FORT MYERS, Fla. – Hello and greetings, finally, from Fort Myers. I flew down from Georgia this afternoon, and by the time you read this, I will be at the ballpark. It feels a little bit like the first day of school, except the other kids have been in classes for two weeks already.
To celebrate, here are three things I’m looking forward to seeing in camp over the next few weeks.
1. The Young Pitchers
The Twins rotation seems – SEEMS – set or close to it, barring injury or a surprise trade. Pablo López, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack all have spots assuming they stay healthy. And Simeon Woods Richardson isn’t guaranteed a job, but he certainly would seem to have the inside track.
But Minnesota has some intriguing young arms who have fared well in their first shots. David Festa, Zebby Matthews and Andrew Morris have all turned in strong performances. So has bullpen candidate and Rule 5 Draftee Eiberson Castellano, who has only been a starter in the Minors.
It’s going to be a tough task for any of these guys to crack the season-opening rotation, but pitchers get hurt and nobody only uses five starters all season. They’re all looking to make impressions that will put them in good stead when opportunities arise.
2. The Infield Mix
Carlos Correa is the shortstop. That much we know. Royce Lewis is probably the third baseman. Ty France is probably the primary first baseman, but almost certainly not the only one. That much, we’re pretty confident of. Beyond that? Well, it’s never too soon to be paying attention. Something that caught my eye today (I’m writing on Wednesday evening) was the alignment of the right side of the infield.
Edouard Julien, who would seem to have the best opportunity for playing time at second base, started at first. Mickey Gasper, who’s played a lot of catcher and first base and a very little bit of second base, started at second. Willi Castro has already started at second and short, and so has Brooks Lee.
You can be pretty confident that regardless of who does what this spring, you won’t just see a push-button, set it and forget it lineup from manager Rocco Baldelli this year. But it will be intriguing to see how he deploys the various pieces he has over the coming weeks.
3. The Vibe
It’s Spring Training, the vibe should be good. The weather is perfect, guys are doing what they love, it hasn’t turned into a grind just yet. Still, I haven’t seen it with my own eyes yet, and it was one of the questions coming into camp. I’ll be interested to see where everyone’s mind is, between the questions about last year as well as the uncertainty about the possibility of a sale of the club.
The latter likely won’t factor much into players’ minds unless they’re asked about it, but in some cases they probably will be.
I want to be clear: I’m not CONCERNED about the atmosphere, not at all. I expect it will be good. I’m just interested to see it with my own eyes.
