Getting Warmed Up
Sunday, February 28, 2010 – Spring Training Workouts, Ft. Myers
Sunday brought us back to Ft. Myers, early again as usual. This time the day was sunny, so even though it was still cool, it was much nicer. One of the players I wanted to get a look at this year was Jose Iglesias, the slick-fielding 20-year-old from Cuba, who is being projected as the shortstop of the future. So when the players split up after stretching out, I found the field where the minor leaguers were fielding grounders. The following video shows Iglesias (the smaller player with the red sleeve) and Yamaico Navarro taking ground balls at short:
After fielding practice, the infielders, outfielders, and catchers joined the pitchers who weren’t scheduled to throw on Field 3 for a rundown/cutoff-throw drill. When that was done, they split back up again for live B.P. On one field, Tim Wakefield was throwing to Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. Neither hitter was able to get ahold of anything, and Big Papi kept muttering, “You gotta be kidding me,” as the knuckleball danced. He did let out a cheer when he finally lined a bloop hit into right. On the adjoining fields, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz also threw to their unsuspecting teammates.
John Lackey throws live batting practice.
NESN was broadcasting throughout the morning, and I stopped to watch a couple of times as I walked between fields, when Jonathan Papelbon and Josh Beckett were being interviewed.
Josh Beckett stops by the NESN stage for an interview.
When most of the batting practice sessions wound up, we headed back up near the clubhouse. I had gotten Dustin Pedroia’s autograph in the morning, and was happy to add top-ranked prospects Ryan Kalish and Casey Kelly at the end of practice.
Casey Kelly (in the front, wearing red) and Zach Daeges sign autographs after practice.
Cute moment of the day: After he was done with his workout, Kevin Youkilis played on an empty field with his stepson and two other kids, who were climbing all over him. I just missed getting a shot of him doing push-ups with the three kids sitting on his back, but I did get the aftermath:
When practice was over, Youk went through a rigorous second workout.
That wrapped up another fun day, and tomorrow we get to do it all over again.
