Well the video isn't going to work; software problems. My apologies, you'll get to see some good video highlights when we get back.
We left D.C at 9 A.M and walked through the gates of Space Coast Stadium just in time to see the first pitch of the 1 o'clock game. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, with the division rival New York Mets in town, little Viera, Florida was alive with baseball. Cars lined up for up to two miles outside the stadium up until game time and in all of my experience in spring training, I have never seen a game that packed.
We walked in as John Lannan threw the first pitch. We were lucky, the Nationals had their entire starting line up in the game (sans Adam Dunn and Jesus Flores). Johnson, Belliard, Guzman, Zimmerman, Dukes, Milledge, and Kearns all got the start and all played 4-6 innings. It was ironic to see all the Nats starters in the game, for one because that never happens in spring training, and secondly because almost every single Met that started last year is playing for some nation in the World Baseball Classic.
What we saw:
Lannan looked like his old sharp self. He allowed no earned runs in two innings, and looked to over power the inexperienced Mets line up. His fast ball looks like it may have gained a mile or two per hour and his change and curve looked to be locating well.
As Jose Reyes is playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball classic, the Mets have a gigantic whole at shortstop during spring training. For today, at least, they filled that hole with 17 year old super-prospect Wilmer Flores. The young shortstop, who projects to be a corner outfielder when its all said and done looked incredibly overmatched playing against major league players. At 17, that of course isn't surprising. However it certainly was interesting to see such a raw player exposed like that. It's truly a rare occurrence to see these super-prospects play in person because of how sheltered they are and because they often don't get many at bats against the leaguers (Flores played
the entire game).
Baseball Prospectus projects Flores to be a Miguel Cabrera type player when he fills out. However after seeing him today it is easy to say that he is a good 3 or 4 years away from making any impact in a Mets uniform.
No comments:
Post a Comment