For the first time ever, I will be going to Spring Training-Live! Of course, I won’t be swinging a bat or throwing a ball or running a base. I will be flying to Phoenix on Monday night to spend a week, checking out the Brewers and their top prospects at Maryvale Spring Training Complex.
It will be exciting and exhilarating as I will acquaint myself to the Brewers’ organization and to meet Don Money and the near future Nashville Sounds this week. It will be great to learn more about the players, what they can do, what they need to work on and how they can contribute to the table as far as the Sounds and the Brewers go.
Cut down days have started and will continue. It will almost be like watching Donald Trump eliminate candidates one by one on “The Apprentice”. It won’t be an easy task for Doug Melvin and Gord Ash as they must determine who will be the best 25 players to represent the Milwaukee Brewers. Any player that doesn’t quite make the cut will most likely be sent to Triple-A Nashville.
Not to narrow down one position, but the Brewers certainly have encountered a pleasant problem with the catching situation. Veteran Greg Zaun is the Brewers’ new starting catcher, having replaced Jason Kendall. Kendall moved on to the Kansas City Royals. There is still competition for the backup job to Zaun. One of the players to most likely look out for in Nashville is Angel Salome, who shows a lot of promise and spent some time with Nashville. Jonathan Lucroy is another great catching prospect, who had a great year offensively at Double-A Huntsville in 2009. Lucroy is still hoping to improve on the defensive side. It will be an interesting week.
As for the rest of the positions? That is something for me to find out in Phoenix this week. I look forward to the balmy desert air and the beautiful mountains, including Camelback. I’ve been to Phoenix before and I look its vast valley and its marvelous scenery and real estate. I can see why people like to retire there.
I will be looking forward to witness the daily chores of Spring Training with players conditioning themselves and getting themselves back into “game shape”. Spring Training is certainly a tedious process in terms of getting ready, but going through the calisthenics, the drills and all of the other aspects of the game are extremely important. It’s an audition for rookies and minor league prospects who are fighting for a job. For the rest of the established major leagueers, it’s getting accustomed to another long grind of a 162-game schedule and hopefully the players.
The Brewers helped themselves when they acquired pitchers Doug Davis and Randy Wolf. LaTroy Hawkins is a veteran relief pitcher, having spent time with the Twins, Cubs and the Yankees. He will certainly be a great bridge between the starters and Trevor Hoffman, who at 42, is still looking to squeeze out another year of competition. Hoffman has been a great closer over the years and he is bound to be inducted into the Hall of Fame one of these days. How long will he continue to pitch? That remains to be seen. I wish him and the rest of the Brewers the best. That’s why you always have Spring Training and that’s why you always have Minor League Baseball. You want to look for answers and to fulfill future roles in the event that Hoffman decides when to hang them up.
Having a minor league system is the analogy of having a bank account. You always want to make sure you have the resources in case you need to make changes/additions. The same analogy of maintaining a car applies when you know one part may get old and you must replace it with a new part. The same situation applies when it comes to players.
Please check in on my daily reports on Sping Training. I look forward to a fun, yet busy week. Thanks for reading! It will be nice to get to introduce myself to the Brewers as they have a solid organization!
- Posted on March 21, 2010 at 11:01 pm
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