We spent the morning on our perch behind Roberts Field to watch more minor league practices today. Here are some highlights.
The outfielders were being put thru drills by Andy Abad - minor league outfield coordinator. The usual drills of fly balls, grounders, etc but also one fun drill to end the session. The players were challenged with breaking backwards on a ball thrown into the air by the coach and either catch it with their bare hand else use their hat to bring it in. Johan Rojas made the catch of the day going a long ways on a fly ball and using his hat effortlessly to reel the ball in 😂👁.
Rojas is fun to watch ... later during BP he got a tremendous jump on a long fly to center field off the bat of Carlos De La Cruz to make a running catch. The young man’s baseball instincts are outstanding and he really enjoys playing ... all out hustle.
Speaking of Carlos De La Cruz he was hitting the ball hard consistently in BP against the pitching machine which was cranked up to higher velocities. Many of the fellas repeatedly fouled off the deliveries but Carlos drove a couple over the fences and hammered a bunch to the deep outfield.
Outfielder Hunter Hearn seems noticeably stronger this year, he was already very athletically built when he debuted with Williamsport in 2019 but he’s appeared to have added even more muscle. We liked his potential power bat then ... might even have more pop now 💪.
Cole Stobbe was taking fly balls with the outfielders today which isn’t necessarily surprising as he played some outfield in 2019 in Lakewood. Cole has shown to be a very versatile defender to date in his brief career having played six different positions.
A couple of exciting younger players we’ve spotted in the workouts are outfielder Yhoswar Garcia ( 18 years old ) and Infielder Raymond Mora ( 20 years old ). We look forward to watching them progress over the summer in their first stateside assignments.
It’s our understanding that live bullpen sessions will begin tomorrow building towards the beginning of game action on Friday.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
I will post Mark Wylie photos from today later when I receive them. Something to look forward to 👍⚾️
