What Did We Learn About the First Weekend of Spring Training?
Under beautiful blue skies in the states of Arizona and Florida, major league, minor league, and non-roster players took to spring training ball fields. The hot dog grills were fired up, the beer was flowing, and fans were escaping the horrible weather in the east and midwest. Baseball made its official return this weekend, and what a weekend it was. Pitchers tossed a couple innings, getting their arms tuned up. Hitters had a couple plate appearances per game, timing their swings. And the stars had a chance to shine early.
With a grand total of 28 games played from the 29th through the 4th, fans were able to dip their feet in the pool and test the waters of baseball. What they found was that the temperature was perfect and incredibly inviting. The sample size is small, but we learned some things already in this first few days of baseball.
1) The Tigers look good
Prince Fielder launched himself into the hearts of Tigers fans everywhere with a moon shot on Sunday. As the Tigers routed the Braves, Fielder smashed his first spring home run deep into the Florida sky. The Tigers, with their new additions (not to be confused with New Edition), started the spring off right, going 3-0. Prince Fielder started the spring off with a bang and has collected 3 hits in his first 4 at-bats (he actually has 4 in his first 6, but the game against Florida Southern doesn’t count).
Max Scherzer and Doug Fister tossed four combined innings without giving up a hit. The Tigers pitching staff will likely be more of a story than their offense. With Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder anchoring the offense, the pitching staff will have to duplicate many of their efforts of last year to keep the Tigers on a winning track.
2) The Yankees and Phillies are confirmed powerhouses
If Twitter and packed spring training facilities mean anything – and they do – the Yankees and the Phillies may be the two most followed teams this upcoming season. The Red Sox will surely give both a run for their money, but the fact that both the Phillies and Yankees have played each other twice already has given the two clubs’ fan bases a chance to start bragging early.
The Phillies dropped both games, but Hunter Pence went yard in each game. The Phillies need him to continue the hitting he showed after being traded to the Phillies in the middle of last season, and these first two games have him on the right path. For the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez has started strong. He was ripping the cover off the ball and went yard in yesterday’s game. He went 3 for 3 yesterday in his first action of the spring.
Beyond the offensive performances, the games have drawn a ton of fans. In sell-out fashion, both of the two games pitting the Yankees against the Phillies drew close to 11,000 fans.
3) Everyone thinks they have a shot at the World Series
Maybe not everyone, but most teams truly think anything is possible as they open up their first few spring games. It may not settle in until the end of spring, it may not settle in until somewhere during Opening Week of the regular season, but eventually some of these teams will realize their dreams were nothing more than fantasies.
A few of these teams are the San Diego Padres, the Kansas City Royals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Minnesota Twins, the Washington Nationals, and the Houston Astros. Each of these teams can make a good case towards improvements made during the offseason, but none of them have a true shot at the World Series. That’s right, I’m writing them off without a regular season game even being played. And there are many more than this, but I didn’t feel like naming anymore.
The Royals, Padres, and Nationals will probably be competitive, but the Astros, the Pirates, and the Twins will most likely be flops again. The Astros have a long way to go before they can consider themselves competitive again. The Twins must prove they can hit at Target Field before anyone will pick them to go anywhere. The Pirates are moving in the right direction, but they’ve already lost their veteran in A.J. Burnett for a few weeks due to surgery.
But it’s spring, so everyone has a chance…or at least they think they do.
4) Washington has some young studs
He gave up two runs in just over two innings pitched, but Stephen Strasburg also struck out three. As the Nationals were on their way to being routed, Strasburg was proving he still has dominant stuff. The two runs were not flattering, but as he tunes up his arm and begins to throw more and more innings, he will be able to show the brilliance he possesses. Remember, Strasburg made just five starts last season, so he is still on the comeback trail after Tommy John surgery.
Bryce Harper, the Nationals other young phenom, went 1 for 2 in his 2012 spring debut. He had a single and a strikeout. Harper is trying to make the Opening Day roster out of camp. There is little doubt that he will be called up at some point this season, but the question is when. Nationals manager Davey Johnson has made it known he wants Harper starting for the team as soon as possible. Harper will need to show off during spring to earn the early-season call-up.
5) Manny Ramirez is still a media darling
From MLB.com to ESPN.com, we can expect Manny Ramirez to get plenty of coverage. Manny went 0 for 2 in his first Cactus League game on March 2nd. Yesterday, Manny took batting practice with Cespedes and is expected to play his second game in today’s split squad game.
Even while taking batting practice or not getting a hit in a game, Manny attracts a lot of attention. He hasn’t played a game in a year, but looks to make a return to baseball after his steroid suspension. Ramirez retired after being suspended last year, but made the decision to serve his suspension and attempt a comeback. He will have to earn his way to the major league club though as the A’s signed Manny to a minor league contract.
There will be plenty of highlights and lowlights of Manny’s time in the Cactus League this spring.
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