Spring Training Audio Diary: Correa Debuts, Ober Brings Heat, Miranda Out on WBC

[Nick Nelson]

Today's Caretaker-only audio diary features a smorgasbord of thoughts on a big day at Twins camp that featured very encouraging spring debuts for Carlos Correa and Bailey Ober.

Image courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins ended Wednesday’s home game against the Phillies in a 4-4 tie, but the day was more eventful than that boring outcome would suggest. In this 22-minute rundown of today’s key topics, I talked about:

• Carlos Correa’s spring debut, and some of the thoughts he shared after the game about putting a frustrating offseason behind him, dealing with the new infield positioning limitations, and facing the Phillies’ top prospect (who is a fellow Scott Boras client).
• Bailey Ober’s hugely encouraging first spring start, which featured eye-opening velocity readings, as well as his thoughts on how it went.
• Weather-related implications of the pitch clock that I’d not considered until something Ober said after his outing.
• News that José Miranda will not play in the WBC due to lingering shoulder soreness, and why Rocco Baldelli isn’t especially concerned at this point.

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[DocBauer]

I had today off so fortunate circumstance allowed me to watch the game. I didn't care it was ST game #5. It was BASEBALL!

It was only 1 IP, but I thought Ober looked pretty good. His FB sat at 94mph consistently, which really surprised and impressed me. The control was solid. Striking out the side was great, even if he wasn't facing the Phillies primary lineup. The pitch count was a little high, but Marsh worked him hard to open the game and saw 9-10 pitches, so that AB ran the count up a little. I was really hoping for a 2nd inning, but I understood the first game approach.

I know it was his first appearance, but was disappointed in Santana. The velocity was solid, consistently between 93-95, and I saw some really nice breaking balls. But the batters had too many pitches in the zone and wasn't impressive as a result.

Duran had huge velocity and looked pretty close to season ready. Threw a couple really nice splinkers. Alacala wasn't great, but looked solid.

I know he was facing a collection of bench players and prospects, but Schulfer was solid in his 2 IP, 17 pitches, 13 strikes, 1 hit, no walks, no runs, 2 SO.

Jeffers did what he was supposed to do. He called a solid game, looked solid behind the dish, and hit a bomb against a LHP.

Just fun to watch Twins baseball again