Archive for Boston Red Sox

Chili Davis is now the hitting coach in Boston. Josh Donaldson is now a Blue Jay. For the past three seasons they were together in Oakland, where they didn’t always see eye-to-eye.

Davis is a note-taker. He logs how his hitters are being pitched to, as well any bad habits they might be getting into. He also logs conversations. If Davis sees a player getting away from what he does well, he can reference his notebook and address the situation from there. There was a certain amount of push-back when he approached the club’s all-star third baseman.

“Donaldson was stubborn,” Davis told me earlier this week. ‘Donaldson was, ‘This is how I do things.’ And that’s fine if you’re swinging it good. But if you’re not swinging good, and not implementing what you told me you like to do, I need to bring you back to when you were doing things right.

“Donaldson, at times, would say things that contradict how I think. I’m not saying he’s wrong – that’s just how he thinks – but I had to adjust to that.”

According to Davis, Donaldson’s mechanics – he utilizes a leg kick – require “more rhythm and sync” and can “get violent at times, too aggressive.” He said Donaldson needed to focus on being under control, and not jumpy.

Davis made clear that while Donaldson could be stubborn, he wasn’t inflexible. Read the rest of this entry »

Jackie Bradley, Jr. might win a Gold Glove tonight. He should. The Red Sox centerfielder is an American League finalist at his position along with Adam Eaton and Adam Jones. He easily outpaced both in Fielding Bible balloting, with only National Leaguer Juan Lagares ranking higher.

Then again, Bradley probably didn’t hit well enough to win a traditional Gold Glove. [Yes, the ghosts of Derek Jeter and Rafael Palmeiro continue to haunt.] The 24-year-old rookie put up a scary-bad .198/.265/.266 slash line in 423 plate appearances.

Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Maddon sees a suppressed run-scoring environment across baseball and feels the way to bring back more offense is… well, he doesn’t really know. The Tampa Bay Rays manager – oops, make that former Tampa Bay Rays manager – had thoughts on the subject when we spoke in September. They were more musings than manifestos.

I asked Maddon if he sees an irreversible trend or simply a cyclical dip His answer suggested the former, with a nod in the direction of the bullpen.

“Offense hasn’t benefited at all from any of the new discoveries in the game,” said Maddon. “It’s only been injured by it. Along with the subtraction of PEDs, there’s informed data on pitching and defense, which has really slanted the field in favor of that area of the game. There are also accelerated bullpens. Look at Kansas City’s bullpen, Oakland’s bullpen, Baltimore’s bullpen. Specialization has really taken over.”

It’s hard to argue Maddon’s last point. Not only did teams hit just .251 this year – the lowest average in over 40 years — from the seventh inning on that number was .241. Teams also fanned an average of 7.7 times per game, the highest in history. Bullpens were a big part of that, with a whopping 41 qualifying relievers logging a K/9 of 10.0 or better.

*Attention fans of the Detroit Tigers: you might want to skip the next paragraph. Read the rest of this entry »

Junichi Tazawa is satisfied with his current role. Sort of. The 28-year-old set-up specialist would rather start or close, but he’s comforted by the knowledge that outs in the seventh and eighth innings can be every bit as valuable as outs in the ninth. And he gets a lot of them. Tazawa made 71 appearances for the Red Sox this season and logged a 2.86 ERA over 63 innings.

His job isn’t simple. Along with frequently facing high-leverage situations, he doesn’t have one designated inning. Tazawa pitched in the eighth inning 45 times this year, and 16 times in the seventh. He also made appearances in the sixth, the ninth, and in extra frames.

Further impacting Tazawa’s preparation has been his usage relative to the scoreboard. He entered 29 games with the Red Sox trailing. On 28 occasions he entered with a lead.

“My job doesn’t really depend on whether we’re winning or losing,” acknowledged Tazawa, through translator C.J. Matsumoto. “There is the possibility I will get into either situation, so I’m looking at the pitch count and trying to get my blood flow going. I need to be able to step right in there.”

One of the questions I asked Tazawa at season’s end was whether his ready-at-any-time role is more challenging mentally or physically. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Nava spent a month in Triple-A Pawtucket earlier this season. Whether he merited the temporary demotion is a matter of opinion. Regardless of any stated reasons, the Red Sox outfielder was sent down partly as punishment for not appeasing the BABiP gods.

Not long before Nava got the bad news, I discussed his sudden propensity to hit into bad luck with Red Sox beat writer Jason Mastrodonato. At the time, Nava had a line-drive rate a shade under 25% and a ground-ball rate just over 42%. His batting average was well south of the Mendoza line. Mastronato – a stat-savvy scribe – agreed with me that it probably wouldn’t be fair to send Nava down. The switch-hitter was coming off a year in which he hit .303/.385/.445. A reversal of fortune seemed imminent.

Shortly thereafter, Nava had a two-hit game, upping his BA to .149 BA and his BABiP to .167. His next 98 plate appearances came in a PawSox uniform.

