It's Sunday here at camp and Day 1 of the weeklong adventure -- we had an opening night banquet on Saturday evening, but until you step foot into the locker room and see your jersey - the camp has not officially started.
Florida is giving us the best possible weather forecast and today started out with a wonderful warm (slightly humid -- not complaining) day to kick off the camp. (it ended up being around 80 degrees)
Sunday is evaluation day.
For the rookies (a crop of 30+ guys who have never attended fantasy camp - a nice group of newbies) the pro staff figuring out if they have enough talent to be drafted this afternoon for their team. (and yes they will be drafted regardless of skill level)
For the veterans (and hall of famers) at camp, it's a day to figure out if they did enough training in the off season to make it through the long week. They had 51 weeks (and actually 103 weeks) to figure it out..
The campers head out to get some stretching and throwing in and it's a beautiful morning here at Hammond/CenturyLink Field/Complex in Ft Myers. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and the pro staff that is here - it is strange how slowly and quickly 2 years has passed by - both scary and unnerving - but to be gathered again with baseball friends is a wonderful thing.
The morning workout consisted of some infield/outfield practice -- along with some live batting practice. Matthew LeCroy, Milt Cuyler, and J.C. Romero were the Pro Staff leading our group. I went 2 rounds of BP with Romero throwing - he had fun with us as he was spotting some of his throws to get us to not hit him -- "I found the spot" Romero chuckled during my 2nd round (he may have thrown one low and in.....). But hearing the crack of the bat and shagging some fly balls in the outfield was a gift.
The rookies got to show off their game in an intrasquad game in the early afternoon. This gives the Pro Staff an opportunity to take some notes and see who is worthy of the high draft pick. Just think of this process of team picking much like a fantasy football draft -- the pro staff gets the draft board ready and start drafting -- but the big difference -- these are real players (and some of them might not look like it).
Gene Larking pronounced in the locker room, "There is no talent here at the camp." He also quipped, "The coaching has gotten better". I also heard he was in prime form during the rookie game -- encouraging them (or maybe not) during the game.
I was also told by a pro staff (generally he picks a very good roster) that he takes good notes and uses a special note "CP" -- as in "can't play." So hopefully that pro staffer doesn't end up with one of the CP players on his roster since all campers get drafted!! I also heard that another pro staffer took a cell phone picture of this meticulous notes as well -- not a bad move.
Here are the Pro Staff pairings for the 2022 camp. I will post the team names and maybe some early commentary for each squad later this evening:
Kent Hrbek & Tim Laudner
Bill Campbell, Steve Braun, & Gary Allenson
Phil Roof & Matt LeCroy
Toby Gardenhire & John Wilkens
Frank Viola & Jeff Reardon
Glen Perkins & Juan Berenguer
Milt Cuyler & Devin Smeltzer
Tommy Watkins & J.C. Romero
Stu Cliburn & Juan Rincon
Al Newman & Gene Larkin.
Newly Inducted Hall of Famer Tony Oliva is in the house but will be roaming Pro Staff along with the Commissioner Bert Blyleven.
We look for the much anticipated team announcements this evening and the new teammates I will have as we will play 2 games tomorrow so no rest for the weary.
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