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2021 Spring Training Thread

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Daniel Johnson in RF.. Zimmer in CF.. Eddie Rosario in LF..
Thanks! I could only watch Logan Allen finish the 5th(I think) and then had to head to work.
 
I guess Jordan Luplow has lower back issues.
This could open up a opportunity for Harold Ramirez. He showed some promise with the Marlins. Plus, he's one of the few RH OF.
Trouble is, he has reverse splits. He's not really a replacement for Luplow the way a Ryan Raburn or Brandon Guyer type would. .658 OPS vs. LHP.
 
Yeah, it is pretty weak @Who, but true none the less.

All the fan fair about "new arm action", (being inside ninety degrees at the elbow) is old news. But their are many late to the party. So all the fan fair is a little irritating (for some of us) at this point. So I guess one could say

double yawn
I'd triple dog yawn..but, there's nothing more after that.. and the frozen pole is not going to see any tongue anytime soon...it's spring !!

Civale looked quicker to the plate.. made his FB look a tick or two closer.. and made his high cutter & change up get on the hitter quicker... almost to the point of confusion.. Figuring that out may take more than three at bats in a game.. something Civale was able to excell at last year with his IP's per start consistency..

It was a very good spring outing..
 
I guess Jordan Luplow has lower back issues.
This could open up a opportunity for Harold Ramirez. He showed some promise with the Marlins. Plus, he's one of the few RH OF.
Luplow actually has a sore ankle. The back injury was last year. They’re taking it easy with him because he rushed to return from the back injury last year and it negatively affected his play all season.

Luplow in Spring Training II tried to play through lower back pain and it did not go well. He missed a big chunk of the 60-game season.

This spring Luplow injured his left ankle early in camp and has been hobbled. Earlier this week he received an injection in the ankle because of an impingement and he will be inactive for a few days.


 
Pitchers learning how to keep their arms healthy, what a concept !!!!

Glad some are catching on and more power to them. To bad there was so much derision for those that led the way.
Paging Baueroutage.
 
Adjusting the mechanics of a pitcher or batter is hardly a new thing. Its been going on for 150 years.

Probably the most famous was around the turn of the last century when Elmer Stricklett said to himself, 'I wonder what would happen if I would spit on a baseball before I threw it?'

The rest is history as old Elmer taught it to anybody who was interested....several of which ended up in the HOF.

Instead of acting surprised, everybody should expect that baseball players spend some time in the offseason refining their skills. I'm not talking about the mad scientist approach, but the subtle...sometimes not so subtle...adjustments designed to improve and simplify mechanics. The new arm slot, the simplified swing. Less moving parts, less things to go wrong, less chance of injuries.

Its how Kluber became Kluber and Cookie became Cookie. Its how Lindor and JRam went from being popguns to being cannons.

Its also why its so difficult to accurately project individual young MLB players for a coming season, because its impossible to know exactly when a subtle change will turn a prospect into a core player.

I'm a big believer in simplicity....a minimalist approach to pitching and batting. Everything repeatable. Michael Brantley.

The Indians look for this in their draftees and international signings. Simple short swings. Simplified, repeatable pitching mechanics. The baseball version of the shortest way from point A to point B is a straight line.

It looks like Civale has really simplified things.

Allen says he really 'bought in' to the Indians pitching factory. We shall see, but so far, so good.

**************

While it is difficult to project this season for any of our young players, they are almost all in an age bracket and experience level which history says many will take off.

***************

Chang smoked two pitches. Thats not a bad thing. Again, we shall see.
 
is it possible to compliment a pitcher for maturing growth without the hook of gigging the organization for being slow to accept the process? Seriously.....they are where they are......and the Indians are recognized in MLB for their excellent development of pitching, so why the backhanded slap? It's not necessary, even if they don't do every little thing right in that development.
 
The Indians have been finding and developing pitchers for a long time.

It didnt just start recently, and it has evolved over time..and will continue to do so.
 
Some of you fail to realize how much work it takes to "simplify" anything with regards to mechanics, whether hitting or pitching, and the dangers that could come of it.

Years and years of muscle memory and habits don't go away in a flash. Why a lot of guys try to change things but it ends up melting back to their old form or some kind of ugly hybrid (Cal Ripken Jr's batting stance, for example).

Being able to completely remove and consistently hide the old mechanics from the new mechanics is something this organization has preached for years before trotting guys out in high stress situations or letting guys just go and play as much as possible, strictly when talking about guys at the MLB level.

Why Clevinger was in AAA as long as he was so he could show he could keep his mechanics clean in the heat of a game. Why Cookie stayed in the bullpen as long as he did, even while he was showing the guy he is now. Why Naquin, coming off a year he contended for ROTY, spent so much time in the minors the following year. And I chose those 3 specific examples because those are 3 examples of guys who "simplified" their mechanics.

Trotting guys out before mechanical changes are cemented at the MLB level is a good way to ruin a young player.
 
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