  Can’t wait to see how his stuff plays out in the spring games.  Finally got to see the Leon Campos slider I’ve been hearing so much about.  Pretty sharp, but he will need to prove he can get ahead with is fastball so he can be in counts to get to that put away pitch.

Final notes for this report. Chase Headley reportedly has his MRI.  Hopefully we’ll hear tomorrow that the results are benign.  Also heard today was that the missing lefty, Alex Torres, apparently has his Venezuelan visa in hand, and will be joining the team in the next couple of days.  Plenty of time for him to get ready for March 30th opening night.

Is it time for games yet?

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