The 31-year-old has been back in Boston since late May – platooning with lefty-killer Jonny Gomes – and has seen his numbers slowly climb. Notable is the fact his BABiP has risen over .120 points despite a line-rate nearly identical to when he was sent down.

Nava isn’t a numbers guy — he professes to not look at his stats – nor is he one to complain. While many players would take vocal umbrage at a demotion, the humble outfielder has kept his mouth shut and his chin held high. But he is willing to admit it was frustrating to go through a stretch where nothing was falling.

“I was very aware that my numbers weren’t completely representative of how well I was hitting the ball,” Nava told me on Friday. “I knew [the bad luck] was going to end eventually, it was just a matter of when. I never got to find out before getting sent down, but that’s part of the game. At the end of the day, I also knew I wasn’t hitting as well as I could.” Read the rest of this entry »

Pedro Martinez was a genius with a baseball in his right hand. One of the most dominant pitchers of all time, he didn’t just overpower hitters. He outsmarted them. When he was on top of his game – as he often was – he was almost unhittable. No starting pitcher in history has a better adjusted ERA.

Martinez might be best described as a thinking man’s power pitcher. His pure stuff alone would have made him a star. His ability to read hitters and maximize his talent put him on a whole new level. The Hall of Fame awaits.

Martinez – currently a special assistant for the Red Sox – shared the wisdom of his craft earlier this week at the site of some his greatest glory, Fenway Park.

——

Martinez on the art and science of pitching: “Pitching is both [art and science] and you have to put them together. You have to study a lot. You have to study the movement of your pitches – the distance your pitches move compared to the swing paths of batters. You have to learn to read bat speed against the speed of a fastball. You can tell a slow bat or a long swing, or a short, quick swing. You counter those things. If a hitter has a slow swing, I don’t want to throw him anything soft. I want to go hard against slow. If he has a quick bat, I probably want to be soft more than I want to be hard. You have to be able to repeat your delivery and be deceiving at the same time.

“You repeat – you try to be consistent – until they start to figure out what you’re doing. If they don’t, that’s great. Just go through your routine and repeat, repeat, repeat. I wish I could have just thrown fastballs, but that wasn’t the case. I went along with the way the hitters and the game was going. I let the game come to me. I executed whatever I had to execute.”

On being a student of the game: “I would say the second half in 1996 is when I [made the transition from thrower to pitcher]. After that I felt I was on top of my craft. I felt like I could do what I wanted to do. I’d have off games sometimes, but everybody does. But most of the time I’d be around where I wanted to be. That’s when I feel I was becoming who I wanted to be as a pitcher. Read the rest of this entry »

Grant Balfour plays baseball like a rugby player for a reason. He used to be one. The demonstrative Tampa Bay Rays closer grew up with the game in New South Wales Australia. His yelling – sometimes profanity-laced – comes from a scrum mentality he inherited from his father.

“I played rugby for my school,” said Balfour. “It’s the sport my dad played. He played some rugby league matches at the first-grade level, which is equivalent to the NFL here. He played for the Balmain Tigers, who are now the Wests Tigers. I didn’t pursue a career in rugby – baseball has always been my priority – but I played growing up and still love the game.”

Most Americans aren’t well-informed on the sport, so I asked Balfour to give a brief primer.

“There is rugby and there is also rugby league,” explained Balfour. They’re two different games in Australia, but they’re fairly similar. In rugby league you can be tackled and held. Rugby is more of a continuous game. You form rucks and mauls, and continuously move the ball. There are differences like line outs instead of scrums, but to somebody who doesn’t know the games they look a lot the same.

“There are strategies to both. You have to be tough, but also smart. I think if you can be intense and also in control – if you can have controlled intensity – you can take it over the top. You can’t lose your mind and be crazy. Intensity is something you need to harness.”

Controlled intensity is a good description of Balfour’s demeanor. The 36-year-old righthander is no shrinking violet with a baseball in his hand.

“I’m a guy who doesn’t leave anything on the table,” said Balfour. “I show my passion and my fight, and if my intensity level is up there, so is my focus. I zone in on what I’m doing and get intense about my business. My father was a pretty tough guy and always had the mentality of being a bit of an underdog and a fighter. That mentality is part of being an Australian.”

I asked Balfour if he’s channeling his inner rugby player when he’s firing fastballs and yelling at himself on the mound.

“I think maybe I am,” said Balfour. “The toughness [rugby players] have is the same as you see in the NFL. It takes one kind of man to play a sport like that. There’s some yelling going on in rugby. Like I said, I’m getting myself fired up on the mound. Sometimes I need to take a step back from that, but other times I need to yell.”

——

Koji Uehara isn’t as demonstrative as Grant Balfour. The Red Sox closer quietly and methodically mows down hitters with impeccable command and a devastating splitter. That wasn’t always the case.

