Spring Training: Rays take first game of the Knutson Cup, 3-1, against the Twins

The Rays taking batting practice before the Spring Training opener in Ft. Myers versus the Twins. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

Under the starry skies and bright lights of Ft. Myers, the Tampa Bay Rays took the first game of the 2017 Knutson Cup from the Minnesota Twins, 3-1. The Rays play their home opener in Port Charlotte today against the Pirates.

A few highlights from last night’s ball game follow:

— Brad Miller looked good at second base. Miller made a couple of solid fielding plays in the bottom of the second inning, including one in which he had to backhand a grounder while ranging to his left.

Brad looked good, Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game. He’s continued to look good.

— Austin Pruitt threw two scoreless innings in his Spring Training debut. Pruitt tossed 20-of-34 pitches for strikes, giving up just one hit while fanning three (all swinging) without walking a batter. The right-hander worked out of a two-out jam in the second inning after INF Daniel Robertson erred twice in a row to load the bases. Pruitt fell behind 3-0 before coming back with three consecutive strikes to leave the bases juiced, and end the frame unscathed.

Cash was encouraged by what he saw:


(Audio courtesy of Rays Radio)

— Tim Beckham, who got the start at shortstop, laced a double to centerfield on the second pitch of his first at-bat, and then lined a triple to the right-center gap on the first pitch he saw in his second at-bat. One batter later, Robertson drove Beckham home on a single to put the Rays up 1-0.

As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) noted in his morning Heater post, that power potential is what keeps the Rays intrigued and keeps him around. Though he started at shortstop Friday, the Rays will have him move not only around the infield but also, for the first time, to the outfield.

His versatility will also help him keep a spot on the roster.

Beck came out swinging … he looked awesome, Cash said. He’s not short on power, being able to hit the ball out of the ballpark and hit it in the gaps. Nice to see he was ready to go early on.

— RHP Ryne Stanek threw a scoreless sixth inning. The right-hander, who is up for consideration in the 2017 bullpen, hit 99 mph twice and 98 nine times. All told, Stanek threw 16 pitches at 97 or above, and four sliders at 90-93 — allowing a walk and an infield single.

Ryne Stanek, obviously, with the big fastball was impressive, the Rays manager said. You can’t overlook the velocity, it’s pretty impressive.

Note: quotes pulled from the Heater blog.

The New What Next

The Rays will play their first home game of the Grapefruit League season against the Pirates on Saturday. David Carpenter gets the start opposite of Josh Lindblom. Dana Eveland, Danny Farquhar, Cory Rasmus, Justin Marks, Jaime Schultz, Neil Wagner, and Taylor Guerrieri are also expected to take the mound for Tampa Bay.

Rays 2/25/17 Starting Lineup

Dickerson DH
Kiermaier CF
Weeks 1B
Bauers LF
Franklin 2B
Casali C
Adames SS
Leonard 3B
Peterson RF
Carpenter RHP

Noteworthiness

— INF/OF Rickie Weeks will make his first appearance at first base. Weeks told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) Logan Morrison has been very helpful, and that the biggest adjustment will be positioning.

— Former Ray John “Mikey” Jaso will face his original organization Saturday, playing first base, and hitting third, for the Pirates.

Tampa Bay Rays ready for start of Grapefruit League season

Jake Faria (foreground) plays catch with LHP Blake Snell. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

With full-squad workouts now complete, the Tampa Bay Rays will start the Grapefruit League season on Friday.

Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi and Blake Snell tossed live batting practice on Thursday, while Matt Duffy and Logan Morrison — both of whom are recovering from surgery — stepped in the box for live batting practice.

(Photo Credit: Neil Solondz/Rays Radio)

Brad Miller, who will get the start at second base against the Minnesota Twins on Friday, told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) he’s excited to get on to the game playing portion of Spring Training:


(Audio courtesy of Rays Radio)

Evan Longoria, who missed two days due to illness, Duffy, Morrison, Steven Souza Jr., Colby Rasmus and Mallex Smith will be held back from the trip to Ft. Myers. Duffy, as well Morrison, Souza, and Rasmus, are coming back from surgery.

Making the trip north are Jacob Faria, Ryan Garton, Diego Moreno, Ryne Stanek, Hunter Wood, Jose Alvarado and Jeffrey Walters, as well as several minor league players including Kean Wong, Braxton Lee, Jace Conrad, Mike Marjama and Andrew Velazquez.

