Sunday, February 20, 2011

In a fog

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER
Sean Burnett delivers a pitch during his bullpen session.
VIERA, Fla. -- Upon arriving at Space Coast Stadium at 8:15 this morning, I didn't think there was any chance the Nationals would be able to start their workout on time. A dense fog blanketed the entire area and made it impossible to see more than 50 feet in front of your own nose. I can only imagine what Wilson Ramos would think squatting behind the plate and waiting for one of Collin Balester's 95 mph fastballs to emerge from the soup.

The fog, though, quickly burned off, and by 9 a.m. it was more than clear enough for the players to head down to the practice fields and conduct business as usual.

Nothing too exciting to report from today's workout. It's still only pitchers and catchers formally participating, though today is reporting day for position players and most of them started emerging out there as the pitchers were wrapping up to conduct their own informal round of BP.

Position players are scheduled to take their physicals tomorrow, then the full squad finally works out Tuesday morning. Bryce Harper will be among the guys in uniform, and he's expected to speak that afternoon.

You get the sense that everyone is ready for camp to pick up a bit, because there's only so much that can be accomplished in these early workouts. Pitchers are starting to want to face live hitters. Not sure if the hitters will feel the same way, though they'll have no choice but to at least stand in the batter's box and watch pitches fly by during the "live BP" sessions that will start up in a couple of days.

More to come this afternoon...

[UPDATE AT 2:30 P.M. -- Luis Atilano, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Class AAA Syracuse. The right-hander will return to big-league camp and participate as a non-roster invitee.]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good lord, is Burnett's hat on straight? That's cause for concern.

Mark'd said...

Mark - will you be shooting video of the Bryce Harper 1st ST address/interview?

Doc said...

Yeah, straight's not gonna do it.

I don't think that ST can officially begin, until Burnett starts wearing his hat like a left-hander would---cocked and ready to play!!

Go getem' Sean!

BinM said...

I could see where the pitchers are ready to 'ramp it up'; I could see where 10 days of stretching, running, bullpens, more running, PFP drills, even more running, & bunting practice could get pretty stale. On Tuesday, it becomes a little more more realistic, then it's 'game-on' beginning on the 28th.

Mark - If you could, try to post some stuff on the fringe players (i.e., the 'bus riders'); There always seems to be some good stories out of those guys, and some of them have happy endings (a MLB contract) as well.

Mark Zuckerman said...

Mark'd said...
Will you be shooting video of the Bryce Harper 1st ST address/interview?


The CSN TV crew will still be down here on Tuesday, and I'm sure they'll be shooting the Harper press conference. I'll make sure that video goes up online and will post a link to it here as well.

Post a Comment