Uehara was a different pitcher when he burst onto the scene in Japan. Playing for the Yomiuri Giants, he went 20-4 with a 2.09 ERA in his 1999 rookie season. He was a starter who didn’t throw a split-finger fastball.

“I was throwing a lot of sliders then,” Uehara said through a translator. “I threw fastballs and sliders.”

Uehara twice won the Sawamura Award – Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award – in his early years in Nippon Professional Baseball [NPB]. How might he have done pitching in MLB at the time? The righthander was reluctant to say.

“I don’t think about it that way,” said Uehara. “I don’t like to look back at “if” and “what” kind of things. The only thing I know is that I am able to play at the level I am now because I played in the Japanese professional league.”

His response was similar when I asked if he could have succeeded in MLB without a splitter.

“I’ve never really thought of it that way,” answered Uehara. “[But] as soon as I started throwing the split, I forgot how to throw the slider.”

Strikeout rates are lower in Japan than they are here. Did the difference in style of play impact his pitching approach?

“As far as aggressiveness, I don’t think there is much of a difference between here and Japan,” said Uehara. “The hitters here have more power, so I did have to adjust to that. I attack them aggressively and not much differently.”

MLB baseballs aren’t identical to the ones used in Japan. Does that make a difference?

“They’re more slippery here, so I have to adjust to that,” said Uehara. “What I use to get a better grip changed. More pine tar.”

More pine tar?

“I’m joking,” laughed Uehara.

NPB’s posting system isn’t a laughing matter. Uehara was 24 years old when he graduated from the Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences. He could have come to the United States. Instead he signed with Yomiuri, who subsequently held his rights for nine years.

“There weren’t as many Japanese major league players over here [in 1999],” explained Uehara. “So there were some non-baseball-related things I wasn’t quite sure about. I also wasn’t really confident I would do well here. But I definitely wanted to come here earlier than I did. Unfortunately, I was with a team, the Giants, that didn’t allow players to use the posting system. It is what it is.”

——

Tucker Barnhart almost got the best of Koji Uehara on Tuesday night. The Cincinnati Reds catcher hit a long, towering fly ball in the ninth inning of a tie game at Fenway Park. Shane Victorino caught it in front of the 380-foot marker in right-center field.

Barnart’s blast would have been a home run in 29 of 30 big-league ballparks. Not this one. When it fell just short, the 22-year-old rookie cradled his head in his hands in disbelief along the first base line.

“I crushed it – I hit it as good as I can hit a ball – it just didn’t go out,” Barnhart told me the following day. “The pitch was a fastball middle-in. If I could draw up a homer pitch, that’s about where it was. When I hit it, I immediately started talking to it like a golf shot, like Go! Go!

“Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever been at Fenway. I’m a switch-hitter and we were facing a lefty starter, so I took most of my swings in batting practice righthanded. I only took one round lefthanded, so coming into the at bat I didn’t really know what it took to get the ball out to right field. I hit it really well, but it just kind of hung up there and Victorino ran it down.”

Barnhart has one home run in 19 big-league at bats. He hit it at Great American Ballpark on May 1 versus the Brewers. The one at Fenway traveled a greater distance.

“It was definitely farther than the one I hit at home,” said Barnhart. “It’s 380 to the spot I hit the ball last night, and it’s about 325 or 330 in Cincinnati. This one was probably about 45-50 feet farther. But it comes with the territory. Things even out over the long run.”

I asked Barnhart if he was familiar with Fenway’s red seat. Located in the right field bleachers, it commemorates a home run hit by Ted Williams, in 1946.

“A few of us who had never been here before arrived early for a tour and they were talking about the red seat,” answered Barnhart. “I believe they said it’s 502 feet from home plate. I know I don’t have that in the tank. I saw it out there and it’s definitely not where I was aiming.”

——

Tucker Barnhart was in the Reds lineup because Devon Mesoraco is on the disabled list. Jay Bruce, Aroldis Chapman, Tony Cingrani and Mat Latos are also on the DL. Billy Hamilton wasn’t in the starting lineup in Boston due to a sore wrist.

Do the Reds have enough depth to withstand the injuries, or the talent to earn a playoff spot once everyone is healthy? The team has received plenty of criticism for their lack of moves during the offseason. Shin-Soo Choo departed as a free agent and there were no notable acquisitions.

Given the inflated demands of the free agents on the market, it’s understandable why Walt Jocketty stood pat. That’s not to say he couldn’t have found creative ways to upgrade a talented-yet-flawed team. The Reds general manager feels he did the right thing.

“There weren’t a lot of moves to make,” said Jocketty. “We like our team and we’ve liked our team all along. Unfortunately, we’ve had a number of injuries so people aren’t getting an opportunity to see how good our team is.”

Jocketty’s point is valid. Regardless of what he might have done over the offseason, his squad has been competing without several key pieces. But could he – should he – have made moves?