In his Thursday presser, Rays skipper Kevin Cash made note of his excitement for the start of the Grapefruit League Season:


(Audio courtesy of Rays Radio)

Rays 2/24/17 Starting Lineup

Beckham SS
Robertson 3B
Miller 2B
Dickerson LF
Gillaspie 1B
Casali DH
Maile C
Peterson CF
Field RF
Austin Pruitt RHP

Also slated to pitch

RHP Jacob Faria
RHP Ryan Garton
RHP Diego Moreno
RHP Ryne Stanek
RHP Hunter Wood
LHP José Alvarado
RHP Jeff Walters

Per the inimitable Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) the Rays who are not going to Fort Myers will participate in a workout this afternoon at Tropicana Field. This is first of three night games for Tampa Bay this spring.

Day three of full-squad workouts: Cash announces hurlers for weekend ball games

Under driver extraordinaire (and utility-man) Nick Franklin chases a grounder during infield drills. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

Tuesday marked the third day of full-squad workouts for the Tampa Bay Rays. Among the hurlers who threw live batting practice were Matt Andriese, Brad Boxberger, Alex Colome, the hard throwing Ryne Stanek and Chris Archer, who tossed a simulated two-inning stint — wherein he threw 15 pitches, rested for six or seven minutes, then threw 15 more.

I was happy overall, Archer said. First time facing hitters. First time working with Sucre. It was overall a really, really good day.


(Audio courtesy of Rays Radio)

Rays skipper Kevin Cash was complimentary of those he watched, including the right-handed Boxberger:

Everybody I saw looked pretty good, Cash said. …You saw the depth on his (Boxberger) changeup, which was great to see. The ball’s coming out of his hand really well.


(Audio courtesy of Rays Radio)

Cash also announced the pitchers of the first three Grapefruit League games, including Friday’s season opener against the Minnesota Twins:

Friday: RHP Austin Pruitt (start), RHP Jacob Faria, RHP Ryan Garton, RHP Diego Moreno, RHP Ryne Stanek, RHP Hunter Wood, LHP José Alvarado, RHP Jeff Walters

Saturday: RHP David Carpenter (start), LHP Dana Eveland, RHP Danny Farquhar, RHP Cory Rasmus, LHP Justin Marks, RHP Jaime Schultz, RHP Neil Wagner, RHP Taylor Guerrieri

Sunday: RHP Chris Archer (start), RHP Chase Whitley, RHP Kevin Gadea, RHP Chih-Wei Hu, LHP Ryan Yarbrough, RHP Jeff Ames, RHP Andrew Kittredge

Evan Longoria, who reportedly is dealing with flu-like and missed Monday’s workout, missed Tuesday’s workout as well. Longoria was sent home after arriving to camp this morning with a high fever.

He came in today, pretty high fever, Cash said. (Head athletic trainer Ron Porterfield) just felt like we should get him home and more rest.

Meanwhile, Matt Duffy took a step forward in his recovery from heel surgery, taking batting practice on the field for the first time this spring. Duffy told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) he was pleased to hit with the full team today, and said his surgically repaired left heel felt good.

Duffy has taken infield work in controlled situations, which he calls “stationary ground work” since he’s not chasing down the balls. The shortstop is slated to take swings at live pitching Wednesday.

He told Bill Chastain (MLB.com) he’s not anxious about his progress, but he allowed he’s impatient. Most importantly, he’s feeling good.

Cash gave Duffy a rave review for the work he put in, saying:

He (Duffy) looked really good, Cash said. I would say from a visual standpoint, just from watching him, today was his best day. He was out here early for early ground balls and was out on the field quite a bit today, so that’s obviously a good sign that he’s feeling good and we are getting him out on the field more.

Duffy is not expected to appear in games until sometime in March.

News broke that Matt Wieters agreed to a two-year, $21-Million deal with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, ending any speculation that Tampa Bay might sign the veteran catcher.

That leaves catching in the hands of Curt Casali, Luke Maile and, once he’s healthy, Wilson Ramos.

