PEORIA, Ariz. – It was the first day of spring training as a major league manager for Don Wakamatsu, and it began well before dawn when he pulled into the Seattle Mariners parking lot about 5 a.m.
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He wanted to get his own workout out of the way before the players began arriving.
Wakamatsu was excited but organized. And like one of the men he apprenticed under – Buck Showalter – his attention to detail showed, even on Day 1. By 6:30 a.m., he’d already talked to his coaches about thoughts he wanted covered.
Not just drills. Not just playing catch or taking batting practice. What Wakamatsu wanted to reinforce was the continuous teaching of the game.
“If you haven’t told a player about something, you can’t blame him if it’s not done right,” he said. “So we’ll have them do it, yes, but we’re going to tell them all why.”
Once the Mariners took the field for the first time, Wakamatsu roamed the four-field cloverleaf the team is using. He watched as his six-man coaching staff, and a contingent of 11 minor league coaches, worked with players.
A former catcher, Wakamatsu spent time on one field with the five catchers in camp, talking about specific duties he wanted each of them to handle. And when everyone had come off the field at 12:45 p.m., Wakamatsu brought those catchers and coach Roger Hansen into his office.
They met for more than an hour.
“We’re going to talk to pitchers, probably in groups of four each day,” Wakamatsu said. “Just take them aside before or after the workout and talk baseball. Talk about what we want to see them accomplish.
“We want our players to work on their weaknesses as well as their strengths.”
Just how does he plan on getting them to accept that they have weaknesses?
“I’ve got scouting reports on them from two other organizations, and I might share them,” Wakamatsu said. “No player is particularly good at self-evaluation. That’s our job, not theirs.”
All morning, it wasn’t so much the drills on each field that stood out, but the small details.
Wakamatsu had pitchers playing pepper along one foul line.
“It’s just another way of letting them field balls, and it doesn’t hurt that they get to swing a bat, work on their hand-eye coordination,” he said.
Pitching coach Rick Adair came up with an idea Saturday that Wakamatsu embraced – having the pitchers who throw bullpen sessions scheduled every other day not play catch when the workout begins.
“Why have them play 10 minutes of catch, get loose, then stand around for an hour doing drills and cool down, then start them up again?” Wakamatsu asked. “Rick’s idea was to have the guys stretch and get loose, but not throw until they were warming up to work in the bullpen. That way, they’re loose, they’re ready and they haven’t wasted any throws.”
As he and his coaching staff tried to learn the names of the 29 pitchers and five catchers in camp, Wakamatsu noticed a number of players wearing long sleeved pullovers on the field – outfits that were warm but didn’t have the players’ uniform numbers on the back.
“They’ll wear their regular uniforms (today),” Wakamatsu said. “It helps everyone get to know who’s who.”
Walking between fields, standing and watching his team get its work in, Wakamatsu seemed happy.
“He should be, he’s worked hard to get to this point,” general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “He’s put together a good staff, a good plan for camp, and now he’s finally getting the chance to see the guys in action.”
The most action? A pair of 300-yard shuttle runs that each player in camp ran. That’s six 50-yard runs, back to back, with the goal being a time under one minute.
“I remember running them,” Wakamatsu said, laughing. “The second one, the last 10 yards you’d lose body functions. But it gives you an idea as a player what kind of shape you’re in right away.”
It was not an easy run.
“I didn’t die, but I sort of wanted to,” reliever Roy Corcoran said.
“One of the coaches was saying in the old days, you just kept running until at least three guys got sick,” Wakamatsu said. “We got it done today and only had one guy throw up.”
That was Brandon Morrow.
That was Day 1.
And today? Wakamatsu has delegated to his coaches, and each day – before the scheduled workout – one coach or another will take a small group of players out to work on something specific.
Today, Adair will be working with some of his pitchers on early conditioning.
What’s that mean?
“That means they run,” Adair said. “They run, and then we talk a bit and they run some more.”
Though he won’t need to be there, Wakamatsu just might show up. Or he might bring a player or two into his office for a conversation to start the day.
“We’re trying to change the outlook of a franchise, change the environment,” Wakamatsu said. “You do that one day at a time, one player at a time, one conversation at a time. But we’ll get it done. Today was a nice start.”
MARINERS SPRING UPDATE
SATURDAY
The workout
The first day went smoothly, with pitchers divided among three fields for various fielding drills and catchers on a fourth field taking batting practice and working on fielding bunts. All players took part in two 300-yard shuttles, running 50 yards, turning around and running back and trying to get their times under a minute. Everyone survived, although one man – Brandon Morrow – lost his lunch and some of his dinner from the night before.
Notable
Ryan Rowland-Smith, the lefty hoping to break camp in the starting rotation, is trying to make up his mind whether to stay in Peoria with Seattle or join Team Australia for the World Baseball Classic. “Over the last week I’ve gone back and forth every day,” he said. “I didn’t realize how tough the decision would be. Either way, I’m sacrificing something. Ultimately, the most important thing for me is the season coming up.” Rowland-Smith expects to decide in the next day or two. ... Felix Hernandez was listed at 225 pounds last year, and while he hasn’t matched Carlos Silva in weight loss, he’s slimmer. “I’m 212 pounds,” Hernandez said. “I feel stronger.” Is he quicker? “We’ll find out,” he said. ... When someone asked bullpen coach John Wetteland if losing 30 pounds would help Silva pitch, his response was classic. “Try pitching with a 30-pound bowling ball in your pocket,” he said. ... Among the catchers taking batting practice against a minor league coach, Jeff Clement put on a power display in his final round. Rookie Adam Moore, however, was hitting balls off the fence – or over it – all morning. ... Two veterans in camp early and working out on their own are first basemen Mike Sweeney and Russell Branyan. ... Another first baseman, Chris Shelton, arrived in the clubhouse carrying a Texas Rangers equipment bag after the workout.
Quotable
Rookie right-hander Chris Jakubauskas is 29, and has forgotten how many times someone has asked how to pronounce his name (It’s jak-uh-bow-skus). “People just call me ‘Jak,’” he said. “If someone says ‘Chris,’ I don’t even turn around, any more. It’s just ‘Jak.’”
Medical report
Left-hander Cesar Jimenez was sent home early with bronchitis, and left-hander Tyler Johnson was held back because of a tight shoulder. Right-hander Luis Munoz, delayed by visa problems in the Dominican Republic, arrived Saturday and took his physical.
Larry LaRue, The News Tribune
