Padres Spring Training Report – Feb. 20, 2015

POP…POP, POP…POP!!! First day of workouts for pitchers and catchers today, and the return of that beautiful POP of the catchers’ mitts receiving fastballs…LOVE IT!!!!!

All went well on day 1 with nothing but the routine of a team stretch, catch, PFP’s, and bullpens for half of the staff.  Honestly, on day one no news is good news.  Usually the only “news” that comes out in the first two weeks of spring is of the negative kind.

What was cool, was seeing the first bullpen pitch thrown by James Shields wearing a Padres uniform (which he confirmed looked good on him during his fun introductory press conference!).

James Shields makes his first bullpen throw in his new Padres colors.

His 8 minute session went smoothly as did everyone’s.  Today’s throwers also included Cashner, Despaigne, Erlin, Hancock, Jackson, Kelly, Kennedy, Lane, Morrow, Northcraft, Ross, and Wisler.  Mostly fastballs and some changeups for everyone, with no one appearing to over exert themselves.  Wisler’s was the first session that stood out to me. Ball was down, with life, getting to both sides of the plate fairly consistently. Of the pitchers I had never seen before Hancock showed some good downward tilt when he gathered himself over the rubber which was more often than not.

Some updates on the TJ crew mentioned in yesterday’s update:

• Josh Johnson did his long toss throwing program today and looked free and easy.
• Casey Kelly, as mentioned above, threw a full bullpen.  He says he is feeling healthy, and is free to throw uninhibited. He will take it a little easy with the back to back bullpens in the early going, but other than that there are no governors on his workouts.  Since it has been two years now since his last consistent work it is unrealistic to expect too much in terms of total inning pitched this season, so bullpen work may be part of his future this year even if he does get some early starts.
• Cory Luebke continues his comeback from TJ #2, and although he had a minor set back with some flexor tendon mass discomfort (not unusual for first or second TJ procedures), he appears to have worked through it and is back on the throwing program, although not yet ready for mound work.

Tomorrow will be more of the same, with the other half of the staff throwing their first bullpens of the year.  Some interesting emphasis that the catchers were being instructed on today which we will get into a bit during tomorrow’s update.

Yes, it was a happily uneventful first day of workouts, but there is no question there is a different buzz in camp.  It’s not just with the fans, media, coaches, and front office personnel that were out to watch day one, but amongst the players as well.  You can feel that even amongst these pitchers, many of whom are returners from last year, the expectations are high…right where they should be!

Scan