The second day of the Orioles full squad workouts is in the books.
A funny story behind today’s events was Vladimir Guerrero, Luke Scott, Nick Markakis, and Adam Jones hitting such deep home runs (mostly Vlad and Scott) that they were reaching fan parking lots and supposedly hitting cars. That group (and I assume the rest as well) moved their BP sessions to the Camden Yards sized field, mainly for reasons of not wanting to hit vehicles in the lot or the road on the other side. (Note: Roch Kubatko reports that supposedly 3 windshields were smashed yesterday in the lot)
Be sure to check out today’s video interview with new O’s shortstop J.J. Hardy.
Other news and notes:
- Vladimir Guerrero still has not shaved off his goatee. I wonder how much longer Buck will let that go, or if his “star” status is allowing him to keep it.
- Zach Britton says he is taking it easy to start camp, knowing he has a lot of work ahead of him.
Luke Scott is already working on elongating his throwing motion through long toss activities and such to prepare himself for what looks like a full season as the Orioles left fielder. For more Scott quotes, click here.- After being slowed down last week, Luis Lebron threw off a flat ground today successfully. He had Tommy John surgery last May.
- Non-roster invitee Mitch Atkins, who has been dealing with a left oblique strain and some sickness, plans to start throwing again lightly towards the end of this week.
- Josh Bell was seen briefly taking ground balls at 1st base. I would take this with a grain of salt. We saw Brandon Snyder catching some last week as well. Showalter is just trying to help these guys become more versatile a bit, only to help them for their futures in the organization.
- Buck Showalter says that he is quite impressed with Rule 5 Draft pick Adrian Rosario (from Milwaukee), and that he is really battling already in camp.
- Catchers will be given the day off of throwing soon, as early as tomorrow. The only note here is that Buck said Craig Tatum has been a bit sore. Not much to look into here.
One link:
- An interesting little story from Peter Schmuck of The Sun about Nolan Reimold‘s background as a sports fan.
As for actual games:
- The Orioles will play an intra-squad game at around 1 PM on Sunday.
- The O’s first Spring Training exhibition game is Monday in Bradenton versus the Pirates, less than a week away. It was announced today that after this game (which will be started by Bergesen followed by Tillman), the SPs used in the following games will be (from Peter Schmuck of The Sun): Jeremy Guthrie will start the home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays at Ed Smith Stadium and newly signed Justin Duchscherer will start against the Phillies in Clearwater. Brian Matusz and Adrian Rosario will face the Twins on Mar. 3 in Sarasota before Jake Arrieta and Ryan Drese throw against the Tigers at Lakeland. Obviously, relievers will fill in the blanks after the starting candidates pitch 2 to 3 innings.
