Checking out Kenta Maeda and his first Twins workout

I went out to the CenturyLink Sports complex yesterday to check out the pitchers and catchers and to see new Twins acquisition Kenta Maeda in his Twins spring training workout debut. I didn’t see anything extraordinary out there but no question there were more Japanese photographers out there then I have seen since Tsuyoshi Nishioka made his grand appearance back in 2011. I am expecting better results from Maeda then we got from Nishioka.

Maeda got his bullpen in, about 30 pitches or so and everyone seemed pleased with what he showed. Derek Falvey made an appearance to see what all those long hours on the telephone with the Red Sox and Dodgers had brought him.

There was nothing else of consequence that I witnessed in my two hours at the ballpark. There were some Twins fans there checking things out but there were far more autograph hounds there then there were Twins fans. Spring Training is always a great time to get those autographs and the players are always very accommodating as long as you don’t bug them for an autograph when they are working out or moving between fields as they frequently do to get to their next station of work. I took a few pictures while I was out there and you can view them by using my “2020 Spring Training” pictures link on the right hand side of the home page.

One interesting item that I haven’t mentioned previously is that the Twins “agility field” that was part of the big 2014/2015 $48.5 million renovation at the CenturyLink Sports Complex is missing. “Perry’s Peak,” named after Twins strength and conditioning coach Perry Castellano, was an “agility hill” that could be traversed from all four sides. The inclines varied from 9-percent grades in the front to 23 percent on both sides. It also included a 20-by-45 foot sandpit. It seems that the new Front Office regime prefers new technology to running up and down a hill.