Ryan heading to Miami for Team USA; Ober, Festa in good spots

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The next step for Joe Ryan is clear: He’s throwing a bullpen session on Saturday. After that? The possibilities are, if not endless, certainly wide open.

Ryan still hopes to make an appearance for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. At this point, it is most likely that he would only be available for a potential WBC final appearance, and not before. Ryan wants to pitch in the Classic if possible, and the club supports his efforts to do so.

If the U.S. team makes it past Canada in Houston, the Americans would play in a semifinal on Sunday in Miami. The final is set for Tuesday in Miami. Obviously, if Ryan does throw the side session Saturday as planned, he would be ruled out to pitch Sunday, even in relief. That leaves only the final, where the current scheduled starter is Nolan McLean if the US gets that far.

“I plan to go over to Miami,” Ryan said. “I’m throwing a bullpen, I believe, Saturday. I would say after that, I’ll head over is the plan. … It’s more of a reserve situation than a fixed start as of now.”

U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said on Thursday that Ryan would join Team USA after the quarterfinals matchup vs. Canada on Friday night (8 ET, FOX).

There are three main possible paths at this point: Ryan doesn’t pitch in the Classic at all, he pitches in relief in the final, or he starts the final. It’s unlikely he would be named the starter at this point, but not impossible.

There may also be a distant possibility that Team USA requests Ryan to be available for the semifinal. That would have to happen Thursday in order for Ryan to move his bullpen session up to Friday, and it’s the least likely scenario. It’s also unlikely because it would require moving scheduled semifinal starter Paul Skenes back to the final, or pitching Ryan in relief behind Skenes.

The other complication is that Opening Day is now 14 days away. The club has mapped out plans for Ryan to be ready for the March 26 opener in Baltimore in the event of him pitching in relief in the WBC final, as well as if he doesn’t pitch in the Classic. If he were to start the final, however, someone else would start Opening Day, and Ryan’s regular season debut would come later in the series against the Orioles. The team is open to that, and while the preference is for Ryan to start the opener, it would not be a great concern if he were pushed back two or three days.

Ober pleased

On a warm, humid day, Bailey Ober made his second start of Spring Training, and he had to work. Ober threw 53 pitches in 2 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, one run and one walk, striking out two. Perhaps most encouraging was that he induced seven swinging strikes, including five on his changeup alone.

“It’s kind of what I look forward to,” Ober said, “that pitch being my high-usage off-speed pitch and being able to rely on that to get swings and misses.”

Ober’s four-seam fastball velocity, an ongoing topic for the past 12 months, averaged 88.8 miles per hour, but he was unconcerned. He said he expects it to tick up some as he progresses toward the season and he continues to refine his mechanics, but also that he feels much better equipped to pitch at less than peak velocity than he was last year.

“Obviously it’s not 100 percent there,” he said, “because if it was I’d be throwing 93 again. But definitely it feels like I’m making progress in that area, and then it always helps that I’m feeling healthy. Just being able to go out there and be able to make adjustments between outings is huge right now, where in the past it just felt like I was behind the eight ball. So yeah, I’m in a good spot. I’m not necessarily crazy worried about it as much as I was last spring.”

Festa hopes to throw soon

David Festa is expected to start the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder impingement, but he is making progress toward a return. Festa, who has been shut down for about two weeks, is expected to begin throwing again next week. He’s been working with a medicine ball and building up strength in his shoulder.