March 1, 2007
In Case You Missed It - 2007 Edition
For the second consecutive year, I have had the luxury of having an article due following the first televised game of Spring Training. It makes writing difficult; you feel obligated to write about the triumphant return of the game (and even want to write about it), but often there’s little to actually celebrate. Keeping this in mind, I’ve thrown together a series notes and observations randomly strewn about, making it look a little like the box score of yesterday’s game. Actually, since the game was played on the 28th of February, I have prepared 28 of these comments.
- It was one boring game. Last year I called Spring Training a tease, and yesterday did nothing to change my mind. You get all excited to see a real baseball game again, and the first one you see is never what you hope for.
- Maybe I’m just extremely forgetful, but do pitchers always spend as much time throwing breaking balls this early in the year? You’d think guys would want to focus on their fastballs to build up their arm strength. Instead, we saw a lot of guys showing off their offspeed stuff. Maybe they use side sessions for arm strength and game situations for breaking pitches. I was just surprised.
- The hardest anybody threw that I noticed was around 92, that being Billy Wagner. I didn’t watch the speed gun the whole game, but there’s no reason to think the pitchers are ahead of the hitters early in Spring Training anymore, contrary to the common wisdom.
- As such, Oliver Perez was throwing batting practice out there. His pitches were consistently coming across 82-86 (a couple of times he hit 88 or so), and a power pitcher like him needs his velocity, especially when he keeps the ball up in the zone like he did yesterday.
- The three most impressive pitches I saw were all sliders. They belonged to Andrew Miller, Alay Soler, and Aaron Heilman, in that order.
- Speaking of Miller, he looks like he’ll be yet another solid addition to the Tigers’ young pitching staff. The back door slider he struck Paul Lo Duca out on was a thing of beauty, and his fastball was the furthest along of anybody who pitched, both in terms of velocity and movement.
- And speaking of Soler, I briefly mentioned him as a possible surprise last week, though in truth my heart wasn’t in it. He did a fair job for a first outing: he wasn’t perfect, but if he keeps hitters off balance this spring with his breaking stuff he might win a job after all.
- I was really excited to see Tigers prospect Cameron Maybin enter late in the game at center field. He’s an athletic-looking kid, but he was flat-out outclassed by Aaron Heilman in his only at bat.
- Damion Easley hit the ball hard twice. Who knows if it means anything.
- Carlos Deglado is the hitter who looks the best right now. Just looks very comfortable at the plate.
- Carlos Beltran didn’t look as comfortable. He had a couple of weak swings, but he’ll come around.
- As I mentioned before, Heilman was showcasing his slider. He had a good one in college, and it gives Heilman a different look than the same fastball-change combination we’re used to seeing from him. It makes you wonder if Heilman is still hoping for a spot in the rotation.
- Moises Alou got a mere one at bat yesterday before being replaced by Ben Johnson. Hopefully that won’t be an omen for the coming year.
- Was anyone else disappointed we saw Jon Adkins in the ninth inning instead of Joseph Smith? Nothing against Adkins, but Smith drew raves yesterday for his slider, and Adkins may just be the most boring pitcher in camp.
- And did anyone else draw a sharp breath when Lastings Milledge got hit in the hand by a Zach Miner fastball in the sixth and then crouched a couple of moments in pain? Thankfully he stayed in the game.
- You can see Jose Reyes’s extra muscle right away. That said, it was real nice to see him steal second base easily.
- I think the only player I’m actively rooting against in camp this year is David Newhan. I’ll be the first to admit that my dislike is as irrational as it gets; weak-hitting utility men just aren’t my cup of tea. It started when I was a kid with Jeff McKnight and continued through the Steve Bieser, Jim Tatum, and Joe McEwing years. Sorry, Dave.
- I love the fact that Jose A. Reyes is wearing number 77. Watching him run at the end of the game, there really might be 11 #7 Jose’s stuffed inside that uniform somewhere. He’s a good bet to become my irrational favorite player in camp.
- It was great seeing HoJo at first base. Just was.
- There are a lot of great names in camp. I’m not talking about the players attached to those names, just the names themselves. Among them: Eddie Camacho, Willie Collazo, Clint Nageotte, Lino Urdaneta, Chip Ambres, Fernando Martinez, Ruben Gotay, Ruben Sierra, Ambiorix Burgos, Philip Humber, Chan Ho Park, Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, Paul Lo Duca, Julio Franco, Damion Easley, Anderson Hernandez, Moises Alou, Endy Chavez, Lastings Milledge, and Ben Johnson. Ben Jonson could have a field day with those.
- Urdaneta is an interesting pitcher, considering I had no idea who he was. As the broadcasting team mentioned, his big-league line is hideous—his ERA is infinity—but his arm action is somewhat unique; he kind of short-arms the ball to the plate. Unfortunately, unique does not mean good. His minor league ERA is 4.02, and his K/9 is a meager 5.53. His control isn’t bad for a reliever, and he keeps the ball on the ground, but that’s just not good enough.
- I usually don’t care much for sideline stories about what players do in their spare time, but Mike Pelfrey’s comment about his chess games with Phil Humber made me smile a little.
- I forget who made it, but I kind of like the comparison of Mike Carp to Mike Jacobs. Seeing Carp swing the bat for the first time, I have to admit his swing is reminiscent of Jacobs’s. In truth, Carp is a much better prospect than Jacobs was. Carp is quite a bit younger than Jacobs was at similar points in their careers, has more power potential, a better batting eye, and he won’t have to deal with the setbacks of catching.
- Ben Johnson probably had some tough luck that caused him to misplay a couple of flyballs during the intrasquad games, but he got some back when he somehow found himself with a single on a soft grounder and a double on a bloop. He didn’t help himself any by grounding into a double play to end the game.
