Spring Training 2016

Montana Fan

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Twin Bridges, Mt.
Can any of our ST attendees tell me how Rusney has looked in the cage and at the plate in games?

ST pictures and atmosphere comments would be appreciated. Mike F, you down there?
 

BoSoxLady

Rules Red Sox Nation with an Iron Fist
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Apr 24, 2003
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I have dozens of pics taken during the workouts and the games but I posted them on Facebook. If you wish, I'll organize the pics and post them here.

As far as Rusney is concerned, it's difficult to assess the offense because the pitchers are always ahead of the hitters this early. Starters also only get 2 AB at this stage. JBJ is the only hitter having a good start.

FTR....MikeF is here in The Fort sitting next to yours truly every game. [emoji461]️
 

Montana Fan

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Thanks for the post BSL. Can you assign Mike F as Rusney batting cage scout? Am hoping to hear that he's at least racking line drives. If Mike F busts out a thumper's daddy quote when speaking about Rusney, I won't be happy.
 

johnnywayback

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Aug 8, 2004
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A few random amateur observations from three days haunting the back fields:

1. These guys really seem to like each other. On Sunday, they were doing a drill where the catchers, starting from a squat, had to find and catch a pop-up fired straight up out of a pitching machine. Then they started having the catchers do a somersault first, to further disorient themselves. The whole team was gathered around watching and cheering. Ortiz in particular was very excited when Vazquez finally missed one. Just a lot of good vibes.

2. Similarly, Anderson Espinoza threw a bullpen one day, and it seemed like most of the Salem guys stopped what they were doing to check that out. There is, by the way, no way the kid is six feet tall. But he did seem a little more filled out (in a good way) than what I'd seen on video. He's definitely slight, but he's not a beanpole, at least not to the extent I'd imagined.

3. In other body-image news, Andrew Benintendi is TINY. The "B" and "I" on his jersey disappeared into his armpits.

4. It was only a drill, but Rafael Devers looked fantastic taking infield at 3B. Very smooth, good range of motion, great hands. You can definitely see why some scouts think he'll end up at 1B -- he's already kind of husky and clearly has more growing to do -- but based on those reports I would have expected him to be less fluid. And holy cow did he hit a few hard in BP.

5. Watched Sam Travis take BP for a while. Very, very balanced stance and swing. One roped line drive after another. Seemed totally in control of his weight and his hands. He's definitely not a prototypical slugger in waiting -- if he adds power, it'll be from those line drives clearing the fence instead of hitting it.

6. One really nice moment was watching Koji pitch a simulated game against minor leaguers (Chris Marrero, Dubon, Moncada, and one other guy). Everybody sort of stopped to watch when Moncada got up, at which point Koji whiffed him on three pitches. When he was done, he made sure to thank everybody from the minor league camp for taking part.

7. I think my favorite part was watching the coaches work on extremely fine points. They spent about an hour drilling the Portland pitchers on pickoff moves, for example. And they did a lot of work with Josh Ockimey while I was watching on making sure he follows through on throwing to second when starting 3-6-3 double plays (instead of half-assing the throw while retreating to the bag). You could see him getting better over the course of the drill.
 

Montana Fan

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Elias threw 2 shutout innings today. He had the same amount of K's as Brentz plus gave up 4 hits and a walk. I'm still holding out hope that Brentz can step up.

Here's the old school boxscore.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=360308101

Also came across my favorite baseball book. Read it a dozen times as a kid and all but wore it out. The dude's review on Amazon describes it pretty well. You all might like it too.
 

Mike F

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At the moment all I can add to what you've already seen/heard is that Sam Travis is as aggressive a player as I have seen in a long time..
Watching him going to 1st on any hit to the OF and he is turning at full speed. He had created two hustle doubles with this type of play.
I plan to sneak over and watch a couple of ml games on off days next week and will report on STUFF.
Henry Owens looked much better yesterday that in his 1st outing although he struck out but one. He was getting swings and misses on
the change just not with 2 strikes on the hitters. His command was also much better.
IMO the Italian sausages, peppers & onions plus your favorite condiment are still the best buy at the park.
Stay warm New England!!
 

tonyarmasjr

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Aug 12, 2010
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johnnywayback, your observations absolutely jive with what I saw while I was down there.

