Through the Fence: On the Backfields 4/3/2015 Miggy's Day Off

[Bob Sacamento]

With this being the last weekend of spring training ball, I made it to the complex early to watch workouts before the AAA and AA played against the Red Sox. To my surprise the first person I encountered within minutes was lefty Lewis Thorpe headed back to the clubhouse from Field 6 with the Fort Myers crew. Thorpe was carrying a right handed person's glove, when I asked the lefty why, he said he's still playing catch, working out until his surgery. As of right now, he states that his Tommy John surgery isn't officially scheduled..yet. His biggest worry right now is who his roommate in the player dorms is going to be for the next few months; he has requested fellow Aussie pitcher Josh Guyer

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The five minor league clubs (AAA/AA/HiA/LoA/Ext) were spread out across the campus with AAA and AA taking to the field field a half hour later than the lower levels. Drills were a plenty with various in-game situations being conducted with the lower levels while AAA/AA were very relaxed and seemingly ready to get the season started. The AAA squad was seemingly going through the motions with so many of the players having already been here before. The first grouping of batting practice was Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario, and Josmil Pinto. Pinto looked good in the box, shaking off the lasting effects of his concussion; he says he's "back to normal" other than tiredness. 

 

Over on field 4, the AA team was extremely jovial and with that lineup rightfully so. Leading the pack was Miguel "Miggy" Sano, by far he was the most excited on the bench despite not playing or taking batting practice on the field instead he said he did his in the clubhouse cages with Chad Allen. Allen seems like a strong bench presence with it being visibly seen in with the players notably Sano. On more than one occasion, I overheard coaches talking to Sano about conditioning, apparently they aren't happy with his weight. Sano had a "yellowish colored water" in a clear water bottle and let a fellow teammate taste it. Let's just say the response was filled with expletives of how disgusting that was. Apparently, uber prospect Miguel Sano is doing the Master Cleanse Diet right now and if you don't know what that is I'll give you a quickie on it: You drink only this water formula with cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and maple syrup. It's designed to give the body the bare essentials for detoxing/cleansing and weight loss. It's one of the few times being a healthcare professional (I'm a Chiropractor) has paid off for baseball. So far he said he's going good and strong, he's down 2 days and has lost 10 lbs and says he feels great. He said his large cousin has lost 45 lbs the past two weeks.  Like I said earlier on the bench he was a firecracker joking with everyone as well as playing around as the first base coach. Here's Sano showing the AA team handshake to Nick Burdi that he came up with, Miggy was doing this with everybody.

 

 

 

 

 

The Chattanooga team put out a great lineup with Byron Buxton in Center leading off followed by Jorge Polanco at Short, Max Kepler in DH, DJ Hicks at 1B, Stu Turner behind the plate, Adam Brett Walker in LF, Levi Michael at Second, Dubal Baez at RF, and Jermaine Palacios at Third. I said it before and I'll say it again Buxton is fast, legging out an infield single while covering ample ground in Centerfield and making good contact. The biggest hit of the game came from Max Kepler who absolutely pounded the ball to dead center hitting at the base of the wall making it an easy triple. Kep has a beautiful stroke and the ball just sounds beautiful off his bat, most of this spring I've seen him play DH or at First yet he's listed as an outfielder. Mark Hambuger started the game going five innings and limited the Boston lineup before giving up the reins to Cole Johnson for two innings with lefty Ryan O'Rourke capping off the final two innings. Walker was also involved in one of the uglier defensive plays of the day in left field getting turned around on a ball and falling down in the process, which then prompted Coach Allen to scream many a bad things and his routes and talking to other fielders is a problem.

 

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Game time finally arrived and the AAA BoSox put the big boys in featuring a lineup of the recently sent down Jackie Bradley Jr., Rusney Castillo, Bryce Brentz, Gavin Cecchini, Blake Swihart, and Deven Marrero. Taylor Rogers was the starter and walked Bradley to begin the game, afterwards he had a faced off against Rusney who flied out to right. Rogers threw four innings and was followed by Logan Darnell, Mike Tonkin, Ryan Pressley, and Aaron Thompson. Hicks led off and played center while Rosario hit second and played right field also Rohlfing was behind the plate.The biggest hit of the ballgame came from the Twins' third baseman Jose Martinez who connected for a 2 run triple. I'll be honest, I watched more of the AA game and some of the players were having the same problem. Here's Jose Berrios trying to decide which game is better the AAA or AA.

 

 

 

The Chattanooga team put out a great lineup with Byron Buxton in Center leading off followed by Jorge Polanco at Short, Max Kepler in DH, DJ Hicks at 1B, Stu Turner behind the plate, Adam Brett Walker in LF, Levi Michael at Second, Dubal Baez at RF, and Jermaine Palacios at Third. I said it before and I'll say it again Buxton is fast, legging out an infield single while covering ample ground in Centerfield and making good contact. The biggest hit of the game came from Max Kepler who absolutely pounded the ball to dead center hitting at the base of the wall making it an easy triple. Kep has a beautiful stroke and the ball just sounds beautiful off his bat, most of this spring I've seen him play DH or at First yet he's listed as an outfielder. Mark Hambuger started the game going five innings and limited the Boston lineup before giving up the reins to Cole Johnson for two innings with lefty Ryan O'Rourke capping off the final two innings. Walker was also involved in one of the uglier defensive plays of the day in left field getting turned around on a ball and falling down in the process, which then prompted Coach Allen to scream many a bad things and his routes and talking to other fielders is a problem.

 

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Other notes, Trevor May is slated to start in the intrasquad AAA vs AA game and go five innings this Sunday to finish his Spring off. Hall of Famer Tony Oliva spent some time with both squads but definitely leaned more favorable to the AA team with Sano and Buxton. I'll be back at the game this weekend but most likely at JetBlue watching the lower levels take on the BoSox while the upper levels play at 1pm at Hammond and Centurylink Complex. Here is the newest MiLB roster as of 4/2/15, the daily schedule and a few pictures from the day. Enjoy. You can find more at my Twitter.

 

 

 

 

[Seth Stohs]

Great report!

[Hrbowski]

Thanks Bob!

[Bob Sacamento]

I tried to edit my post but it wouldn't let me so here are the 4/2/15 MiLB rosters as well as the daily schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[big dog]

Thanks a lot for this- much appreciated.

[Halsey Hall]

Thanks Bob.  i've been under the weather but will try to go over there today.  Hope to see you next year.

[NoCryingInBaseball]

Love the reports Bob!