Dodgers Notes from Spring Training: Pitchers & Catchers Workout #1

Throughout Spring Training the Dodgers PR department sends out helpful daily notes from Camelback Ranch, and I am happy to pass them along.  See what they've written below.

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(Julio Urias signing for fans, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015)

WE LOVE LA: Dodger pitchers and catchers held their first official workout of the spring today at Camelback Ranch – Glendale, with 30 pitchers and six catchers in camp. The lone battery member yet to report to Arizona is right-hander Kenley Jansen, who underwent surgery to remove a growth from a bone in his left foot Tuesday.

• Clayton Kershaw, Brandon League, Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson, Joe Wieland, Chris Hatcher, Juan Nicasio, Daniel Coulombe, Carlos Frias, Adam Liberatore, Erik Bedard, David Huff, Josh Ravin and Ryan Buchter all threw their first “official” bullpens of the spring today.
• Non-roster reliever Sergio Santos missed today’s workouts due to illness.

A IS FOR AARDSMA: David Aardsma donned Dodger blue for the first time today after signing a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp yesterday. Aardsma spent the 2014 season in the St. Louis organization and went 4-0 with 11 saves and a 1.29 ERA in 33 games for Triple-A Memphis, where he limited opponents to a .161 batting average. The 33-year-old is two games shy of 300 career MLB appearances, going 15-17 with 69 saves and a 4.23 ERA in 298 games with the Giants (2004), Cubs (2006), White Sox (2007), Red Sox (2008), Mariners (2009-10), Yankees (2012) and Mets (2013).

• If Aardsma makes an appearance for the Dodgers this year, he will top the all-time alphabetical franchise roster, just ahead of pitcher Don Aase (1990).

(Justin Turner and friends, pic via John Force Racing on twitter)

ALL DODGERS, ALL THE TIME: Yesterday, SportsNet LA announced that the network will broadcast 31 Dodger Spring Training games, including the team’s three Freeway Series exhibition games against the Angels. The first live Spring Training telecast will be the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener against the White Sox on Wednesday, March 4 at 12:05 p.m. PT. Most Spring Training games on the network will be called by Charley Steiner, who will be joined by Rick Monday, Kevin Kennedy and Orel Hershiser. Vin Scully, who is entering his 66th season with the club, is expected to call four Spring Training telecasts, including the Freeway Series.

COLLEGE BALL: The two most recent College World Series champions will be on display in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic Sunday, March 8, when 2013 titlist UCLA meets USC and defending champion Vanderbilt faces TCU, the Dodgers announced today. The TCU-Vanderbilt game is slated to begin at 11:45 a.m. and the USC-UCLA matchup is at 3:30 p.m. Tickets priced at $25 for Dugout Club seats, $20 for Baseline Club seats and $10 for Field level seats are available at Dodgers.com/classic, uclabruins.com and gettrojantix.com. Tickets for USC and UCLA students and children under 14 are $5 and also are available in advance only at the UCLA and USC box offices or at Dodger Stadium on the day of the event. Parking is $10 and is available only at the gate. Parking and stadium gates will open at 11:30 a.m.

• Defending CWS champion Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 in the Baseball America preseason top 25. TCU, which advanced to the 2014 CWS in Omaha, Neb., is rated No. 7.  UCLA is ranked No. 11.

(Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015)

PACE YOURSELF: Today, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced additions to the sport’s pace of game program and a series of modifications to the instant-replay system. The pace of game program will enforce the batter’s box rule, requiring that all batters must keep at least one foot in the batter’s box unless one of a group of exceptions occurs, and also a new component, the addition of timers that will measure non-game action and break time between innings and pitching changes during each Major League game. For replay, managers will be able to invoke challenges from the dugout and can retain their challenge after every call that is overturned. In addition, tag-up plays are now reviewable and a manager must use a challenge in order to review whether a play at home plate included a violation of the rule governing home plate collisions.

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