“I’ve learned to be patient,” said Jocketty. “The worst thing you can do is keep making changes all the time. Then there’s no continuity with your club. You need to have faith in your players and you need to have faith in your manager and staff. I do. It’s just a matter of time until we get all our guys back, and then we’ll see where we are.”

I asked Jocketty if overpaying this past offseason would have negatively impacted future opportunities to improve the team.

“It wasn’t just [will we have money later], it was also ‘Do we have enough money now?,’ responded Jocketty “We’d have loved to have Choo back, but we couldn’t afford him. And there really wasn’t anything else we felt we could do — that we felt we could financially do. Once your club is set, it’s pretty hard to make changes.”

——

When Josh Tomlin was drafted in 2005, his scouting report said he had good range with quick reactions and the hands to play shortstop. His bat was quick. San Diego’s 11th-round pick hit .351 at Angelina Junior College.

Tomlin’s scouting report also said his arm was his best tool, which is a big reason he bypassed signing with the Padres and transferred to Texas Tech. The decision didn’t positively impact his draft status – he was Cleveland’s 19th-round pick in 2006 – but it was the catalyst to a big-league career.

“In junior college, I would come into games from shortstop to pitch the later innings,” said Tomlin. “I had a feel for pitching, but wasn’t ready to make that move yet. When I went to Texas Tech, I’d pitch on Friday night and play short, second, or third on Saturday and Sunday. I realized at that point I had a better chance as a pitcher than I did playing the field.”

The Indians realized it as well. A year earlier the Padres weren’t quite so sure.

“San Diego drafted me as kind of a… I wouldn’t say a two-way player, but it was a situation where I could have played infield in the Padres organization,” said Tomlin. “The transition to pitcher probably would have happened eventually, but I’d have gotten a shot at short had I signed with them.

“When I was drafted by the Indians in 2006, it was ‘We want you as a pitcher; you’re going to be a pitcher.’ It was clearly the right decision. I could swing the bat a little, but I wasn’t going to hit for power. I was going to be a slap guy, and I wasn’t very fast either. From talking to people who have been around the game for a long time, I knew I had a better chance to make it as a pitcher.”

The right-hander clearly went the right route. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss playing the field.

“I still have the mentality of an infielder,” admitted Tomlin. “I still love taking ground balls in the infield during BP. It’s probably my favorite thing in the world to do. But knowing how I hit… I swing a wet newspaper. I don’t think I really had a chance to make it to the big leagues as a position player.”

——

Twenty-five years ago the Oakland A’s swept the San Francisco Giants in the Earthquake Series. Mike Gallego remembers it well. An A’s infielder at the time, Gallego was on the field when the Loma Prieta earthquake shook Candlestick Park, and the entire Bay Area, before Game 3. The 1989 World Series was put on hold for 10 days.

In the interim, Jose Canseco caused a disruption of his own. Gallego – now Oakland’s third base coach – told me the story when the A’s visited Boston last weekend.

“After the earthquake hit we were kind of in limbo,” said Gallego “We were wondering if they were going to continue the World Series or not. Tony LaRussa came up with the idea of sending us back to our spring training site in Arizona. That would get us out of the area and keep our minds focused on winning the World Series if it restarted.

“The first day we got to Arizona he said we were going to have closed practices and inter-squad games. He wanted the intensity to be there. He wanted us to take our at bats seriously and play hard. Break up a double play if needed. We all agreed.

“I’m playing shortstop. Dennis Eckersley is on the mound and Jose Canseco is at the plate. Everyone is taking it seriously except for one guy. That’s Jose Canseco. He’s thinking, ‘What are we doing practicing?’

“Jose gets in the box and kind of digs in. He really takes his time. Eckersley is getting ready to throw the pitch and you can see he’s getting a little perturbed waiting. Eck steps off the mound and Canseco is looking out at him, kind of laughing. Then Canseco points out to center field like Babe Ruth. Eck just kind of stood there like, ‘Oh, really?’

“Ron Hassey is catching and gives a Eck a sign for fastball away. Eck shakes. Slider, shakes again. Fastball in, yes. Eckersley rears back and drills Canseco right in the back. Canseco can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. No one can believe it. Canseco charges the mound.

“We didn’t brawl, but everyone was yelling and screaming at each other. This was at our spring training site with nobody in the stands and no media. It was just us in an empty stadium. Tony loved it. It was just the kind of intensity he wanted. I thought to myself, ‘If we get back to the World Series, we’re definitely winning this thing.’”

Tim Bogar was hired over the off-season to be Ron Washington’s bench coach in Texas. It looks like a good fit. Their relationship stretches back to Bogar’s minor-league playing days.

Bogar’s background is also a fit for the front office. The 47-year-old is well-versed in sabermetric concepts, having worked under Joe Maddon in Tampa and Terry Francona in Boston. He also spent a season with Bobby Valentine, giving him an up-close look at what can happen when managerial decisions are based more on whimsy than analytic judgment.

