News and notes: 2/13
Happy Pitchers and Catchers report day!
“For me, this is an exciting time,” Clint Hurdle said. “I’m looking forward to being a part of something significant and special here.”
- 41 pitchers and catchers, 15 are non-roster invitees, reported to Bradenton, FL. Jose Veras, Jose Ascanio and Cesar Valdez were having VISA issues and are expected to be at camp by Monday morning.
- Spring Training’s first official workout is scheduled to begin at noon ET and the first full-squad workout will be held on Saturday.
- There are 62 players attending spring training this year (Click here for the full list).
- *Note: Jeff Clement has been removed from the list of non-roster invitees. He is still recovering from surgery and therefore will be reporting to Minor League camp.
- Pirates beat reporter, Jenifer Langosch, reports that spring training will be much different this year, compared to years past.
Hurdle has promised changes to the Spring Training routine, so the workout days should look different than they did when John Russell was in charge. Hurdle specifically noted that there would be an increased focus on shoring up fundamentals and honing pitchers’ pickoff moves.
“We’re going to talk about playing better baseball,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “We’re going to talk about taking care of business every single day. We’re going to talk about making sure that we’re prepared. We’re going to talk about making sure we’re in position to win that next game. If we do that every day, if we do that every series, if we do that every week, if we do that every month, we’re going to look up at the end and we’re going to have had a great year.”
Some of the pitchers get an early start to camp with a light workout at Pirate City (picture via @BucsInsider)
Kristy Robinson
