I attended my first minor league spring training ever, 3 days watching the minor leaguers go through drills, hit in cages, throw bullpens and take/throw live batting practice. Like most rookies I listened and watched and did not talk too much. I didn't ask many questions, I just watched and, hopefully, learned. I was there before the minor leaguers started playing games and even the simulated games that occurred in the afternoons didn't provide any information as, by then, I was on my way over to watch a major league spring training game every day.
Some people might think that it was a wasted trip as I didn't find out, or even try to find out, any important factoids about this year's minor league prospects. I didn't try to uncover information on injured players or players who have exceeded or under-achieved based on expectations. And, finally, any perceived 'dirt' I intuited from what I saw will not be part of this post. Rookies watch and listen and don't say too much.
I thought I learned a lot and, hopefully, I am allowed to go back next year and watch again. Maybe then I will feel comfortable enough to ask some questions and get important information to share with the readers of this site.
That being said, here is what I saw and am reporting to you.
- There were cameras everywhere. Every drill, every bullpen was filmed. I don't know how many people the Guardians employ to crunch all the video and data from these drills and bullpens but my guess is...a lot.
- Early spring training drills can be painful to watch. Rundown drills, pickoff drills, pop drills, catcher's tag of players coming to the plate, baserunning drills, outfield drills timing recovery and throwing in of balls hit in the gaps (12 seconds or less was the standard) tend to yield more unsatisfactory results than satisfactory results. But that's part of learning, improving from your mistakes.
- Here are some thoughts from some of the drills I saw
- pop times - The coaches were looking for pop times from the catchers that were better than major league average. A 2.0 (major league average) was worth a point if the throw hit the target. A 1.9 was worth 2 points and a 1.8 was worth 3 points. The emphasis here appeared to be to set the bar high. Was that because a 2.0 was no longer going to be good enough due to the rules changes this year? I don't know. But I can tell you that early spring training drills set the standards
- 12-second drill - I am assuming the 12-second target is based on statistical foundation that this is how long you have to get the ball back in to the infield to stop 1st-to-home or home-to-third advances by runners/batters. This drill was rough with only about 20% of the time this goal was reached.
- Catcher setup and tag at home plate - This drill was sharper than I expected for early in spring training.
- Situational base running - Just looking to take the appropriate number of bases in situations where there could be quesions about when to push the envelope. This drill seemed to go smoothly enough.
- Pickoffs at second base. This is the most difficult pickoff for a picther as it is a blind spin and throw. There were a lot of mistakes here but that even happens in the major league exhibition games as Civale threw one into center field in the Satruday game I saw.
- Run downs - Another drill that was a little rough as the timing once the person was in the rundown was a little off and guys got back to 3rd a little too often. But we are 11 days into minor league spring training, so, there is that. Pitchers did a good job running directly at the runner to initiate that player's movement.
- Geeking out: absolutely the coolest thing I saw when I was there was guys taking part in drills during the morning with the minor leaguers and getting into a major league game in the afternoon.
- I got to meet Connor Kokx's dad the day after I saw his son participate in minor league drills and then have like a 12 pitch AB in the major league game that afternoon before crushing a lnedrve to the warning track that was caught.
- Jose Cedeno has a very quick bat and when he hits the ball it makes "that" sound. You know the one I mean. He is also a really nice guy going out of his way to give me a fist-bump a number of times. He is a young catcher with a lot of promise and with a lot of work left to do, both on offense and defense. But I left just as impressed by him going out of my 3 days as I was coming in.
- I saw 5, yes FIVE staffers working with Aaron Davenport on his delivery. Looked to me like the Guardians' pitching factory at work.
- Speaking of the pitching factory, Doug Nikhazy was getting a little extra advice from a couple of staffers as he threw a little extra. Remember, he is one of my picks to have a breakout season this year, with Cedeno being another one.
- Guy Lipscomb is a pretty big boy when I saw him putting in his work in the hitting room.
- Isaiah Greene was hitting the ball with a lot of authority in the indoor cages
- Antunez looked like he was hard on himself but his strength and talent are hard to deny when I saw him in batting practice.
- Jacob Zibin is a big boy. He looks like an athlete.
- Joe Lampe, from what I saw, can really hit. The question is whether he can play center field at a good enough level that he could replace Myles Straw. The Guardians must think so as they gave him some play in ML "A" and "B" games.
- Nate Furman looked like the classic gritty player. I don't want to throw Jason Kipnis comps here but that is who I would like Furman to turn out to be.
- All of our young Dominican Summer League/ACL catchers (Izturis, Mejias, Cedeno, Ramirez) looked good both in defensive drills and in the cages.
- I saw almost all of the guys whose names I knew.
- Guys I did not see over the three days I was there included:
- Gabriel Rodriguez
- Chase DeLauter
- The following guys appeared to be in rehab
- Magnus Ellerts
- Espino
- Gose
- Hernandez
- Justin Lewis
- Jake Miller
- Misiaszek
- Teaney
- Villalobos
- I saw some guys throw live bullpens before the minor league sim games
- Dion looked sharp and almost every pitch was a strike
- Santos looked EXACTLY like what the pre-draft scouting reports said: big arm but needs to work on his control. Not command, control. Good gamble for a 7th round guy.
- Saw a little bit of Candelario but not enough to get an impression.
- I saw Ryan Webb but didn't see him throw a bullpen or even do long toss but he took part in PFP drills.
That's about all that I can report in terms of the things that stand out for me. As a rookie, I think I learned a lot.
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