The weather was great again yesterday albeit a little windy when I stopped out at Hammond Stadium yesterday to see what was going on with the Twins. The Twins semi with all the baseball supplies arrived yesterday and there was no time being wasted getting it unloaded. The pitchers and catchers are due to report this coming week-end and the first workout I believe is scheduled for Monday so the 2014 season preparation is just days away.
The early camp arrivals continue to work on several of the fields. With more arrivals each day, they now take hitting on two fields and there is infield going on at another. Joe Lepel and Tommy Watkins busy throwing batting practice and providing some tips along the way.
Miguel Sano continues to work both on his hitting and on his fielding. The man is not afraid to work hard and that is a plus. Sano gets bigger every time I see him. The word at the ballpark is that he is about 255 but he could be heavier than that. But that weight does not look bad on him, there is a lot of muscle there. Sano is not like a lot of players that are always moving 100 MPH from here to there, he moves slowly, almost in a plodding fashion as he goes from field to field. At third base he is no Brooks Robinson but he seems to make the normal plays he should and his throws have not been as bad as I have heard. His throws to second base and first base are not always chest high but his throwing is better than I expected. Sano has also been working hard on his English language skills and he is willing to step up and answer questions from the press and he looks fairly comfortable, you have to give him credit for that. Sano did a short interview with Chris Parks from ABC-7 and I also captured it here so that you could all get a chance to hear it. The Sano sound bite can be found here. Sano sound bite can be found here – 140211_001.
I also captured a sound bite with Brian Dozier that was also done by Chris Parks and with the wind conditions it is a bit rough but you still get the gist of it – 140211_002. I don’t think that there is a microphone or recorder that Dozier will pass up, he is always willing to talk to anyone that is willing to listen. If you need a comment or sound bite then Dozier is your guy, I think he is quickly becoming the new Twins spokesman and I think he will become one of the leaders on this Twins team. I like Eddie Rosario as a hitter but I don’t think he will be taking Dozier’s job anytime soon.
Shortstop Jason Bartlett is out there everyday and working hard, I know that spring training has not started and not a single pitch has been thrown yet but I will tell you this, I think that the 34-year-old Bartlett who was out of baseball in 2013 is going to give Pedro Florimon a run for his money this spring. Bartlett looks to be a in great shape and is already helping other players with their skills.
By the way, one of my favorite Twins-to-be, Max Kepler turned 21 on February 10th, hard to believe, it seems like he has been around longer than that. Happy Birthday Max and welcome back to Ft. Myers.
As is normal during my visits to the ballpark, I took a few more pictures that you can find in the 2014 Spring Training link on the right hand side of the page.