There also is a measured amount of conjecture that Tampa Bay might target Derek Norris, who has been displaced by Wieters. However, Topkin threw water on the smoldering rumor, saying:

Given that they passed previously on Derek Norris when he was readily available in trade, they likely wouldn’t have much interest in taking him off the Nats’ hands now, nor ex-mate Jose Lobaton, who figures to stay in Washington as the backup.

Cash insisted they feel good about the group:

Sucre, we’re still learning about. But everything from what the pitchers have said, and Paul Hoover and Jamie Nelson talking about him, he’s going to bring a nice defensive weapon to us in the competition. …Curt and Luke, we’ve both talked about how they’ve kind of come in this offseason. You can tell, both of them kind of look a little more confident, a little more comfortable. And I say that in a good way. We’re very content with those guys, not for bounce-back years from them, but for them to find that comfort and to be the type of players that they’re capable of.

Noteworthiness

— Per Topkin, Major League Baseball approved a rule allowing for a dugout signal — rather than forcing a pitcher to throw four balls — for an intentional walk, effective for the 2017 season, ESPN reported.

— Jim Joyce, John Hirschbeck, Tim Welke and “Balkin'” Bob Davidson announced they are retiring from Major League Baseball’s umpire staff.

Rays Spring Training, day six: motivational speeches and full-squad workouts

Evan Longoria fields a bunt during the Tampa Bay Rays first open workout on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

After a foggy start to the day, the Tampa Bay Rays got busy during the first open workout of the spring Sunday morning.

Rays skipper Kevin Cash, as well as centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, kicked off the day with communiqués to the entire spring squad.

Cash professed an inspirational, albeit short, message affirming his belief in the 2017 ball club:

We really believe in the guys that are in this room, said Cash. We’re not really looking to improve as individuals here, because we value the guys that we have and the guys we brought in. Saying that, let’s not confuse that with we know we have to get better. We have to work on fundamentals and stuff, but as far as the individual skill and the talent, we’re very happy. We feel we’re in a good spot.

Kevin Kiermaier, who also spoke to the entire team for the first time, told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) the skipper’s message resonated with him. The centerfielder said he got a taste of the postseason at the end of the 2013 season — in time for the Rays’ play-in game against the Rangers and the Wildcard game in Cleveland — and wants to get back to that feeling.

Three years is too long, Kiermaier said. Trying to cut that down and get back (to the playoffs) this year. I said we’ve had some really good individual performances the past couple of years, but collectively we haven’t played together as a team yet, so it will be nice to do that this year. Everyone knows it’s a lot easier said than done, but at the same time, I just want to remind guys, let’s come in here, let’s work with each other and do whatever it takes to get better with each other and let’s go out there and win and have a lot more fun than what we’ve had the last three years.

On the field, Rays bench coach Tom Foley led infield drills with Logan Morrison and Rickie Weeks at first base, Brad Miller and Daniel Robertson at second base, Tim Beckham and Nick Franklin at shortstop, and Evan Longoria at third base. Duffy continues to be on a monitored program, on a field separate from where the drill work is taking place.

Highlighting the work of Miller, Cash said he was “outstanding” in taking and making throws, and that he  “looked like it was natural …really fundamentally sound.”

The team also held live batting practice, with Jose Alvarado and Ryne Stanek among the pitchers who drew the attention of those in attendance. Cash paid special attention to Austin Pruitt, Hunter Wood and Jeff Ames as they threw and mentioned that all three threw strikes and looked good.

Full-squad workouts continue through Thursday, with the Grapefruit League season beginning Friday. The fundamentals to be worked on Monday include pop-up drills, which can be challenging under a clear, cloud-free sky.

Those scheduled to throw live batting practice include Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi and Blake Snell, as well as reliever Xavier Cedeno.

Noteworthiness

— Cash said several Rays could be held out of games early on including SS Matt Duffy (heel surgery), 1B Logan Morrison (wrist surgery) and OFs Colby Rasmus (hip core muscle surgery), Mallex Smith (left side tightness) and Steven Souza Jr. (hip surgery).

The X-Rays Spex guide to Spring Training 2017

Hey look, the gang is back together…albeit with a few new faces. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Sunday marked the first public workout of the spring for the Tampa Bay Rays. After a long and tepid offseason, most of us are incredibly excited by the prospect of watching baseball any capacity ― meaningful or otherwise. Yet even with the excitement that this wonderful time of year brings, the purpose Spring Training shouldn’t be lost.

