TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2017
A few days ago, I stopped in to the park to see what was happening and there were a handful of players taking BP. Today I stopped in and the field was full of players doing long toss. Of the ones I saw, I counted 43, but they were moving around and I have no idea how many were up in the stadium. It looks like I will be starting my reports a week earlier this year. This spring has a shorter period to work on drills and a lot more games. I think the World tournament may have something to do with it. Maybe there isnât more games, but rather they moved those last games of the spring that they used to play in Philly has been moved here.
Most practices start with stretching exercises and then go into long toss. I got there about 9:45 and they were already into the long toss. If that keeps up, that will be a change. They usually started at about 10 am. One thing that has to be understood is that the players have not been issued their regular uniâs and they are wearing what looks like gym clothes. They have neither numbers, nor names on their back. I have a real disadvantage here. Fortunately, I ran into Jim Peyton of Phuture Phillies and he helped me with that. He knows most of them by site. The players I recognized and were familiar with were Roman Quinn, Tommy Joseph, Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Pullin. He looks like he has bulked up some.
When they finished the long toss, Larry Bowa hit some ground balls to a group of players fielding first base. Tommy Joseph was among them. The pitchers disappeared, maybe to the stadium. One of the coaches was also hitting flies and grounders to some guys in the outfield.
The Complex
For those fans who have not been down here before, something has to be said about the complex. First off, it is impossible to see everything that goes on during the workout sessions. There are 4 fields in the complex, and the minor league building sits between them so that you can only see 2 fields at a time. There is the stadium itself and a short field with no outfield in front of it. All together that is 6 fields. The entrance to the stadium is a fair hike from the Carpenter Complex. There are pitching mounds all over the place. In addition, they have all kinds of indoor facilities for pitching and bp under the stands and in a workout building that canât be seen at all. You will always miss some stuff and it is best to reconcile yourself to it and make some choices. With all of that, the complex part of it was never built to handle the crowds they sometimes get. The spectators for the February workouts have grown greatly since I first started to attend 13 years ago. Some of it might be the stabilization of the economy and more people able to take winter vacations.
They say that they actually run the minor leagues operations out of the offices on the second floor of the building in the middle of the Carpenter Complex. During spring training, they use the first floor to feed and have a club house for the minor leaguers both while the major leaguers are in camp and during the summer when the Threshers are in the stadium. They also run the rookie league that starts after the amateur draft in June on those fields. My sympathy goes out to those kids. The Florida sun is brutal in July and August and there is no shade down there. They did add a couple of electronic scoreboards on two of the complex fields. They donât seem to have a kitchen. Everything seems to be catered. For all of you guys who are always whining about where the money goes, there is some of it. It canât be cheap. They also feed the major leaguers with catering up in the stadium.
The Phils are in a naming game down at the minor league complex. Everything that can be named, is named. The building in the complex is called, â Paul Owens Training Facilityâ, the four fields are named after Schmidt, Ashburn, Roberts and Carlton and the whole complex is the Carpenter Complex. They are running out of things to name.