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2/4/24

My Spin - Pitchers and Catchers

 


I love this time of the year.  Nothing recharges me like Spring Training, especially when pitchers and catchers report in February.

Many less suits. 

Some bats in camp, but that was voluntary.  

This was a loosy-goosey time for coaches to weed out the pitchers and, in many cases, have their first look at who was either drafted or signed.

All the players were housed in the minor league clubhouse located on the opposite side of the complex.

Most of the pitching was done on the mounds located between two of the back fields. I seem to remember there were five of them.

The practice mounds outside the main clubhouse were not used.

The first year that I attended was 2011. There were plenty of stars there but I remember that this camp seemed filled with Korean and Japanese translators, cameramen, and reporters.

The day started around 8am and ended around noon. The bats were on their own and took batting practice on the two closest backfields to the clubhouse.

The pitchers all gathered around the mounds and it didn't seem to have much of a structure. Remember, this was not full camp and the managers and coaches attending probably just wanted to get an advanced peek at what they had and wanted to see how ready they were.

Off season programs were just being developed so this much more looked like the days players came to camp fat and overweight than today's pitchers that have a full off season program.

I also remember a number of unknown catchers with no names on the back of their uniform. I came to learn these were unrostered individuals that were just brought in due to the need of multiple catchers during the mound process. 

I fondly remember these times. It was my first contact with players and, though I did stay in the background then, I was able to read who was friendly to the press, who weren't, who weren't friendly to seemingly anyone, what their clubhouse chemistry was like, and who was willing to meet you at Duffy's for a burger after the complex closed for a quick interview.






17 comments:

  1. Sweet Times, indeed. If I’m down at St. Lucie, at some point, I’ll have to check out that burger joint, and maybe catch a few pictures and catchers along along the way..

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  2. Even in a "transition" season with a marginal playoff contender and rag tag pitching, spring training time is just what we need to warm us up from the winter doldrums and overall craziness of the world we live in.

    Despite the diminished star value of the 2024 roster, this season looks to be an interesting one, even more so than last season's "championship caliber" team. Maybe it's from being a lifelong Met fan...finding an underdog more interesting than a World Series pretender.

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  3. Mack,
    I had a chance to attend Spring Training in 2001 and enjoyed seeing the Mets regulars train along with the minor league prospects. Had a fantastic time.
    The Mets had a young outfielder, Brian Cole, who hit 2 homers that afternoon and appeared to be a future star. Got the news a few days later he was killed in a car wreck on his way north to his assigned team.

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    Replies
    1. Yes

      Very tragic

      Would have been a huge star.

      About 3 years later, The Mets dedicated the scrimmage before game one of the ST to Brian.

      I interviewed David Wright pre game on this subject

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  4. If Oca tore it again, his career is RIP. This is Tom.

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    1. He has disastrous mechanics and this is on the Mets if they didn't change them in the off season

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  5. Mack LOL we all could as life for us has certainly changed and unfortunately not for the better. First this century it was 9-11 then the mkt crash and Madoff mess and then Covid flipped our world upside down but Spring training is always a time to recover that old baseball spirit although it took me time to adjust to the Stern method I'm excited again. Very sad day when I heard about Cole's death and also remember reading he wasn't wearing his seatbelt which makes it even sadder because maybe it could have saved his life. Also sad about Carl Weathers but that's the point alot of us have reached in our lives as many of our contemporaries have moved on and remind's me of an old Casey Stengel story about being asked when he was having I think his 80th birthday "Casey what's it like to be 80" and his response was "great because most people my age are dead" well put.

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    1. All said here are both sad and true

      It's hard to turn away from what's happening in the world right now.

      A spring fling with beisbol is just what we need

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  6. Great memories and I would also love to attend spring training someday. I understand that players are more open in the beginning and become more focused on their jobs and less focused on the fun as spring training progresses.

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    1. Yes they are

      Secret of attending spring training games

      Get seats down in front of the pen along left field

      You can shoot the shite with both the pitchers and catchers all game

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  7. It's going to be a sunny week here in Binghamton..then baseball in Florida..spring is almost here (the woodchuck even said so!)

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    Replies
    1. I heard the Italian groundhog said

      "I ain't seen nuthin"

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  8. Was excited to see how pitching lab could clean up de Ocas terrible mechanics. Might be too late now. Third ucl tear??

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  9. Let’s hope MeGill is taking note.

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