General manager Jon Daniels says Bogar wasn’t hired as a conduit to the team’s analytics department. That doesn’t mean he won’t influences the more-traditional Washington. Defensive-positioning is an early indicator.

“We’ve been shifting a little more this year,” Daniels told me earlier this week. “That’s something Tim Bogar is implementing. He, along with Wash, sets our infield. They communicate with Mike Maddux, so we can defend according to the game plan against hitters. I don’t know exactly how shifts are measured — how extreme a guy has to be out of “standard position” to qualify — but Wash and Dave Anderson did shift some in the past. Tim is a little more aggressive with it.”

According to Baseball Info Solutions, the Rangers shifted 355 times last season — 10th most in MLB — and are slightly ahead of that pace two weeks into the current campaign. What happens henceforth will depend on matchups and, as Daniels alluded to, interpretation.

“We’re shifting, although probably not as dramatically as some would want,” said Bogar. “There are a lot of people out there who would like everybody to be shifting in a certain way. I’d say we move guys enough to be noticed, but sometimes not enough for it to be considered a shift.”

Would there be more-pronounced shifting if he, not Ron Washington, was running the ball club?

“We’re just trying to put our players in the best possible position to succeed,” Bogar replied diplomatically. “Wash and I talk all the time about what we want to do with certain players and certain situations. Ultimately, it comes down to what he wants, but we discuss a lot of things.”

It was a different story when he served as Bobby Valentine‘s bench coach.

“Bobby didn’t ever ask my opinion,” said Bogar. “He actually didn’t talk to me at all. He wasn’t like Wash.”

“The way Wash runs his staff is very collaborative,” agreed Daniels. “He wants guys to speak their mind. Wash was actually Tim’s manager in A ball, so they weren’t starting from scratch. They already had a rapport. Wash has encouraged him to be an active part of the in-game decision-making process.”

Does Daniels hope Bogar’s saber-friendly approach will rub off on Washington?

“He wasn’t hired for that,” said Daniels. “I’m sensitive to the idea Tim was put in to implement front office strategy. That’s not the case at all. The bottom line is that Tim is a good baseball man. He’s a good coach and teacher. He’s smart, a good communicator, detail-oriented, and knows how to use information. He has the ability to merge both [traditional and sabermetic] ideas.”

Daniels does as well. As a matter of fact, the Rangers GM believes melding the two is essential.

“There’s a give and take,“ explained Daniels. “Wash and I talk about things and some we agree on and some we don’t. But at the end of the day, we supply as much information as we can and trust the staff to use it to the best of their abilities. I’m not looking to agree with every move we make. It’s more about the bigger picture of getting our players in the best position to succeed. There are different ways to accomplish the same goals.”

——

All pitchers have the same goal of throwing quality strikes. How they go about it isn‘t always the same. Red Sox left-handers Jon Lester and Andrew Miller deliver pitches from different sides of the rubber.

“I started out on the third base side, then I went to the first base side,” said Lester. “Now I’m not all the way on the first base side, but rather a little bit toward the middle. I moved about a year and a half ago when I was having trouble with my hip. This kind of alleviated some things. I felt it was easier for me to get the ball to the glove side.”

“I stand on the third base side,” said Miller. “I think that opens up the strike zone a little more. I was on the first base side until probably 2011. I think that adds to deception and creates better angles, but it narrows the strike zone for you. I sacrificed some angle, but my slider is a pretty big breaking pitch and I carry enough angle as it is.”

Physical starting points aren’t the only things that will differ. So is the focus pitchers put on endpoints.

“Each guy is going to have his own gig,” said Lester. “Take this guy pitching [on the clubhouse TV] for the Orioles. [Zach Britton] is a big power sinker guy, so he’s probably not throwing for the glove. A guy with a lot of movement is probably aiming for areas, but I’m a four-seam guy. I have to throw it to the glove. That’s where my focus is.”

Chris Hernandez, a left-handed pitcher for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox, doesn’t throw to the glove.

“I never throw to the mitt, because I have so much movement,” said Hernandez, who features a cutter. “I just try to stay between the knees. I always tell my catcher to set up on halves of the plate. Let’s say the middle of the plate is the point. Instead of setting up on the outer black, I have him set up in between the point and the black. I throw the ball and let it play for a strike.”

Hernandez is more precise when it comes to breaking balls, but he‘s still not throwing directly to the mitt.

“If I’m throwing a curveball for a strike, I usually aim for his shoulder,” explained the left-hander. “My curveball is going to break from his right shoulder to the mitt. With a changeup, I’ll focus on the bottom of his face mask to drop it in for a strike. If I don’t want to throw it for a strike, I’ll focus more on the mitt and let it fall below the zone.”

Lester and Miller visualize their breaking pitches, albeit in slightly different ways.

