Once again we’re in Scottsdale, this time watching the Royals play the Giants. Apparently, Scottsdale Stadium has been here since tail fins, but still a very nice field. Travel days for a 1:05 game means no early work, but there were a few things going on in the clubhouse this morning: Jeff Francoeur arrived with his hair going 93 directions, wearing a T-shirt, shorts and cowboy boots. He tried to explain the get-up: apparently, Frenchy’s going out to dinner here in Scottsdale after the game and didn’t want to mess up his dinner clothes, which were on a hanger. Alex Gordon looked at me and said, “That still doesn’t make sense.”
Frenchy walked off saying, “It is what it is.” He’s right — it is.
Gordon’s contract:
The reason I was over by Alex Gordon’s locker in the first place was to ask him about his contact negotiations. That’s because someone asked me about his contract negotiations. I told Alex to just give me the stock answer he gave everyone else and I’d be satisfied. So here it is: they’re still talking, everybody wants to get a deal done, but it’s going slow. One side makes an offer and the other side takes a week to respond. When negotiating, being in a hurry is not a position of strength.
Practice tip:
Mike Moustakas, wearing cartoon socks that said “Santa Cruz” on them (his socks have to produce a hit that day or they get tossed) was standing about 30 feet away from a pitching machine. He was wearing the small “training glove” I described yesterday and snagging line drives. Mike said kids shouldn’t try this drill. Moose wasn’t standing directly in front of the pitching machine — he made sure the balls shot past off to one side. First to his forehand, then to his backhand side. Moustakas was working on reaction time. He then backed up, caught the ball and worked on his throwing footwork. When Mike does this drill, he goes through one bucket of balls.
When professional ballplayers practice, they figure out a way to get a lot of repetitions in a short amount of time. Moose caught more line drives in 15 minutes than he will in a month of ballgames.
Here’s another one:
Mitch Maier has a bat worth at least one dollar. That’s because he’s taped 100 pennies to the bat head. Apparently, he learned the trick from David DeJesus . The bat head is wrapped in athletic tape, but one layer includes pennies. (Lay strips of tape on the ground, sticky side up, place the pennies on the tape, the tape on the bat and then add layers of tape over that.) Mitch uses the bat to hit off a tee, not live BP.
It’s good practice — and you get to keep the change.
Flips:
Instead of standing on the mound, throwing batting practice, professional hitting coaches often do “flips.” This morning, Kevin Seitzer, was standing behind a pitching screen, sticking his arm out to the side and “flipping” the ball underhand to the hitters who were maybe 20 feet away. Alex Gordon told me Seitzer has three speeds: fast is a semi- fast pitch softball motion, medium is a regular flip and slow has a bit of an arc in it. Once again, lots of repetitions in a short amount of time.
And get that hand back behind the screen after you do the flip.
Defense:
While driving to Scottsdale, Bob Dutton and Joel Goldberg talked about defense while I listened; basically, it’s cheaper than offense. A small-market team, trying to establish an identity and get the most bang for their buck, is smart to emphasize defense. Of course, everyone prefers players who give you both defense and offense, but those guys get expensive.
Umpires:
It’s been suggested that I spend time talking to umpires while I’m here, but it sounds like that can be a tall order. So much of this job is about trust and trust comes from familiarity. When it comes to umpires, I have neither. Unlike players, there is no set time that umpires are available to the media. There’s no hanging out, talking in the dugout. There are people who have been around long enough to have developed relationships with umpires. Right now, I’m not one of them.
Dart throw:
Yesterday, Felipe Paulino attempted a pickoff at second base and threw the ball into the right-center field gap. You’d think a guy who makes a living throwing a baseball wouldn’t miss his target by that much, but there’s a reason it happened. Here it is:
Pitchers sometimes have trouble throwing to bases. Throw 100 pitches 60 feet, 6 inches and then throw a ball 45 feet — in a hurry — and things can get complicated. The arm speed is different and so is the release point. That’s why pitchers (and infielders) sometimes use a “dart throw.” It’s just what it sounds like; put the ball at your ear and throw it with the same motion you would a dart. It’s good for all those in-between-I’m-not-sure-whether-to-underhand-this-or-let-it-rip throws. Dave Eiland says the Royals don’t use the term “dart throw,” but instead talk about “staying short.” Same deal, basically, but whether you “stay short” or “dart throw,” it’s a club you want to have in your bag.
Paulino added to his woes by not getting his feet set correctly. Players get in a rush and sometimes try to skip this step, but that often results in a throw to second that your right fielder has to chase.
The organizational manual:
The Royals have one. It describes how things are done, on and off the field and is used to make sure everyone is on the same page. Bunting in Single A is done the same way in Triple A. That means players moving up (or down) in the organization, don’t have to learn a new way of doing things. Unfortunately, if I want to see the manual, I’m going to have to kill someone. And if I see it, then the Royals need to kill me.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoLee: I didn’t think you would have much luck talking to umpires but thanks for trying. Thought maybe they would be more accessible in Spring Training.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLarry: It’s not impossible and I think your suggestion is a good one, but they don’t make access easy.
