Sunday, February 21, 2010

Let the madness begin

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VIERA, Fla. -- The clubhouse was abuzz this morning, all pitchers and catchers present and accounted for, a large media contingent (including several national writers and broadcasters) joining the group. Technically speaking, Friday was the open of camp. But practically speaking, spring training begins today.

As I type this, Jim Riggleman is holding his first-day-of-camp team meeting. Presumably, he'll do this again, with a slight twist, later in the week once all the position players have arrived. At 9:45 a.m., everyone will head down the street to the minor-league complex to stretch and begin the time-honored tradition of fundamental drills. Cover first base. Field bunts. Throw in the bullpen.

The pitchers are split into six groups. Three will throw bullpen sessions today. The other three will throw tomorrow. Today's throwers are: Jason Marquis, Shawn Estes, Tyler Clippard, Doug Slaten, Jesse English, Ryan Mattheus, Stephen Strasburg, Tyler Walker, Matt Chico, Aaron Thompson, Joel Peralta, Craig Stammen, Miguel Batista, Sean Burnett, Ryan Speier and Victor Garate.

Any name in particular stand out to you from that group? I don't think ESPN, the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer are here today to watch Joel Peralta's bullpen session.

Yes, all eyes will be on the almighty Strasburg, who for all we know could be throwing fastballs engulfed in flames this morning in his first formal bullpen session. Just so you know, kid, everyone in attendance is going to be watching you. No pressure.

Strasburg will be speaking with us after the workout, as will Riggleman. So there will be plenty of material to share later today. In the meantime, two items I wanted to share before heading out to the practice fields myself...

-- I know many of you will find this interesting. Yesterday morning, Riggleman was joined on the infield at Space Coast Stadium by Tim Foli, John McLaren, Bob Boone, and minor-league coaches Bobby Henley and Jeff Garber. Together, they ran through just about every conceivable infield defense situation you could possibly imagine taking place during a ballgame, and how they would coach their players to handle such situations. They were out there for more than two hours doing this. Now, I can't say with 100 percent certainty that this sort of thing didn't take place under previous administrations. It's quite possible it did. But this was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it with my own eyes. You want an emphasis on fundamentals? There's your emphasis on fundamentals.

-- The guy drawing the most attention in the Nats' clubhouse this morning was, of all people, Tyler Clippard. Not for anything he did on a baseball field. But for what he did on a golf course yesterday. Playing alongside John Lannan and two other friends, Clippard stood at the tee of the par-3, 149-yard, fourth hole at nearby Duran Golf Club. He pulled out a pitching wedge. He dropped his shot about five feet behind the hole, then watched the ball check up and roll straight back ... and fall into the cup. Yes, a hole-in-one. First of Clippard's life. "I've been playing golf for 15 years, and I haven't gotten one. I was pretty pumped up about it. I was running down the fairway. We saw the whole thing. That was the coolest thing about it." And there's visual proof of the feat. Lannan showed me a photo on his phone of Clippard pulling the ball out of the hole, the massive divot clearly visible a few feet away. The other unusual part of the story? Just prior to his incredible shot. Clippard bought two hot dogs from a concessions cart. He ate one of them right before making his hole-in-one. Two holes later, he ate the second one and then proceeded to hole out from a plugged lie in a green-side bunker. Didn't eat any more hot dogs the rest of the round, probably a smart move. Wound up shooting 79.

11 comments:

Andrew said...

Wow, Matt Chico, Craig Stammen and Stephen Strasburg!!!!

Let's see what they have!

Thanks Mark!

Sunderland said...

Nice post Mark. Love this stuff.

BTW, I couldn't hit a pitching wedge 149 yards if I was on the moon. What the heck is Clippard doing wasting his time chuckin' baseballs?

Anonymous8 said...

Thanks for the Clippard golf story! Rumor has it that Craig Stammen is the guy you want in your foursome although Clippard's 79 with an Eagle might make some off-day golf outings interesting!

Andrew said...

Mark Zuckerman said...Now, I can't say with 100 percent certainty that this sort of thing didn't take place under previous administrations. It's quite possible it did. But this was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it with my own eyes. You want an emphasis on fundamentals? There's your emphasis on fundamentals.

2008 was a horrific year for fundamentals. 2009 was a horrific year for fielding errors.

Some would call bad fundamentals mental errors such as bad baserunning, missing cutoffs, not getting down bunts.

In 2008, pitchers couldn't get down bunts, and had a hard time fielding their position. Base running blunders were a plenty. I felt there was improvement in 2009 and maybe 2010 based on your observations, it will be even better.

Part of the improvement has to come from better players. The other part will come from better instruction which is good to see.

143 fielding errors can't be repeated.

Anonymous said...

What is Bob Boone's role during spring training? I remember him as being a Bowden guy, right?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Clippard should stash some dogs in the bullpen and eat one as he walks to the mound!! Nice story and I like the emphasis on the fundamentals, they need to be much improved over last season, for certain. JT in SC

SonnyG10 said...

Nice tidbit regarding the manager and coaches getting together on the field to go through what to do in any baseball situation. I really like the fact that the Nats are getting good people in the front office and in the scouting and teaching side of baseball. We need a good strong pipeline to keep the flow of quality players coming into the organization.

Andrew said...

Sunderland said...
BTW, I couldn't hit a pitching wedge 149 yards if I was on the moon. What the heck is Clippard doing wasting his time chuckin' baseballs?


Sunderland, he actually hit it in the air 150 2/3 yards before spinning it back that 1 2/3 yards to plug it in the hole!

I would be swinging my 7 or 8 iron depending on the wind to go that distance.

The most amazing golf feat I had seen with any of the Nationals players was in 2008 with Joel Hanrahan. On a Par 4, 303 yards to the hole Joel took out his driver and smacked it about 303 yards on a dog leg left and landed about 15 feet away. To think about being that close for a potential Double Eagle! For his Eagle putt, Joel just missed it and settled for a nice Birdie.

I think it must be a pre-requisite for being a MLB pitcher that you have to be able to play within a 10 handicap!

JayB said...

Thanks Mark for the verification of sorts that this years camp will be different that Acta country club I watched several times over the past 3 seasons. I will be down twice this year if things go as I planned at work. Last year M Grissom was "working" with Dukes and Milledge....it was a joke and Acta was sitting in his cart doing nothing about it.....What happened to Grissom...is he still in the organization?

Suicide Squeeze said...

I'd give a lot to have listened in on the last 5-10 minutes of the coaching fundamentals session. Could you imagine the scenarios they were covering at that point?

Skeetinator said...

Absolutely fantastic work Mark. You're coverage is great. Donation is on its way.

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