D-backs Spring '09 Report

There's nothing quite like spending an hour or two watching Spring Training workouts. To get insight into their workouts and seeing what the coaching staff is stressing in practice is really quite interesting.

One of the things that bench coach Kirk Gibson and Brett Butler have been emphasizing is smarter base running. In a workout on Friday, Gibson was emphatic to the young players in his approach to taking the correct angles on the bag, accelerating into the turn, and pushing off in order to maximize the chances of taking the next base. While this team does have decent home run power, running the bases properly is easily worth a few wins a year. Given the competition they will face with the Dodgers this year, that can't be understated.

As for batting practice, the guys that jumped out to me were Justin Upton and Conor Jackson. Both guys were smoking the ball. Not so much out of the park, although Upton did hit a couple of monster shots, but more the bat speed and ferocity that both were taking to the plate. Eric Byrnes didn't look too bad either, as he will certainly have his hands full getting playing time this year. But knowing Byrnsie, he'll be in there more than he's not.

As for the up and comers, Gerardo Parra has always impressed me, and continues to do so. He and fellow outfielder Trent Oeltjen will both be participating in the World Baseball Classic in early March (Parra with Venezuela and Oeltjen with Australia), so will miss a chunk of the early games, but I think both will make a good impression in limited action. Oeltjen is a fun guy to watch. Always smiling and kidding around with the guys. They all seem to get a kick out of his funky Aussie accent.

More updates to come....