“If I’m throwing a strike curveball, I’m looking at the glove,” said Lester. “I’m a visual person, so I pick out spots in my head, or remember a curveball I threw in the past that I can draw from. I visualize it and throw it.”

“A slider, a pitch that has that much action… personally, I have to visualize the whole path of the pitch,” said Miller. “I’m not throwing at a left-handed hitter’s hip. That’s too simplified for me. I need to see the whole thing in my head. If I wasn’t visualizing, I’d be in deep trouble.”

——

D.J. Baxendale has a backup plan. If his playing career doesn’t pan out, the 23-year-old Minnesota Twins pitching prospect will be interviewing his former teammates.

“I was a journalism major in college,” said Baxendale, who attended the University of Arkansas. “My aunt was a news anchor in Texarkana for awhile, and I’ve always wanted to do something in sports, so I jumped right in. I learned from taking classes that a lot of work goes into it, but I liked talking in front of the camera and interviewing people.”

The right-hander isn’t ready to switch sides of the microphone just yet. He went 12-7 with a 3.90 ERA between Fort Myers and New Britain in his first full professional season. This year he’s back with the Double-A Rock Cats, who are expected to add Byron Buxton to the roster once his wrist injury is fully healed.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be Byron Buxton,” said Baxendale. “Being such a high-profile guy… it’s got to be tough. Knowing Buxton, he was really shy about it at first. I give him a lot of credit for how much he‘s grown up in that area. He’s really worked on being able to talk in front of a camera, and to talk to reporters. He feels a lot more comfortable in that environment now. It’s not always easy.”

How do players view the media when they enter a clubhouse?

It’s kind of a mixed reaction,” opined Baxendale. “Some guys don’t really like talking to the media, because don’t feel comfortable with it. Some guys don’t really have a care either way, they just see it as part of the job. Then you have guys who really enjoy talking to the media. They like cameras. They get a real kick out of it.”

I asked if there is ever resentment toward a player getting the lion’s share of attention.

“No, it is what it is,” answered Baxendale. “We all have a pretty good idea of where we rank as prospects. We know the higher-up guys draw the most. There are first-round picks and there are 40th-round picks. That’s just part of life in the minor leagues.”

Where does he fit in?

“I don’t like to classify myself as far as prospect status,” said the 2012 10th-rounder. “I let all the big sources handle that. Whatever they want to say about me, they will. That’s how it works.”

——

Robbie Ross is working out of the Rangers rotation after spending the last two years in their bullpen. He embraces his new role. The 24-year-old southpaw told me he likes starting because “It’s your day. You work as hard as you can to get ready for it, and when you get out there you do your best. I like that mentality.”

Ross approaches his vocation the way he approaches life. His glass is half full, and he keeps everything in perspective.

“It’s important to slow things down and just do what you can to get outs,” said Ross. “If you put too much pressure on yourself it becomes difficult to perform. Sometimes you can press so hard it’s not a game anymore. Instead of something you enjoy, it becomes stressful. This is supposed to be fun. Control your mind so you’re not thinking the bad things. Think about the good things.

“We’re working as hard as we can, but we have to remember we get to be out here playing a game. I’m where I’m at because of what God has blessed me with. [A baseball career] is very short-lived, so I want to enjoy this and do the best I can.”

Last September, Ross did his best to support an important cause. He and his wife, Brittany, participated in the NOH8 campaign, a charitable organization promoting marriage, gender and human equality.

“It was important to us because it was a no-hate campaign,” explained Ross. “[Gays and lesbians] are being discriminated against. There’s a lot of bitterness and hate being directed toward them. What we were saying is that they shouldn’t be treated wrong. They’re people and should be showed love.

“There are obviously guys [in MLB] who are gay. That’s something we’re going to have to deal with [when players start coming out]. We should love people and accept them for who they are. As a Christian, I believe God is going to ultimately judge us for how we live our lives. There’s no reason for us to be judging.”

Ross is non-judgmental, but the same can’t be said for everyone wearing a big-league uniform. I asked him what the response was from teammates and others within the game.

“No one really had much to say about it,” said Ross. “It was mostly just Christian people asking me what I thought. It was different for a lot of them, but I think there was a lot of acceptance. They knew my heart was in the right place. I was just trying to be accepting and show people love.”

In 2008, the Minnesota Twins drafted Aaron Hicks 14th overall. Four years later they took Byron Buxton second overall. The latter is 20 years old and the top prospect in the game. The former is 24 years old and… what exactly? A placeholder? A late-bloomer? An enigma?

The correct answer is probably “all of the above,” which leads to another question. Actually, it leads to a pair of related questions: Will Hicks play well enough to be the Twins everyday centerfielder in 2014? If he does — first he’ll have to win the job over Alex Presley — how much value will he provide with his glove?

