The Boys of Winter

Some notes and observations from the week:


Here is the Championship team from the Ponce 2011 Winter season -- front row from left -- Joe Ciardi, Rich Petrassi, Nick Christianson, Tom Classick and Mo Werner; back row from left -- John Fernstrom, Jack Molenkamp, Jay Hedlund, Coach Darrin Garner, Bob Labelle, Chris Clark and George Manuel. (Clicking on the photos should enlarge them.) Final record 8 wins and 1 loss. Tina said she would order up the Duck Boats for the parade!

I have been to this camp five of the last six years. In my first three years, my teams had a combined record of 1 win and 26 losses; the last two years the record is 17 and 1. Every year the camp is great fun -- but, as always, its more fun when you win. This year the teams seemed more evenly balanced and games, across the board, were more even. However, I fear I will have to relive a dark part of the week for me all year -- Stuart Cohen from my weekend Ponce team up north was two for two at bat against me in our game on Monday. I am sure I will hear that once or twice during our upcoming Ponce season. Well done Stuart.

Part of the fun is getting insights into professional baseball from the coaches. The Red Sox coaches each spoke very highly of Ryan Kalish and expect big things from him. They also mentioned shortstop Jose Iglesias and catcher Luis Exposito as prospects to watch. Exposito apparently has great tools for a catcher, but still needs to mature. The Sox have a number of left-handed relief pitchers in camp who will be candidates to be the lefty specialist out of the bullpen. Lefty rookie Felix Dubront, who was in the majors some last season as a relief pitcher, will be worked as a potential starter in spring training. Whether he stays with the Red Sox as a reliever in April or goes to Pawtucket as a starter for the first part of the season may depend on whether one of the lefty candidates can earn a job in the bullpen or what starting depth Tito Francona wants available in Pawtucket in case one of the Red Sox starters gets hurt. Arnie Beyeler said that right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Weiland may be available to help the major league team later in the season. Victor said that a lot of the Sox up and coming prospects are very young and in the low-levels of the minors, so have a long way to go to develop into major leaguers.

I asked Steve Liddle which person in the major league organization works out the practice schedule (fielding, hitting, baserunning, which pitchers will be throwing each day, etc.) for spring training -- the manager, bench coach, a spring training coordinator? He said it is the manager's responsibility but that the Twins have done spring training "exactly the same way" for 20 years or more. Tom Kelly set up a system that they still use every year -- with what each player, coach, etc. will do each day in the spring training period before the exhibition games start. They have a 9-day, 10-day, and 11-day schedule on a spread sheet that they follow, depending on the number of spring training days the General Manager says they have before the first games start. The Twins are known to be one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the majors year after year -- and Steve attributes some of that to how consistent their training is and how much emphasis they put on fundamentals (pitchers fielding, base-running, situational hitting and fielding, etc.) each spring. Steve has been the Twins bench coach for some years but will switch to be third-base coach this season.

The team hotel was the Hilton Garden Inn on College Ave in Fort Myers. Later this month the Twins, who like the Red Sox train in Fort Myers, will take over all 126 rooms for the duration of spring training for their major and minor league players and coaches.

Rick Knapp is the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers and spoke very highly of Armando Galarraga, the young pitcher who last season had a perfect game taken away from him on the last batter when the umpire made a wrong call at first base. Rick said that Galarraga, who has been since traded to Arizona, showed uncommon sportsmanship in how he handled the situation and earned the respect of everyone involved. Rick also said that for each game Major League Baseball has an "authenticator" in the dugouts -- whose job it is to put an official MLB mark on any balls, bats, etc that are used in historic games. The authenticator in the Galarraga game started to collect baseballs in the fifth inning as people started to realize that the pitcher not only had a potential no-hitter but a perfect game in progress. Rick said that every Tigers player and coach got an authenticated game ball from that game -- which in many ways became more notable for the controversial last call than a straight perfect game might have been.

Rick also said that Galarraga is a terrific kid. He told the story of a game when Justin Verlander, one of the best pitchers in baseball, was pitching for the Tigers and Galarraga, who is good but doesn't have Verlander's stuff as a pitcher, was sitting on the end of the bench. Tigers manager Jim Leyland is famous for his intensity -- and as the game progressed Leyland kept shouting to Rick about Verlander's pitching. "Why did he throw that?" "What kind of pitch is that?" "Why isn't he attacking the plate?" And so on. Finally in about the fifth or sixth inning, after Verlander walked a batter, Leyland shouted at Rick, "Go out and talk to him." After Rick got back to the bench, Galarraga came over to him and said, "If he (Leyland) is like this with Verlander, it must be really terrible when I'm pitching!" Rick's comment (cleaned up), "No kidding."

Rick and all the coaches are terrific with all the campers. They all encourage us to come up and say hello to them when we are in the same city as their team (either DC or on the road -- minor league or majors.) Rick has even called campers' friends who are Tigers fans to say hello and talk about their team.

A critical part of the week is the training room where Larry Bennese, from the Twins system, who has been part of the camp for all or most of the 12 years, and Chris from the Rays system keep us together with baling wire, glue, and good cheer. They provide massages and Atomic Balm for sore hammies, quads, and shoulders; fix blisters and repair (drain?) bruised or broken toe nails; provide pain relievers; and help us ice down various body parts after the game. They are terrific and make it possible for a number of us to get through the week. It was also interesting to learn that the Twins have a comprehensive electronic medical record on each of the players in their system -- injuries, ailments, base-line physical information, treatments, etc. Health reform, meet baseball!

It was the most successful week for me physically of the five years I have gone to the camp. My quads were tight and I had some blisters on my toes -- but stretching and the trainers kept me going fairly uneventfully. I was generally happy with my hitting -- I got on base a lot early in the week without hitting the ball very hard, but had more drive to the ball later in the week. I pitched poorly in my first game on Monday but did better on Wednesday and Thursday. My base-running and fielding were terrible throughout the week. I don't know if it is because my physical ability couldn't match up with my "instincts" on the bases or in the field -- or if my instincts have withered to the point where no athletic ability could make up for bad reactions. In any case I need to do more work on those fundamentals.

The coaches and fellow campers make the week -- and you have a real sense of having a shared baseball adventure. Most everyone -- from all walks of life -- is quick to help each other out. For instance, on Monday, when I got hit on the noggin with the fly ball, right away other players came to help. The first person to reach me said he had an X-Ray equipment company, the next said he was an anesthesiologist and could help put me out of pain, and the third said he was a lawyer and could sue someone for me.

If you have any questions or comments, post them in the comment section here or email me at jayhedlund@rcn.com.

Can't wait until next year -- with a lot of Ponce and Red Sox baseball to come between now and then!