We started the day watching Tony Watson throw a bullpen on the mound by Bowa Field. The veteran left hander drew a large crowd of coaches and front office folks including GM Dave Dombrowski. Mr. Dombrowski was kind enough to stop and say hello on his way back into the building ... social distant style, we stand up on the overhang by the ticket booths and peer down over the walkway where the folks travel back and forth. Very nice of him to acknowledge us.
I left the fields afterwards for a bit but returned to the Complex around 11:30 to watch live bullpen sessions on Roberts and Carlton fields, seven pitchers threw. The first four hurlers ( Aaron Nola, Ivan Nova, David Hale & Bryan Mitchell ) threw a simulated game where they took turns on the hill and sat between innings. Each went two innings ... Nola/Nova on Roberts and Hale/Mitchell on Carlton.
Hector Rondon followed on Carlton Field with Matt Moore and Vince Velasquez throwing on Roberts. They did not throw simulated games where they sat and returned to the bump but they did face hitters. From my vantage point beyond the outfield fences of Roberts Field Velasquez seemed sharp, he produced a lot of swing and misses with the fastball ... the secondary pitch he seemed focused on was a slow hook. A lot of eyes on him as well today.
The hitters we saw on Roberts Field were Adam Haseley, Mickey Moniak, Travis Jankowski, CJ Chatham, Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura and Ronald Torreyes.
Hoskins had a couple hard line drive hits, Haseley and Moniak also had knocks. Jankowski hit a long fly down the right field line against Nova but I couldn’t see where it landed from my vantage point 🤷♂️.
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Missing Player Status
Didi Gregorius will have his intake test tomorrow. Christian Bethancourt had his today.
Ranger Suarez and Francisco Morales are scheduled to take their intake tests on Sunday. No word yet on when Simon Muzziotti and Neftali Feliz get their tests. All six have had visa issues in getting to camp.
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Bryce Harper was the player today that met with the media via Zoom. He said that young Shortstop Bryson Stott was staying with him this spring, they are good friends. Both are from the Las Vegas area. Bryce said a good comparable for Stott as a hitter is Garret Anderson and that he definitely sees him as a future big leaguer, just needs to get his work in to get there.
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That’s it for the day ....
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️