Hicks’ offensive struggles last year are obvious to the stat sheet and naked eye alike. Assessing his defense is more complicated. With the Twins playing half their games at Target Field, it is also a concern. I asked Terry Ryan about outfield defense during the Winter Meetings

“It’s imperative,” said the Twins’ general manager. “Number one, we’re in a pitcher’s park. We want a lot of range in center field. One thing it might affect is how you go about your draft. We’re looking for people who can go get a ball in the outfield. I think [Hicks] did a pretty good job doing that when he was up last year.”

“Centerfield and right field [at Target Field] are big,” agreed Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire. “They’re huge. You need to have some athletic people out there to run the ball down, and Hicks was very good.”

Defensive metrics don’t agree that Hicks was good. I asked Scott Spratt of Baseball Info Solutions why that might be.

“One reason Aaron Hicks may appear to be a better defensive center fielder than his Defensive Runs Saved (plus-2, 20th-best at the position) total indicates is that his negative value is all range-related,” said Spratt. “We have him as costing the Twins five runs due to Plus/Minus. On the other hand, Hicks saved the Twins two runs with his arm and five runs with Good Fielding Plays/Defensive Misplays, mostly due to his 13 unexpected fly ball or line drive outs and his two home run robberies. In other words, Hicks rarely made poor decisions or poor plays on the balls he could reach, which is the easier part of defensive play to visually evaluate.”

Positioning was likely a factor. According to multiple sources, Twins outfielders played deep more often than not. Lack of range in the corner positions makes that understandable, but one is left to wonder if their pitching staff would have a lower BABiP if the outfielders — particularly the speedy Hicks — played shallower.

According to Baseball Info Solutions, that may or may not be a good idea.

“Outfielders are rewarded more in DRS for deep outs and penalized more for deep non-outs because the run value on those plays is greater,” explained Spratt. “Balls that drop in front of outfielders tend to end up singles while balls over their heads tend to become doubles and triples. Differences in park dimensions can have an effect on players, but our research hasn’t uncovered any clear patterns. In a bigger parks, outfielders will sometimes position themselves deeper, which makes them more likely to convert deep balls into outs. However, that then makes shallow balls more likely to fall in as hits, and that tradeoff can balance out or skew either way depending on the positioning and skill set of a particular outfielder.”

In the case of the Twins, that particular centerfielder will be Hicks or Presley in the short term. Hicks has the higher upside, but again, we’re likely looking at a placeholder situation. Buxton is on the horizon, and according to MiLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, he’ll arrive well-positioned to help save runs.

“While most people want to talk about what Buxton can do offensively, what with his bat, power and speed profile, it would be a mistake to forget about his defense,” said Mayo. “It makes him as complete a prospect as there is in the minors today. His plus speed allows him to cover a tremendous amount of ground in center and he has as strong an arm as any outfield prospect in baseball. The whole complete package thing refers to his defense just as much as his offense.”

I haven’t had a chance to ask Buxton how deep or shallow he likes to play. I did, however, have an opportunity to ask Hicks.

“I like to play in,” said Hicks. “I like to go back on balls. It depends on who is hitting — you’re usually a little deeper for the core guys than the 7-8-9 guys — but typically I like to play shallower than most [outfielders]. That allows you take away jam hits.”

I asked Hicks how much control he has over where he’s positioned, and the young outfielder adroitly sidestepped the question. A source was more forthcoming: “Gardy hates doubles. He‘d much rather have a lot of singles fall in front of his outfielders.”

——

Mike Pelfrey knows who Xander Bogaerts is. That’s not surprising given the Red Sox shortstop is baseball’s top prospect not named Byron Buxton. The Twins righthander faced Bogaerts on Friday afternoon and induced a hard-hit 5-4-3 double play. Afterwards he was asked if he knew who was in the box.

“I did,“ said Pelfrey. “It was the first time I ever faced him, but I’ve heard very good things about him and obviously watched the World Series. I know he’s a good player. I threw a pitch inside that he turned on and was lucky Trevor Plouffe made a good play at third. I saw good hands on an inside pitch, which is something I’ll put in my head for the next time. He made a good adjustment in that at bat, which is impressive for a young player.

“With games like this, we don’t go over scouting reports, but we know the guys in our league, Even though you’re mostly working on things, you’re conscious of who is hitting. I knew who he was.”

——

Chris Capuano’s approach will be a little different than usual when he makes his Grapefruit League debut. Recently signed by the Red Sox, the southpaw has never pitched for an American League team.

“Normally it changes in your last start or two of spring training,” said Capuano. “That’s when you actually start to break down the hitters. Before that, first and foremost you make sure you’re executing pitches. For the most part, you’re looking at the hitter and trying to read the hitter, and pitching to righties and lefties the way you pitch to righties and lefties.”

That doesn’t mean Capuano eschews knowledge. Relying more on guile than pure stuff, the Duke University-educated 35-year-old utilizes every edge he can.

