It’s also Spring Training for Me
Day two of my visit to Maryvale saw three members of the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen and two 2017 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitch against the Fort Wayne TinCaps.
Today’s interview from Maryvale is with Timber Rattlers pitching coach Steve Cline. I talk to him about getting minor league pitchers ready for the season, how many tandems to expect in the rotation in 2018, the performance of the three major leaguers to pitch for the Rattlers today, minor league pitchers who have impressed this spring, and a few other things.
Notes on the game and the day and an explanation of the title of the post are below the podcast.
The highlight of the morning workout happened at the end of the second batting practice group.
The final round of every group is the basehit round. A player gets in the box and if he hits a ball that is judged a basehit, he gets to stay in the box and gets to swing until he hits a ball that is judged an out.
Coaches and other players are notorious tough judges. For example, a grounder in either hole on the infield is an out. Deep flies to the warning track? That’s an out. Popups that might drop? Out. Weak contact? Oh, you better believe that’s an out.
Pat McInerney was fourth in the second group today and hit a line drive to the outfield for a hit. Then, he hit another one. Then, he hit another and another. I think the streak made it to five or six before it ended to allow Kenny Corey, the final batter in the group, to get his final swings of the round.
The amusing part of was that the five players in group three were all around the cage waiting for their round to start and they were starting to get on McInerney.
The Rattlers lost the game to the TinCaps on Thursday by a final of 10–5. Wisconsin had a 3–0 and 4–2 lead, but Fort Wayne scored six runs in the sixth inning and two more in the eighth to rally for the win. The two runs in the eighth inning scored after a two-out error extended the inning. The final score was a negative, so I will focus on the positive.
Nattino Diplan was the starting pitcher for the Rattlers and had a very efficient first inning. He worked 1–2–3 on less than ten pitches. He went over to the bullpen to get a little more work after he was done.
Corey Knebel faced five batters in the top of the second. He gave up a leadoff seeing-eye single and a two-out seeing-eye single but worked a scoreless inning as he struck out the other three batters.
Josh Hader pitched the top of the third and retired the side in order with a strikeout, a popup, and a strikeout (on a called third strike).
Here is where I admit that it is Spring Training for me. I watched the whole top of the fourth inning through my camera phone as I tried to get some video of Matt Albers. I got really good shot of a called third strike for the final out along with Jacob Nottingham throwing out a runner on an attempted steal for a bonus out. I posted the video and moved on to the next inning without realizing that the pitcher on the mound was Oliver Drake…not Matt Albers. Whoops. Sorry, guys.
Still…That’s a great shot!
Jose Cuas, an infielder last year, is making the move to the mound and he pitched a 1–2–3 top of the ninth with a strikeout.
Offensive highlights for the Rattlers today:
Chad McClanahan had a ground rule double in the fourth, a single in the eighth, and a double in the ninth.
McInerney also reached base three times with an RBI single in the fourth, a walk in the sixth, and a single in the eighth.
Gabriel Garcia legged out an RBI triple in the fourth and would hustle home on a poor throw on the play to the cheers of his teammates.
Looking back on my notes of the game, the Timber Rattlers hitters only struck out four times over nine innings. They were putting the ball in play.
The schedule for Saturday is a workout at 9am with a game against the Dayton Dragons over at Goodyear at 1pm. I will have updates on Twitter during the day.
Thursday’s Lineup:
