Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats
Last week, you got the feel of Washington Nationals Spring Training camp via Steve Mears from his week in Florida. He covered the Nats on the Gulf Coast on road games and back to the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. This week was my experience with two photographers, Jake Stephens and Sol Tucker. This was eye opening from someone who has been going to Spring Training camps since 2006 in Viera, Florida.
Besides all of the technology in camp, it was how it was used. As Steve pointed out, there were coaches, analysts, and player development personnel wherever players were. The technology was hard-wired by ethernet cables to different machines. That data was compiled to computers for further analysis. Players have access codes to download their data and videos.
The MLB players and coaches were very accessible unless they decided to take a ride on a cart or go from the batting cages to the side door on the new half-field that used to be a football-style field with the big Curly W in the middle for the “Circle of Trust.”
The new field is another half-field of artificial turf, and the circular Curly W was moved to behind the infield on what would be the shallow outfield grass. Here is an aerial that Sol Tucker shot of how the complex looks from the air:
One of the big changes we saw was how the pitchers warmed up. They used weighted balls and were throwing those balls against large padded screens. Some of the pads had numbers on them to mark their release points.
You can also see Davian Garcia using the Tidal Tank tech gear for strength, balance and coordination. The weighted balls is a big thing this year for building arm strength and warm-ups.
Side sessions for starters and long relievers were thrown on the pitching mound the furthest from where the crowds were able to stand. You could imagine the purpose of throwing that far from the crowd and the media was to maintain some level of being able to speak freely and away from any bionic ears. Brad Lord just finished his side session, and Luis Perales was next up. There were at least six video cameras set up, and a TV screen showing spin rates, pitch velo, and movement.
One day, the backfields had Florida Complex League kids on one field, Single-A players on another field, Double-A and Triple-A players on another field. On this day, they worked specifically on defense. One set of coaches were working with the infielders and another set of coaches were working with the outfielders. This was replicated on each of the fields.
Eli Willits working on defense. Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats
The next day, they were working with the same groups on baserunning. Getting leads, and then taking a secondary lead, and finally stealing the base. They were timing the players and getting measurements.
On another field, the starting pitchers had mandatory PFPs (pitcher fielding practice) where they worked on the fundamentals that had failed in too many Spring Training games.
Many Nats pitchers like Jake Irvin, Brad Lord, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and Andry Lara were getting innings against minor leaguers. As you can imagine, those pitchers were dominating against the minor leaguers. But we did say a few good pieces of contact and a coach shouting out positive stats and accolades.
One of the great parts of Spring Training this year was the close proximity of a 2-hour drive/train ride on the Brightline to Miami to see some World Baseball Classic games. We wanted to see Dusty Baker managing Nicaragua, Erasmo Ramirez pitching, Jeter Downs playing shortstop, and Shairon Martis for the Netherlands team. To see four former Nats in the same game was amazing. Downs hit a go-ahead 2-run homer that seemed like it would be enough to take a 3-1 Nicaragua lead into the 9th inning — only to see Ozzie Albies hit a 3-run walk-off home run. The crowd was mostly Nicaraguan, and we stayed neutral while sitting right behind the Netherlands dugout. Hopefully you saw those videos on our Instagram stories. What a great experience.
Another great part of the actual Spring Training games was that the Nats is that through 15 Spring Training games, the Nats have 60 players get playing time. Look at some of the names and you will see a dozen position players from the Nats Top-30 prospects. Of course some players have made the most of their showcase time like shortstop Ronny Cruz who hit a 2-run homer through the wind that was blowing in yesterday.
We haven’t seen Marconi German in a Spring Training game yet, but we have seen him in minor leaguer intra-squad games.
Overall, the experience was great except for an eye injury and a sunburned back of the neck. The weather was unusually very hot. We used the Courtyard by Marriott (2.5 miles from CACTI Park) instead of an AirBNB this time and only one day of a rental car which allowed us to drive around for a group dinner (Palm Beach Polo Club), and morning bagels at the new H&H, and the drive to Miami to watch the WBC. We went right back to West Palm Beach to see the night-time game against the Yankees and Nationals.
Everyday was long for us to get to the backfields to watch practice as well as intra-squad games. Each day (except for today) there is an actual Spring Training game to watch. Per a source, tomorrow is the beginning of minor league Spring Training games.
The atmosphere in camp is positive. You can hear coaches yell out exit velo, pitch velo, and compliments when a player did something well. You could hear it during games from manager Blake Butera who is a real reinforcer of positivity. He concentrates on process, not the outcome.
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