“If I have information that might help me get the hitter out, I’m going to use it,” said Capuano. “Maybe what I should say is the pre-game hours that go into preparing aren’t quite as intense during spring training as they are in the regular season. At this point, it’s mostly about executing pitches. I still need to learn the hitters, though. I’ve been looking at video every day and will probably do more preparation for my spring training starts than usual.”

——

No one does more preparation than scouting directors. The June amateur draft is crucial to a team’s success, which means nary a rock is left unturned before decisions are made. Mistakes still happen. If you need evidence that scouting is an inexact science, scan listings of recent first rounds. It’s safe to say two dozen teams would draft Mike Trout if they could have a do-over. Every scouting director has skeletons in his closet.

Prior to becoming Senior Vice President, Player Development and Amateur Scouting for the Chicago Cubs, Jason McLeod led the draft in Boston and San Diego. McLeod has more hits than misses — especially from his time with the Red Sox — but like his scouting brethren, he’s far from perfect. A player he never actually had a chance to take is ample proof.

“When I was in San Diego, Javier Baez went right in front of us,” McLeod told me recently. “He went ninth and we took Corey Spangenberg tenth. The Cubs beat a lot of teams on Javy. They certainly beat the Padres. I have to admit we weren’t set up to take him with our pick. Thankfully, the Cubs were smart and I don’t have to wear that one too bad.”

As Padres fans know all too well, Spangenberg has thus far fallen short of expectations. Count McLeod among the surprised.

“After we signed Corey he went up to Eugene and just went bananas,” said McLeod. “Pat Murphy was our manager there. He had been the head coach at Arizona State — he and Dustin Pedroia are like father and son — and Murph was like ‘This guy is Pedroia, just from the left side and with more speed.’ Looking at what Corey did in the Northwest League, we were friggin’ digging ourselves. Then he went to Fort Wayne and has kind of been grinding along the last few years.”

I asked McLeod what he missed in Baez.

“We had some questions on his aggressiveness,” said McLeod. “Everyone saw the bat speed and the power. He was a little flashy and had the big swing. What we probably underestimated a little bit was how much Javy loves to play the game, and how much he loves to compete. In the end, we simply missed on him. We wouldn’t have taken Javy had he fallen to our pick. Thankfully the Cubs did.”

——

Tommy Layne has had a fairly nondescript career. The 29-year-old reliever is 2-2, 2.84 over 40 big league appearances. Primarily a lefty specialist, he has worked just 25-and-a-third innings.

Two of those innings are noteworthy. Both came in 2012 with the San Diego Padres. The first was Layne’s big league debut, the second his first win. The southpaw remembers them well.

“My first game was against Atlanta [on August 14] and my first batter was Brian McCann,” said Layne. “I froze him with a slider. Dan Uggla took a slider as well. Tyler Pastornicky swung through a slider. All three strikeouts were on sliders thrown from my lower arm slot.

Against the Dodgers [on September 4], the first guy I faced was Adrian Gonzalez. I threw an over-the-top slider in the dirt that he swung through. Matt Kemp swung through a fastball. Then I froze Hanley Ramirez on a slider.”

Two games, six batters, six strikeouts. The Atlanta performance came in mop-up duty. The outing against the Dodgers came in the 10th inning of a 3-3 game.

I asked Layne — currently in camp with the Red Sox — if the games define his career.

“They really don‘t,” answered Layne. “If you think about it, you’re really only as good as the last time you threw the ball. That doesn’t mean my debut wasn’t awesome. It’s something I’ll carry with me until the day I die. My first win was the same kind of thing. They were good innings, but in no way, shape or form do they define me as a pitcher.”

What does define Layne is deception. Add creative game calling, and — at least on two special occasions — you have a recipe for success..

“The strikeouts had a lot to do with my catchers calling pitches that were outside the box of how I usually think of getting guys out,” explained Layne. “I throw from two different arm slots. Some pitches I throw from a lower arm slot and usually just to lefties. They had me throwing them to righties.

“Over the top, my repertoire is fastball, curveball, cutter and changeup. I also throw a fastball and a slider from about a foot lower than my normal arm slot. It’s kind of sidearm and kind of herky jerky. I’ve heard from hitters that it sort of comes out of nowhere. What I’m basically doing is shaping a pitch a little differently and creating some extra deception.”

Joe Gunkel is probably the top under-the-radar prospect in the Red Sox system. Baseball America indirectly said as much when they including him in the bonus supplement of this year’s Prospect Handbook. Their write-up of the 22-year-old right-hander suggested he “may be the first player to the majors from Boston’s 2013 draft.”

Gunkel didn’t come out of nowhere. The Red Sox took him in the 18th round out of West Chester University, in Pennsylvania. A standout starter for the Division-II Golden Rams, Gunkel began his professional career in short-season Lowell. Working out of the bullpen he allowed 11 base runners and punched out 32 batters in 20 innings.

Gunkel talked about his game this past weekend. Read the rest of this entry »