Who needs grass? Or a diamond? With the grass fields closed, nine eager Red Wings claimed a corner of turf at Memorial Field and put in a very promising first full-team session.
Infield coach L.J. Gage put our boys through dozens of reps at SS, 2B, and 1B and was very pleased with what he saw. There is always more work to be done--you can never field it cleanly or consistently enough, you can never fire it hard enough or hit the target often enough--but the boys were flashing the leather pretty well for this early point in spring training.
Hitting coach Charlie Patsios oversaw a productive batting practice at the cages. Good mechanics and good contact with soft pitches today, and the boys are ready to hit a bit more heat on Thursday.
As far as pitching, we'll have some depth this season. We've got a handful of guys who can really pound the zone already and many more with the potential. And from what I saw yesterday, we have at least two skilled catchers to support our top-notch rotation.
Most importantly, we've got a wonderful group of boys who love baseball, work hard at it, and support each other. We have the makings of a great team.
I look forward to seeing everybody on Thursday, 5:30 at Newman.