I'm 6'0", 220 lbs, and I felt like Espinoza was a normal-sized 18 year kid when I stood next to him, not a professional athlete. He wasn't as tall as I am.

We walked up from beyond the right field fence on the field Benintendi was hitting on on Sunday, so I didn't know who was hitting the balls my kids were chasing until he was almost done. He was probably the smallest kid on that field, but he was generating more power than anybody else I saw in the half hour or so I stood there.

Watched Devers hit on Friday, and he was hitting the ball harder, farther, and more consistently than everybody else. He hit in the same group as Ockimey, who's bigger than he is, and even the difference between them was noticeable. I also was surprised at how fluid he was in the field after reading the reports.

Henry Ramos is built like a linebacker. He looked like a man among boys. I hope he can turn things back around this year.

Price and Marmol threw a simulated game in the stadium on Saturday, and I just so happened to tour the park while that was going on. SSS, but Marmol's control issues haven't disappeared - he drilled Vazquez in the back. Vazquez made a couple throws to second that showed no ill effects.

To the OP, Castillo had a couple adventures in the field in Sunday's game against the O's. He and Young let one drop between them that Young lost in the sun. And he had another ball hit down the line into the corner that I thought he probably should've caught, but ended up a double.

I thought Sandoval looked really good on his feet. He had quite a bit of action at third on Friday. His vertical wasn't very impressive on a liner just over his head, but he made a really nice dive and snagged one hooking down the line. He also had a couple slower hit balls toward the hole that he covered quite a bit of ground to get to. Even busting it down the line to first one AB, he looked like he could move.

Hanley shocked the hell out of me when he beat out a chopper for an infield single. And he stole second on Sunday. He looks slimmer than last year. He hit the ball well, too. On the other hand, he whiffed on a short-hop throw after Xander snared a shot to his backhand.
 

Al Zarilla

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Thanks to all and keep up the good work picturing and posting about our boys in FLA. Posting from rainy NorCal, hopefully finally getting drought-buster rain!
 

Al Zarilla

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I saw both clips on NESN too. Butterfield sounds like the most competent coach at what his expertise is, and he doesn't sound phony or like he's putting on anything extra because he's miked up. Was it after the 2013 season that Pedroia took Butterfield and his wife out to dinner out of appreciation for his work?

Some Pablo in today's clip too, looking good, staying low (even with the gut).
 

Manuel Aristides

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Apr 7, 2009
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jesus god, if they'd broadcast the games in that framerate, I'd never leave my apartment. Thanks for the share.
 

geoduck no quahog

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So the Yankees get to exhibit in Miami while the Red Sox and Jays get to suffer in cold rainy early April Montreal. I guess money trumps everything.

(other exhibition venues:

Atlanta
Houston
Las Vegas
Texas
Arizona
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle (where it's 70 degrees and sunny today)
Biloxi
Denver

...albeit there's also
Detroit
New York
Philadelphia)
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Sep 14, 2002
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So the Yankees get to exhibit in Miami while the Red Sox and Jays get to suffer in cold rainy early April Montreal. I guess money trumps everything.

(other exhibition venues:

Atlanta
Houston
Las Vegas
Texas
Arizona
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle (where it's 70 degrees and sunny today)
Biloxi
Denver

...albeit there's also
Detroit
New York
Philadelphia)

Last I looked the Big Owe has a closed roof
 

luckysox

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Apr 21, 2009
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S.E. Pennsylvania
Olympic Stadium: The only place more putrid for baseball than that concrete shopping mall in St. Pete. I saw my second ever baseball game there when I was about 9 and I'm still scarred.