- I was dumbfounded when one of the guys in the booth called Willie Collazo a lefty specialist. Collazo appeared in 25 games last year, 23 of them starts. Righties hit .244/.295/.336 and lefties hit .275/.293/.388. Sometimes people can’t see past a pitching hand.
- Only in Spring Training will you see a catcher attempt a delayed steal, as Mike Rabelo did against Mike DiFelice yesterday when the latter dropped a pitch.
- I definitely see what the fuss is about with regard to Carlos Gomez. He’s every bit as fast as Reyes, but I’ll say Reyes in motion is more fun to watch. Gomez, being 6′4″, has a much longer stride and makes it look just too easy. A few steps and he’s already at first base. Here’s hoping Gomez breaks out with the bat in 2007.
- And after 28 of these, here’s hoping the first game next year happens on March 1st.
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Great article Alex
I thought BJ looked lost on the two chances I saw in the outfield…granted, someone mentioned one was a bad bounce off the wall and maybe the liner was a knuckleball…But whatever it was it wasn’t smooth. And according to the responses here…he was all hustle. He is built like a RB.
Lino Urdaneta coming to Shea Stadium, September 2007
Wow Alex you pretty much got it all in a nutshell. I feel like I just watched the game over again. Nice Job!!!!
You know if we cant get that elusive 4th/5th starter I think I may have come to the dark side and hop on the Heilman should start line. I know, I know theres a million reasons he shouldnt, so Im only talking if everyone else sucks!!! I think he’d be a descent 4-5th starter for us. I am just not really sold on the Park, Sele, Vargas world. But we shall see. Sometimes what you think is gonna be a huge weakness becames a strength. So we shall see!!!!
Alex, fantastic article.
I really liked Carp’s swing and approach. And his at-bat was against a lefty, which he struggles against, and he hing in there nicely. He laid off a good breaking ball that broke late out of the zone and then made good contact on a fastball the next pitch. His swing is maybe not as pretty aesthetically as Jacobs’, but it’s more compact and still powerful. He has the look of a big leaguer to me.
Johnson plays hard, but doesn’t seem so skilled. He seems like nothing more than a nice, spare OF to have around, which there is nothing wrong with.
I have always thought that Heilman could be an effective starter. Yesterday did nothing but reinforce this. Having said that, I have no problem with him staying in his present role as our 8th inning guy.
Milledge looked really good. Green looked alright. Green faced the better pitchers. Nothing definitve happened either way between them yesterday.
As for the Tigers, I am glad for them that Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin look to be good, because it’s basically all they have in the system. Miller is going to be really good.
Oh yeah, and Gomez can definitely fly. Let’s work on that plate discipline now. If he figures out how to hit at the big league level, which is the hardest thing in baseball to do mind you, he would be an absolute phenom.
Heilman may be developing the slider to contend for the rotation…. on the other hand, he might be working on the slider with memories of a horribly hanging changeup from last fall. The idea being that people couldn’t just sit on his change anymore.
Lunk, we’re always going to assume that Heilman is developing the slider with eyes on the rotation just because he is so vocal about his wanting to start. But I agree, this will help him as a reliever as well. Now that he feels really comfortable with the fastball and change after 2 successful years with them, he is probably just working on the slider to make him a better pitcher.
If he develops a consistent slider, he will be lethal.
awesome article alex. I’m amazed you were able to find 28 things to say!
I wonder if Shawn Green gets called “tough luck” if he made the two plays BJ made yesterday ;) heehee
Nice piece Alex!
I am glad to have you in the “I hate Newhan” Camp….I believe I am the founding member (or at least it’s most vocal!)
Johnson appears to be as advertised and is the perfect bench player, average skill (all reports are that he is a very good defender) but all out heart and max effort, everyteam needs those guys on the bench. I am pulling for my Johnson!
No way Heilman makes the rotation out of ST this year. Remember, Sanchez will not break camp with the team, no way the team wants a bullpen absent Sanchez and Heilman! That being said, if he can show a good slider all season long, maybe he finally gets moved back to the rotation next year.
I think Soler is the most likely guy to suprise people this year. I have said it before, and I keep forgetting about him. Let’s not forget he threw a two hit shut-out last year. It takes some skill to accomplish that. He had a stretch of 3 starts last year where over 22 IP he gave up 12 hits and 6 walks and 3 runs. I think he was hiding an injury for awhile because he only threw 10 innings in Norfolk after being demoted. I heard he looks in much better shape than he was last year.
Thus, I am jumping on the Soler as the dark horse for the #5 spot or longman bandwagon!
I also think Heilman wants to start, but the slider will make him so much better in a post season series.
I mean, when you face a guy in 5 or 6 games in a row, it is a lost easier to catch up with a change-up from a two pitch pitcher. Not so easy if he has three pitches.
Newhan > Johnson!!!
I have a hard time buying that Heilman was throwing the slider to prove he can start. I think if The Jacket and Willie hadnt signed off on him throwing the slider, he would not have been throwing it
Dep, I didn’t know you were so overtly racist! ;)
Your pro-jewish prejudice shines through!
beep boop
And Newhan isn’t greater than my Johnson….you pull for Newhan, I’ll be pulling my Johnson!
lol sweetlew. I cant help it. ;)
HAHA! I give you this, that having Johnson on the team will surely have a higher humor content! Newhan = not so funny! ;)
Does that mean today that there´ll be only one thing to say?
Mike Jacobs has one of the prettiest swings I can remember. Like, Olerud pretty.
Is it too effeminate to call a swing pretty?
IIRC someone in the boothe yesterday said that Aaron was working on his slider, so he had another pitch to get rh out with.