Padres Spring Training Report – Feb. 27, 2015

We’re getting closer to real baseball!  Hitters facing live pitching for the first time today, and the first game only 5 days away.  In some ways it’s going quickly, and in other ways not quick enough.  With all the excitement and buzz around camp and the retooled roster there has been no lack of energy in camp even during the most mundane and routine drills of spring.  That being said, games can’t get here fast enough, and then it will be opening day that can’t get here fast enough.  Everyone, including the players, wants to see what this new ensemble is capable of when it matters.

Another smooth and productive day of practice today for the boys.  As noted above live batting practice was the highlight for both pitchers and position players.  It was the starters who got to go first, throwing mostly fastballs and changeups, with Shields and Kennedy starting it off on Fields 1 & 2 respectively. Kennedy appeared to have a very strong finish to his outing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were followed by Ross and Cashner, with Cash recording the first broken bat that I could hear on the day – fastball on the hands of Kemp created the crackling damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morrow and Lane went next with Lane’s changeup appearing to consistently cause feeble out front swings. Jackson and Despaigne went next, with Jackson’s FB showing good life down in the zone. Wisler and Northcraft both looked to be throwing fine in their different styles with Wisler’s FB looking strong, and Northcraft’s sinker moving late down in the zone from his lower arm slot.

The finale was executed perfectly by young Justin Hancock who has shown in his bullpen sessions a pretty clean delivery (a little closed with his landing foot, but not enough to cause him to get around the ball that I’ve seen so far), that creates good tilt on his ball and the ability to locate to the glove side corner fairly consistently.  He threw well the whole session, with the exception of one changeup that got away and plunked Federowicz (nicknamed FedEx) square in the back.  For the last batter they worked an entire at bat instead of the usual 3 pitches to a hitter before rotating.  The count went to 3-2 on some close pitches and Buddy yelled out to him, “Nice pitch, now finish him right here!”  The kid reached back and fired a perfectly placed bullet past the late swing of the hitter for strike three.  To most a meaningless moment maybe on a practice field in spring training, but for Hancock not a bad way to end your day, and leave a good impression on the big league manager and staff looking on.  It’s little moments like that which can help build confidence in a young player trying to make a good first impression in his first big league camp.

Although expectedly a little behind some of the pitching today as it was the first time seeing the ball live in quite a while for some of these hitters, for the most part they handled themselves well.  I didn’t get to see everyone’s at bats obviously as I roamed from field to field to see each pitcher throw, but I did witness some really good at bats and hard struck balls off the bats of Will Venable, Yonder Alonso, and Jedd Gyorko today, among others.  Seems as though the increased competition in camp this year may be bringing out a little extra in some of the players fighting to keep a job or playing time.  The bar has been raised for everyone, and so far those in camp seem to be answering the call.

The surprise of the day for me appeared on the half field as I got to see Carlos Quentin work out at first base for the first time.  I was walking from one field to the other to watch whoever was throwing, and as I passed the back practice field where groups were rotating through to take ground ball work, I noticed Q out there with a first base mitt on is hand.  I had to stop and watch for a couple minutes before proceeding on to watch the next hurler.  Didn’t get to see him field more than two ground balls but he handled both fine, then took is turns covering first for throws from third.  Several of the throws were off line and he reached for them ok, and then drew some cheers from the other guys on the field as he picked two short hop throws out of the dirt, with one being a backhand! Hey, I’m not saying it’s the second coming Keith Hernandez, but in the small sample size I saw under very low intensity conditions he handled the glove fine over there. Who knows if this experiment will get past the back fields of spring training, but at least the possibility is being openly explored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow more batters facing live pitching, this time against the relievers in camp.  More fielding drills all around, and hopefully more of the high energy and focused work like we’ve seen out of this team all spring thus far.  Keep that good vibe flowing as we creep closer to Cactus league games, and eventually opening day!

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