Position Battles Worth Watching- Week 1

With a week's worth of Grapefruit League games now complete; lets take a look at the status of the positional battles in camp.

Backup Catcher

So far, Recker has done nothing wrong to warrant losing his spot on the 25 man roster. In 5 games he is hitting .375 with a HR and 2 RBI's against Teagarden's .273 AVG with 4 K's. Recker also has the advantage of already knowing the sequences that the rotation likes to use in games having been the back-up all of last year. In the later innings, Centeno has also seen some work and is hitting .400 with no extra base hits but he's walking in as a long-shot to begin with as it is expecting he will start 2014 in AAA.

First Base Starter

This battle has barely gotten off the ground as both guys have been sidelined with injuries so far early in camp. Davis has only 3 games under his belt and has hit a HR in 1 AB and struck out in practically all the rest of them. His swing still looks ugly as his hands continue to drop. We may be counting the days till he is cut from the team. Duda on the other hand looked fantastic in his 2 games launching a long HR and rocket for a 2B. Striking out 33% less than your competitor generally helps too.

Left Field Starter

Through 1 week so far and we have ourselves a dead heat for LF. While Chris Young hasn't done anything wrong in the field, his .211 AVG with only 1 extra base hit in 7 games leaves much to be desired. Meanwhile, EYJ missed 3 games with an early camp injury and its affected him early on. While he is hitting .273 in the 4 games he's played, he's generally been facing lower level talent (AA and AAA). He's also committed 2 blunders in the field that have cost the team some runs and was even caught stealing. This battle is going to come down all the way to the last AB of Spring.

Center Field Starter

So far this spring, Lagares has done everything right in order to break camp as the starting CF. He's hitting .353 through 6 games and has already made 3 fantastic plays in CF including an OF assist. I'm sure the club doesn't like the 5 K's but the SB is a welcome site. Meanwhile Chris Young has his hands full just competing with Eric Young Jr. that so far he hasn't challenged Lagares so far in camp. Adding Drew at SS or anybody who can lead off would help Lagares' cause substantially as it would put a major dent in Eric Young's chances.

#5 Starter

Some interesting developments have occurred this week in terms of this position battle. What used to be a 3 person race between Matsuzaka, Lannan, and Mejia seems to have turned in a 2 man race due to serious shortfalls by Josh Edgin. So far Mejia and Matsuzaka seem to be on even footing. Even though Daisuke has the backing of Terry Collins, he's given up 8 hits in only 4 Innings Pitched and has struck out 3. Mejia on the other hand has those 3 K's in only 2 IP and has only allowed 1 hit. However he's also surrendered 2 BB's vs Daisuke's 0 BB. If Mejia can put together a 3 IP start with better control in his next start that will give him a much needed boost.

2nd Lefty in the Pen

The tide has really turned on Edgin so far in camp. In 3 IP so far he's given up 6 runs on 8 hits with only 1 K against mostly AA/AAA hitters. Not good at all. Meanwhile, Lannan has been almost exclusively facing MLB hitters and has only given up 2 runs thanks to an error while giving up 4 hits and K'ing 4 in 4 IP. While Lannan has certainly pitched well enough for considering in the #5 Starter battle he finds himself here because of just how bad Edgin has been.