Notes from Cardinals spring camp, Feb. 27
St. Louis will resume live batting practice on Sunday
JUPITER, Fla. -- From a rain-soaked complex in southern Florida, here are some items of note regarding the Cardinals' workout schedule and what lies ahead:
• Though the rain wouldn't have permitted it anyhow, live batting practice was off the Cardinals' workout schedule on Friday and will be missing again on Saturday. This represents a deviation from last spring's schedule, which had the pitchers broken up into three groups, each of which threw to hitters on every third day. This year, the Cardinals split the group in half, allowing for more live BP sessions in a two-day sequence and then two days off.
"I like how it's playing out," Matheny said. "It's meaning more repetitions live for the hitters. We'll get two live days where pitchers are letting it go and hitters are getting the opportunity to maybe see more than one at-bat and get in a rhythm in the box. For the hitters, I see more of an advantage. They see more live pitches. And the pitchers get the same amount of work. We'll just have certain days where we're not going to have live and we focus on something different."
Live BP will resume on Sunday with 12 pitchers expected to throw to hitters.
• Matheny said that he has "a pretty good idea" who will be starting the team's Grapefruit League opener on Thursday, but he is not yet ready to make that information public. Typically, the Cardinals schedule a young starter to pitch the opening game before settling into a rotation that allows the Major League club's projected starters to get on schedule.
• In the early spring games, the Cardinals will employ a piggybacking system that allows for multiple starters to get their work in on the same day. With starters throwing 30-40 pitches in their first outing, they typically only cover a maximum of two innings. That creates opportunities for several pitchers to get game work each day for some time.
• Activity at the team's complex is about to pick up as 23 Minor League players arrive by the end of Saturday to participate in the organization's Spring Training Early Program. Their workouts and instructional sessions will begin on Sunday, 10 days before Minor League camp officially opens.