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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > February > 17
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Reporting time for pitchers, catchers, writers
PITCHERS AND CATCHERS report this week to spring training - and I’m often asked, ” Why do pitchers and catchers report before the rest of the players. Why don’t they all report together?”
Good question. Right now, if I’m an infielder or outfielder and I live in Ohio, I change positions immediately to pitcher or catcher and report right now to Arizona to get out of this two feet of winter wonderland.
As near as I can gather, and nobody has the definitive answer, pitchers need the extra few days to get their arms in shape before they start throwing to live hitters, so they report early. And they need catchers to catch them.
That may have been true way back when, when baseball players didn’t make gazillions and had to pump gas and flip burgers in the off-season to pay the bills, but it is no longer so. Players don’t work anywhere in the off-season, except on their golf games, and they stay in shape - ready to go when spring training begins.
But it’s baseball and it’s tradition.
SO PITCHERS, CATCHERS and baseball writers report this week. Baseball writers have to be there to watch the pitchers play catch with the catchers and work on PFP, the dreaded pitchers fielding practice that pitchers abhor.
If spring training were in, say, Duluth, Minn. or Fargo, N.D. in some indoor facilities, baseball writers wouldn’t be standing at the locker room door shaking hands with pitchers and catchers as they arrive.
But, in the case of the Cincinnati Reds, it’s Arizona and like the rest of my baseball brethren, I’ll be there to soak up the atmosphere (translation: soak up the sun).
I’m arriving in Arizona on Friday for a few days to bring you blogs on how Homer Bailey’s fastball looks - as delivered off a bullpen mound to a minor-league catcher - and to say, “Si, senor,” to Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman, who speaks no English.
AS IT STANDS now, the only major issues in camp for the Reds are:
Who will play left field?
Who will be the fifth starter?
Who will be the extra players?
We’ve beaten the left field issue to a pulp, with no answers. Will it be Chris Dickerson, Jonny Gomes (still unsigned), Wladimir Balentien, Laynce Nix, Juan Francisco, Chris Heisey, Todd Frazier or some mystery man yet to emerge?
The first four in the rotation are set: Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto. The fifth starter would have been Edinson Volquez and that question would be answered. But Volquez had Tommy John surgery and won’t be available until mid-season, if then.
That leaves the fifth spot to: Micah Owings? Matt Maloney? Travis Wood? Aroldis Chapman? Justin Lehr? Or some myster man yet to emerge?
The club appears a bit thin on the bench, which might open the door for rookie Todd Frazier. He signed as a shortstop, but has played third base, second base, first base and left field in the minors. That versatility might earn him a spot on the club to cover several positions when the inevitable injuries surface and as a back-up at several positions when the regulars need rest.
Those are the answers the Reds seek in the next six weeks. My shorts are pressed, my Tommy Bahama shirts are cleaned and folded, my suntan lotion is ready to be slathered, my portable cigar humidor is full.
Play ball - Arizona variety.
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