Padres Spring Training Report – Feb. 28, 2015

Ho hum…just another day at Padres spring training camp. Roll in at 6:45am to find a small tent city set up in the middle of the main practice field with stage lights ablaze, and ESPN boldly displayed above the stage and glossy desk.  SportsCenter was taking place live at Padres camp! The last time this happened was…umm….never!!! Very cool for the TV in the clubhouse to be showing the complex and for players to be getting pulled out of the clubhouse and appearing on that tube a couple minutes later.  It was just another reminder that what the Padres have done with their roster is as fascinating to the national media as it is exciting to the fans of San Diego.

Alas, the reality of needing to get the day’s work in on that field broke up the party, but it was fun while it lated. Padres baseball is the hot topic of the spring.  The good news is the work going on by the players these early days have been supportive of that buzz.

Same routine as yesterday with batters facing live pitching, this time by the relievers in camp.  There was some early concern that the light drizzle that was wetting everything in the morning was going to turn into a heavy downfall and disrupt the workout schedule, but the clouds held off and all the practice wa accomplished in its planned entirety.  There was one hurler who absolutely stole the show for me today, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

First I think it’s worthy to note that I’ve seen more home runs hit during the live pitching sessions the past two days than I can remember seeing in many years.  I don’t think it’s because the pitching has been been bad, because it hasn’t been.  I believe that there aren’t more mistakes being made by the pitchers, but the few they do make are being hit harder.  Which is what is supposed to happen!  Credit the batters for doing damage on the pitches they are supposed to hit.  Sometimes I’ve seen 5 or 6 pitches be delivered and not a single swing is taken because they  are mostly pitchers pitches – ones that hitters should not swing at until 2 strikes. But then the one swing that does take place the ball is laced. Disciplined yet potent hitting – perfect!

Now for the pitching the most fun I had today was watching Brandon Maurer fire the pill.  He was outstanding.  Great velocity, excellent command especially to the glove side low corner.  It reached a point where guys were not even swinging because the stuff was so electric and the location so precise. When a swing was finally take it resulted in a defensive late foul or feeble contact.  There wasn’t much the hitters could do! He’s made a nice mark for himself early on as he fights for one of the bullpen jobs.

Tomorrow the forecast is for heavy rain, so just keeping the fingers crossed that it avoids us again, and the boys can stay on track and be ready to roll on Wednesday for the charity game against the Mariners.

Oh, one announcement was made toady, and that was that Jason Lane will be the opening starter for that charity game on Wednesday. He’ll likely go two innings, and be followed in some order by Hancock, Jackson and others.  Almost time to play ball!

Scan!