By Ed Piper
I have an interesting set of documents in front of me. They include the San Diego Padres' workout schedule in Spring Training for Sat., Feb. 24 (the day of my visit to their morning practice in Peoria, Arizona), a page titled "Padres Mini-Camp" for the same date, and a separate handout for the pitchers.
A fellow Spring Training attendee pointed out the handouts to me when I arrived on a cold (48 degrees) morning at the Padres' side of the Peoria Sports Complex, surrounded by shopping malls, restaurants, and industrial areas in the northeast area of Greater Phoenix.
What's interesting on the two-page front piece is the time breakdown of each drill: On the "Pitchers" schedule sheet, two columns are labeled "Live BP [Batting Practice] Throwers" and "Sides & No Throw Guys". At 9:45 a.m., six different groups are identified to meet and do their "Throwing Program" in Field 6 Right Field for 15 minutes.
At 10:00 a.m., the "Sides & No Throw Guys" (not throwing live batting practice) engage in a 25-minute competition spread across three different baseball fields at the Padres' complex. "PFP" is the name of the competition, but I don't know what that is.
Richard, Lauer, Lucchesi, and Kennedy then take part in batting practice on Field 6 for 15 minutes, then they shag flies. They switch places in these two segments with Perdomo, Lockett, Mitchell, and Diaz.
I didn't witness all these drills taking place. Arriving just after 9 a.m. on a long haul from across the Valley of the Sun beginning at my motel in faraway Mesa, Arizona, I watched as the pitchers came out from the main building, assemble on a field, then do stretching from 9:30 to 9:45 under the direction of San Diego's strength and conditioning coach.
The coaches came out with bats to hit grounders and flies, some with hoodies pulled up on the cold morning. Jokes were exchanged about how they looked in their cold-weather gear, everyone dressed out in baseball uniforms. (Coaches in other sports don't don the uniform.) Like every other environment, I don't think a lot of morning activity would start without plenty of coffee being consumed to animate the spirits.
Later on, in the "Live BP Throwers" column, Stammen, Yates, Capps, Strahm, and Lamet each are scheduled for 10-minute stints on the mound. Obviously, these aren't just batting practice sessions to give some hitters a few rips at the plate. Coaches would be actively evaluating their pitchers and their stage of progress--this, on the 10th day of Spring Training workouts ("Camp Day #10").
In the 10:05-10:20 time segment, I watched new Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer and new shortstop Freddy Galviz (with braids--not knowing better, I thought he was 19-year-old phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. and took a snapshot of him through the chain-link fence) and their teammates go through infield situational drills. The mood was light, active, and looked like baseball. A lot of fun. That's why people attend Spring Training.
Anyone who has observed a sports team's practice in the last few years recognizes the detailed, scheduled training practice: broken into 15-minute, even 25-minute segments, with targeted skills and drills.
Unlike at football and basketball practices I've hung out at in recent years, no loud, pounding urban music (i.e., rap, rhythm and blues, mixed with pop) was shooting out of speakers. Baseball is known for being one of the most conservative sports, even though pro baseball is now made up largely of Latin Americans who listen to salsa and other upbeat music.
On a separate pitchers mini-camp sheet, "Latinos" and "Gringos" are split into two groups, the former meeting at 9:00 a.m. on February 24 in the "Upstairs Conference Room-AMO" ("Enter from the outside"), the latter at 10:00 a.m.
The reality--and I'm glad I speak Spanish from my year living and teaching in Mexico City in my 20's--is that one out of 10 Major Leaguers is a Dominican who speaks Spanish primarily, plus there are many Venezuelans and an increasing number of Colombians who also speak "God's language". Your organization's coaching staff better be populated by plenty of people facile in Spanish and who are good at working with young men of various cultures.
The Padres are known, under General Manager A.J. Preller, for going after Latin talent. He's a bilingual guy, though I've never met him.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
LJ softball: Photos 3/7 vs. Bishop's
By Ed Piper
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| Shelby Maier (L), injured Bishop's pitcher rehabbing her right ACL |
LJ softball 4, Bishop's 2
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| Viking hurler Kyra Ferenczy pacifies rival Bishop's in 4-2 win. (Photos by Ed Piper) |
On an afternoon when a gas leak in Mission Valley clogged up area traffic arteries, La Jolla's softball team clogged up the delivery lines of rival host Bishop's Wed., March 7, holding the Lady Knights to two runs and a few hits.
In fact, Viking pitcher Kyra Ferenczy set all the Bishop's batters down in order over the first three innings, and only snapped her streak of 10 straight outs by walking third baseman Hallee Coleman with one out in the bottom of the fourth.
La Jolla (2-3), powered by RBI's by Emily Alvarez in the first and seventh innings, and Josie Sinkeldam in the fourth--the latter with a two-run single--took away a 4-2 win in the battle for La Jolla.
"We run LJ," said centerfielder Vanessa Shaffer good-naturedly after the victory, completed on an increasingly-chilly afternoon as traffic in the greater area backed up with Highway 163 shut down in both directions shortly after noon.
Second-year coach Andrea Denham's team continued to benefit in the early season from the addition of three experienced freshmen, Jackie Farias at third, Kendall Dooley at second, and Abby Espinoza in left field. Dooley, a three-sport athlete with volleyball and basketball, made a good stop of a smashed grounder by Lady Knight Jaya Travis to end a rally in the bottom of the sixth.
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| La Jolla right fielder Sina Anae (center, in red uniform) exchanges high five's with Lady Knights players after game. |
Meanwhile, in the other dugout, the hosts were a little down-in-the-mouth with the reality that star pitcher/hitter Shelby Maier is out for the season, having torn her right ACL in an informal game of "Razzle Dazzle" (look it up) with a group of boys and undergone surgery three months ago. (She said she's looking at a total of six months of rehabilitation.)
"I got a little too competitive" in the game with the boys, said the smiling Maier, who never looks this relaxed on days she's pitching. But ACL surgery is a common procedure among athletes now, and her prognosis for returning should be good. She made a commitment to play at the University of Georgia last year in her sophomore year of high school.
Ferenczy, who last year with the entire team that went on to the CIF title suffered early-season struggles after not touching a softball since the end of her freshman season, looked sharp from the pitching circle. Her command was good, keeping the ball low to opposing batters. Her curve proved difficult for the handcuffed Bishop's hitters to solve.
Her natural position is in the outfield, but as a junior with two outstanding seasons under her belt doing double duty for La Jolla pitching and hitting in the third slot in the order, she is already embarking on a third strong year.
Sinkeldam helped manufacture the Vikings' first run in the top of the first by drawing a walk from Bishop's pitcher Danielle Straus, stealing second, then with two outs scoring on Alvarez's single.
In the top of the fourth, Sinkeldam, after singling in two runs to make the score 3-0 in favor of La Jolla, added another steal of second base. The commit to Cal State Dominguez Hills next year was her usual intent self, serving as one of the Vikings' three captains with Shaffer and Alvarez.
The insurance run for the Vikings in the top of the seventh, as they led only 3-1 going into the final stanza, came on Ferenczy's one-out single, stolen base, then after advancing to third coming around to score on Alvarez's sacrifice fly.
The home team came back to score a run in the bottom of the seventh, but the threat fell short as Ferenczy and the improved defense held tight.
Farias, one of the three talented freshmen, replaces third baseman Linda Brown, who graduated last June after a stellar four-year career for the Vikings. Dooley at second base and Espinoza in left field are upgrades from last year's CIF Division 4 champions.
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