With that in mind, join X-Rays Spex as we attempt to clue you in on what to look for over the next month plus.

Sample sizes are so small that any meaningful conclusion about a player’s performance cannot truly be determined

Everyday starters, and players getting serious roster consideration, will get around 60 at bats during the spring. The small sample size isn’t enough to give an accurate depiction of what to expect out of a batter. Why? Among other things, the first statistic to stabilize for hitters is strikeout percentage, and it takes at least 60 plate appearances to do so. Ultimately hitters aren’t worried about looking for the perfect pitch to incur damage upon, they are trying to get their timing down. Anything above and beyond that is icing on the cake.

Conditions for hitting in south Florida are vastly different from The Trop

The Rays play in a dome where there is less air resistance on the ball in flight, and wind is not a factor. Compare that with Charlotte Sports Park, where a stiff breeze blowing in can turn a home run into a routine fly ball.

I distinctly recall a 2015 Grapefruit League game that took place in Tampa between the Rays and Yankees. Catcher Luke Maile hit a ninth inning double that should have left the confines of Steinbrenner Field, however, the wind resistance applied to the ball was enough to keep it in the park. True, that game took place in Tampa, not Port Charlotte, but you catch my drift.

Pitchers aren’t worried about setting up a hitter to freeze him with a nasty slider, rather they are concerned with staying healthy and building arm strength

Pitchers are focused on getting ready for the season, not getting batters out. It takes time for pitchers to build their arm strength. Dips in velocity are going to happen, homers are going to happen, and a pitcher might look like, well…crap prior to Opening Day. A handful of poor spring performances prior to Opening Day isn’t indicative of a pitchers future performance. A good example of that is Corey Kluber, the 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner. Kluber posited a gaudy 5.60 ERA in Spring Training, yet ended the season as the best pitcher in the AL.

Pitchers use Spring Training to work on pitches

It was written elsewhere:

The time for trial and error is now. Spending time during the season experimenting with a two-seam fastball or a circle change is not a good idea. That should be reserved for side sessions and bullpens. During Spring Training, however, there is absolutely no negative impact to trying out some changes that could eventually be beneficial. Sometimes pitchers will go out to the mound only throwing fastballs away in order to work on their command over the outer half of the plate. Sometimes a pitcher will only work inside and give up a couple of bombs from missing spots.

‘Nuff said.

Players are going to make errors, and that’s fine

Cloudless skies turn poppers into doubles, and errors from players playing out of position likely would not happen during the regular season. Spring Training is a time for players, many of whom are untested at the Major League level, to prove their worth. Instead, watch how a player jumps on the ball. Is he quick? Does he have good range? Do his movements seem fluid or stilted? What about his arm? Also, pay attention to where a player is stationed.

Take note of who plays where and for how long

Earlier this week, Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote that Rays manager Kevin Cash plans have Brad Miller make the move to second base as the replacement for Logan Forsythe.

We’re going to get him as many reps as we can at second base, as simple as that, Cash said. He is up for the challenge. … Brad Miller is bought in and is all about the team. He’ll do whatever. But we think for our team this spring we need to get him as acclimated as possible at second base. He is still going to play short because we know that versatility will help us. But he is all about playing second base and being a really good one.

Tim Beckham, Nick Franklin and Daniel Robertson are other internal options on the right side of the infield.

Because the Rays re-signed Logan Morrison to play first, Miller is not likely to get much time there. Instead Rickie Weeks is expected to get some reps at first base, as well as DH, and perhaps the outfield.

For his part, Weeks noted that his plan is to go out and do everything the right way first and foremost:

Watch for injuries

Although minor, both Jose De Leon and Erasmo Ramirez incurred injuries earlier in the week — De Leon with mid back tightness, and Ramirez with a tweaked left hamstring. Both since have recovered, and are back on schedule. Small injuries are to be expected, while others can prove to be detrimental, like Alex Cobb’s season ending UCL tear in 2015.

The win-loss record at the end of the spring means nothing

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim went 19-8 in the Cactus League last season, and the Minnesota Twins sported a 19-11 record in the Grapefruit League. The positive Spring Training outcomes were ultimately meaningless for both teams. Meanwhile Boston went 14-18 and the Cubs went 11-19, and both teams appeared in the postseason — with the Chicago winning the World Series.