I was told I could go knock on the umpires’ door and ask to speak to someone, but it would be like a stranger showing up at your house doing a poll. Just a bit weird.
They don’t come on the field until the media has already left, so there’s none of that “just hanging out, BSing” kind of thing you get with players.
Doesn’t mean it will never happen and some media members have good relations with some umpires. I’m just not there yet.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoIf you’re interested in the ins-and-outs of contracts and what some of the terminology means, Bob Dutton explains a lot of it in today’s feature article on kansascity.com.
Brian Grant
1 year, 1 month agoOK, maybe I’m an idiot, but I don’t get the pennies thing. He tapes the pennies to his bat and then hits off a tee…….why? Royals can’t afford donuts?
Jim Silcott
1 year, 1 month agoLee, I don’t get what the pennies on the bat are for. Thanks!
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoWell, if I confused two of you, I must have done a lousy job explaining it.
The pennies are just another way to create a weighted workout bat. Some players do prefer using a donut, but that puts the weight a little more toward the middle of the bat.
The pennies puts the weight at the barrel. The heavy barrel forces the hitter to use good mechanics and control the bat head. Get sloppy and the barrel will loop under the ball, producing pop ups, or sling out away from the body, producing easy grounders on the pull side. (I wrote about this the other day.)
Mitch was explaining this to me and Billy Butler pointed out that a real stud would use quarters.
I hope that clears it up, if not, let me know and I’ll take a third whack at describing it.
Jason Everett
1 year, 1 month agoA $25 bat weight huh?
Seems like someone would / could come up with something just as good that wouldn’t require you to put money on the end of the bat.
Though usually the simplest of ideas are usually the best… Seems that’s true in baseball as much as everything else.
Loved the base running video BTW; keep up the good work Lee!
Brian Robinson
1 year, 1 month agoNow that you’ve probably seen him a few times by now what are your thoughts on Brian Fletcher? From what I’ve read he’s had a few big hits this spring so far. How’s his defense been? And what about his base running?
Thanks for you input. It’s great getting daily updates on the Royals progress. Only one more week!
Sean Fite
1 year, 1 month agoI didn’t think this blog could get any better, but these Spring Training fundamental tips have been excellent! I know I’ll enjoy the daily game reviews, but I’ve been eating up all the info you’ve posted over the last 8 days.
Thanks for continuing the great work you do! Respect and trust are two things that make this blog work, and you’ve obviously earned both from the players and coaches, which speaks a lot about your character.
Don Aubry
1 year, 1 month agoMaybe someone with Billy’s contract would use quarters, but a lowly reserve outfielder has to use pennies.
Actually, doesn’t Mitch Maier have more service time than Billy?
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJason: Thanks, glad you liked the base running video. We’ll put up a third one on Thursday. Now that I’m here and see how jam-packed the day is, I can’t believe Doug Sisson came out early to make them.
The Royals have been extraordinary about access. I can’t write anything that helps the opposition, but the coaches are allowing me to watch all the drills and see how the team prepares.
Royals fans are getting a good look at the inner workings of a baseball team—now that I think about it, me too.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoBrian: I’ve only seen Brian Fletcher a couple times, he’s been over in minor-league camp. If the team is playing a split-squad game or just needs extra players, they’ll bring along some minor leaguers.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoSean: Thank you. I don’t coach anymore, but I’ve thought that if I ever took it up again, I’d be a better one after learning so much from these guys.
I don’t know about my character, but I get the sense the coaches and players appreciate someone who shows an interest in the details of the game.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoDon: Lucky I’ve got Bob Dutton and Joel Goldberg in the press box with me: Billy actually has more service time than Mitch. But that doesn’t keep Mitch from abusing Billy on a regular basis.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month agoLee, if you get a chance ask Kevin Seitzer why there aren’t more switch-hitters in the game. That seems such a useful skill that I would think it would be taught young and continually.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJim: I’ll ask the next chance I get. Although, when the Royals had to lay down 10 bunts each, Brayan Pena had to lay down 20—10 each side.
Maybe that’s the drawback to switch hitting; twice as much practice.
Larry Tindle
1 year, 1 month agoJim: Another drawback to switch hitting is it is very difficult to master hitting from one side let alone 2.
Lee: I have had a lot of windshield time this week and came up with what I think is the best way to follow a baseball team now that you have me looking for the little thing and such.
I grew up listening to baseball on radio with maybe 5 games a year on TV. No cable in those days only 3 channel. I was content. Then Cable TV and lots of TV games. I was very content. Then I moved to KC and bought season tickets and it spoiled me forever. I never knew how much of the game I was missing before. I understand yor comment that you do not know how media writers can write about games they do not watch.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLarry: Sounds like we’re from the same generation. The “Game of the Week” was a big deal because it was the game of the week…and that was it.
I swore I’d never pay to watch TV, but now I can’t live without cable. (Newspapers have to figure out how to emulate that switch.)
But even TV decides what you get to watch; if they don’t show it, you can’t see it. Now, after hearing all this information from players and coaches, there are so many things to watch at a live game I’m not sure where to look.