Wednesday newsletter time: Rangers spring training is live today
(Rangers Today/Jeff Wilson)
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The first person I ran into Tuesday morning at the Surprise Recreation Campus was Jamie Reed, the Rangers’ senior director of medical operations.
He is entering his 21st season with the Rangers, and has also been with the Rays and Orioles in his career.
This is the 42nd spring of his career. He’s been in baseball longer than any player on the Rangers’ roster has been alive. He doesn’t look it.
Bruce Bochy, fresh off a three-year hiatus, signed his first professional contract in 1975 and made his MLB debut in 1978 at age 23.
Both he and Reed are excited about what lies ahead.
First up today is the first spring workout for pitchers and catchers. There are 38 pitchers on the roster, 37 in camp (Brett Martin is rehabbing in Arlington) and two who won’t be at full throttle (Danny Duffy, Kyle Funkhouser). Several pitchers were on throwing Tuesday, including left-hander Andrew Heaney and right-handers Jon Gray and Nathan Eovaldi.
Cole Winn threw a bullpen at the same time as Kyle Cody. Zak Kent, Dane Acker, Mitch Bratt and TK Roby threw a little later. Bratt and Roby aren’t even in big-league camp, nor is another Tuesday thrower, Ryan Garcia.
Everyone seemed happy, and cold.
The weather that blew through Tuesday night (more on that below) might be an issue today, though surely the bullpen mounds were covered. Bullpen sessions are on the schedule.
The position players in camp won’t be nearly as affected. A small group that includes Josh Jung and Josh Smith worked on hitting Tuesday, with some on-the-field work.
More and more position players will be showing up before the first full-squad workout Monday.
But Baseball is here until Oct. 1. The Rangers believe they can extend their season even further.
The work officially begins today.
Weather stunner
The city that hosts the Rangers each spring lived up to its name Tuesday night.
For the first time in 16 springs for me, I experienced an Arizona thunderstorm.
Surprise, indeed.
At least I didn’t crash on my way to dinner, unlike three others I saw.
I knew I was driving into a storm, as a spectacular lightning show played out to the north and west. It started raining, hard, about three miles from my exit off the 303. By the time I got within two miles, something was up.
I didn’t know what was happening at first as I saw a sports car suddenly drift two lanes from right to left. The car next to me in the left lane fish-tailed.
A storm of pea-sized hail had put a sheet of ice on the highway.
Don’t worry: I made it too Booty’s unscathed.
The storm was a capper on a chilly, rainy day that didn’t see the temperature climb above 60. It didn’t climb out of the 40s until mid-afternoon.
Don’t forget
Rangers Today and the Rangers Today Baseball Podcast have a YouTube channel that already has two #Shorts up from Rangers camp.
That will be the home to all of the video content we crank out during our time here, and we will still do our podcast even though at least one of us will be in Arizona for three or four of them.
So, be sure to subscribe to the podcast channel. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for photos and links to the videos.
If you like what you’re seeing, also become a paid subscriber to Rangers Today for as little as $5.99 a month for live stories from camp.
And if you like it all and think your business could benefit from a partnership with Rangers Today, email me at jeff@rangerstoday.com and we’ll work something out.
Doggy video!
With the exception of Tuesday, this dog must live in Arizona. Enjoy.
Yeah…it's a little dry in here. 😂🐶⚡️ pic.twitter.com/YI81AtGkVY
— Laughs 4 All 🤟 (@Laughs_4_All) February 11, 2023
Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com
