GOODYEAR Ariz. -- Earlier this week, Indians manager Terry Francona said he was rooting for Tyler Naquin to show he can handle a starting outfield job. It took just two pitches for him to start.
In the Tribe’s 3-3 tie against the Reds at Goodyear Ballpark on Saturday, Naquin demolished a 1-0 pitch far over the right-field fence in the second inning off Cincinnati left-hander Brandon Finnegan.
”That ball went out in a hurry,” Francona said. “That’s nice to see. And I don’t care when it is, February, you always want to see guys either pitch good, play well or hit well.”
There’s no secret that there are jobs to earn in left and right field. With Greg Allen, Jordan Luplow, Naquin and even Jake Bauers in consideration, Naquin’s goal is to find a way to not just win a starting position, but prove he can hit left-handed pitchers so Francona does not feel the need to platoon.
“I’m going to do everything I can to force Tito to keep me in there, man,” Naquin said. “I love that guy, but I’m going to try to force him to force me out of that lineup. So, I’m excited.”
Starting the spring season off on a strong note is important for all Major Leaguers, but it meant a little more for Naquin, who is returning from right hip surgery last August.
”It feels nice to feel nice,” Naquin said. “My body feels good. I feel like just go out there and play and have fun and put the work in at the complex and come out here and just have fun. Bottom line, it just feels good to do that.”
Naquin hadn’t seen live pitching since July 25 of last season and said batting practice sessions were a tough adjustment at the beginning of camp last week. Now that he’s settled in more at the plate, a bigger takeaway from the first spring game was that he’s walking away pain-free and ready to compete.
In the one-on-one meeting he had with Francona after reporting to camp, the message he received was clear: Stay healthy and play every day. And Naquin said he learned a lot from his difficult road last year.
“Man, I just need to probably just stick to my routine, knowing [myself] as a player,” Naquin said. “Guys like [Michael] Brantley and [Corey] Kluber and stuff … watching guys like that, you know [Brantley] does what he has to do. If he doesn’t need to take BP one day, he doesn’t do it. You don’t have to just because everybody else hits, and that’s kind of the way I am. Just knowing myself more as far as the season goes on, 162 games, and if you play good baseball, you can go even further than that.”
Indians not concerned with pitch clock
Francona isn’t too concerned with how his pitchers will handle the newly implemented pitch clock throughout Spring Training. He said in the past his team has been timed without knowing and was later informed that no one had committed violations. If it were to become a permanent rule throughout the regular season, Francona said he would discuss it a little more.
”I think, in fairness to them, we’ve preached to them that the first couple outings, they’re getting their legs under them,” Francona said. “There’s a progression. Starting to think about something like that probably doesn’t make sense. If there comes a time when we need to, if it’s going to be implemented, then we need to pay attention to it, because we don’t want to get penalized for something like that. But right now, I think there’s a progression in Spring Training to get them ready.”
Tito vs. Bell
In 1996, Buddy Bell became manager of the Tigers and named Francona his third-base coach, sparking what would become a successful managerial career. In 2019, Francona managed against Bell’s son, David, in the Indians’ Cactus League opener on Saturday.
”Let’s get this straight right now: I am not good friends with his dad. Let’s just get that out there,” Francona said with a laugh. “It makes me feel old, is what it does. I saw him the other day at the Cactus League media event, and when I saw him walk up there, I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I can just imagine how Buddy feels watching him. That’s pretty cool.”
Up next
Cleveland will host Arizona on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET at Goodyear Ballpark. Indians right-hander Chih-Wei Hu will start against D-Backs lefty Robbie Ray.